Science Fair

Dad and I had a great time judging the Dayton Christian Middle School science fair on Thursday. The 8th grade students all have to do a project, so there were 84 projects to be judged. Dad and I judged 5 of them, and to be honest, we were a little disappointed at the quality of them. None of them were really superior projects that we would expect to do well at the county level, not to mention higher levels. I wish I could have walked around to take a look at the other projects so I would have a better feel for the quality overall. Having done a science fair project in 8th grade myself under Mr. Belue, and having received a superior at the state science fair that year, I can certainly say that Mr. Belue really teaches and stresses the scientific method, so maybe we just got a bad batch.

The main problem we encountered was that the projects did not yield any kind of objective data, so there were no real results to graph or whatever. For example, one girl's question was whether fabric softener or dryer sheets were more effective for eliminating static cling on clothes. She washed clothes using fabric softener, and then she also did some loads just using dryer sheets. But she couldn't measure the amount of static left on the clothes, so she didn't have any real results--just her opinion that "both products made the clothes smell nice, but the dryer sheets got rid of a little more static". I asked her if she had tried different types of dryer sheets and softeners, and she said that she had. In fact, some worked better than others, she felt, but this wasn't stated anywhere on her project, and certainly not in any meaningful chart or anything.

Another girl did a project comparing the stain removal properties of Resolve and rubbing alcohol on carpet. She used 5 different things to make stains, but all she could do was take pictures to show how the products did--there was no quantitative way to measure her results. I questioned why she picked rubbing alcohol, of all things, to compare, and she didn't have any good reason. In my notes I suggested using water as a control, and then also trying dish detergent, vinegar, other cleaning products, etc. It seems like in her research she would have come up with better substances to test and compare!

The other 3 weren't all that much better, although at least they did have some results. It seemed like people just wanted to do an experiment that they could finish in an afternoon or so, without really going any deeper or, in some cases, thinking about why their project would even be useful. One girl's question asked if adding substances like salt, sugar, or baking soda to boiling water would raise the temperature of the water. She was sort of tongue-tied when I asked why that might be important or useful.

On the positive side, it was wonderful to see familiar faces, like that of Mr. Minor, my high school chemistry and physics teacher. I can honestly say that he looks the exact same as he did when I graduated from DCHS in 1991! He was one of my favorite teachers, a good teacher as well as a wise and godly man. He always encouraged me to reach my potential academically, but to consider raising godly children to be an even worthier goal. He was delighted to hear that we're expecting #5, and that I am homeschooling them. I must say I never thought I would end up here, but I am sure that his encouragement in high school when I started thinking about my long-term goals played a big part in this. I am sad to report that Mr. Minor is retiring after this year, his 36th year teaching at DC. I guess he's earned a rest though! Mr. Belue also looks the exact same as I remember him from 8th grade. Is there some secret anti-aging thing going on in DC male science teachers?! Mr. Belue was excited to hear that I was teaching Latin--always a nice thing to hear! There were many other familiar faces to visit with. For someone who moves around alot, it was nice to go to a place and have people remember you! Wow!