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Project Summary
| Difficulty | 5 – 8 |
| Time required | Short (several days) |
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| * Note: This is an abbreviated project idea, without notes to start your background research or a procedure for how to do the experiment. You can identify abbreviated project ideas by the asterisk at the end of the title. If you want a project idea with full instructions, please pick one without an asterisk. |
Abstract
Can you remember what the weather was like last week? Last year? Here's a project that looks at what the weather was like for over a hundred years. You'll use historical climate data to look at moisture conditions in regions across the contintental U.S. You'll use a spreadsheet program to calculate the frequency of different moisture conditions for each region and make graphs for comparison. Which part of the country has the most frequent droughts? The most frequent periods of prolonged rain? The most consistent precipitation? Here's one way to find out. Dry Spells, Wet Spells: How Common Are They?Variations
- For more science project ideas in this area of science, see Computer Science Project Ideas.
Last edit date: 2007-01-02 19:08:29
Career Focus
If you like this project, you might enjoy exploring careers in Computer Science.
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Computer Programmer Computers are essential tools in the modern world, handling everything from traffic control, car welding, movie animation, shipping, aircraft design, and social networking to book publishing, business management, music mixing, health care, agriculture, and online shopping. Computer programmers are the people who write the instructions that tell computers what to do. |
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Computer Software Engineer Are you interested in developing cool video game software for computers? Would you like to learn how to make software run faster and more reliably on different kinds of computers and operating systems? Do you like to apply your computer science skills to solve problems? If so, then you might be interested in the career of a computer software engineer. | |
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Network Systems and Data Communications Analyst Computers are an important part of our lives. We use computers to hold and process data, to control manufacturing factories, and to surf the Internet. We are all part of many different kinds of computer networks that are continually sharing information. The role of the network systems and data communications analyst is to design, model, and evaluate computer networks so that they can share information seamlessly. This is an exciting career for those people who enjoy working with rapidly changing technology. |
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Software Quality Assurance Engineer and Tester Software quality assurance engineers and testers oversee the quality of a piece of software's development over its entire life cycle. Their goal is to see to it that the final product meets the customer's requirements and expectations in both performance and value. During the software life cycle, they verify (officially state) that it is possible for the software to accomplish certain tasks. They detect problems that exist in the process of developing the software, or in the product itself. They try and make things not work (try to "break" the software) by creating errors or combinations of errors that a user might make. For example, if a user enters a period or a pound sign for a password, will that break the software? They seek to anticipate potential issues with the software before they become visible. At the end of the life cycle, they reflect upon how problems or bugs arose, and figure out ways to make the software development process better in the future. | |
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Computer Hardware Engineer Whether you are playing video games, surfing the Internet, or writing a term paper, computers are an integral part of our daily lives. Computer hardware engineers work to make computers faster, more robust, and more cost-effective. They design the microprocessor chips that make your computer function, along with the equipment that makes computing easy and fun to do. |
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Database Administrator Databases are collections of similar records, like the products a company sells, information on all people with a driver's license for a state, or the medical records in a hospital. Database administrators have the important job of figuring out how to organize, access, store, search, cross-reference, and protect all those records. Their services are needed by law enforcement, government agencies, and every type of business imaginable. Management of large databases is also critical for scientific research, including understanding and developing cures for diseases. | |
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