Original Documents

Ihave been struggling with ways to explain the importance of science fair to my students and parents and to be frank even to myself. There is so much bureaucracy now days attached to this type of event and students are not used to thinking on their own. A major component that students and parents object to is the use of a logbook to record their data, observations and project especially in this technological society. I always explain that many fabulous ideas and insights have come from findings of previous scientists and it is not always the published work where we find these ideas. I didn't know of anywhere however to show them one such journal until now. The British Library: Turning the Pages has links to several original works from such great thinkers as Jane Austin, Mozart, Lewis Carroll and my favorite Leonardo DaVinci By viewing this original document students can see this great mind at work. They see his strike outs and diagrams as well as his explanations. You can hear an explanation of what is on each page as well as magnifying the document itself. Very Cool!