Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Parenting and Advocacy Science Fairs - do you hate them or you love them?

Ugh, the science fair letter came home this week. DS really wants to participate and came up with his own concept. However, he is going to need some guidance from Mom and Dad and I'm not sure how much help to provide. I don't want to stage manage, but I also know my child will have alot of trouble keeping a narrow focus without our help.

His question is Why can't salt water fish live in fresh water? This is a really big area of interest for him. He has always had a huge interest in fish and marine life. He has done some research on the web and at the library. He now thinks that the best way to approach it would be to show how salt and fresh water are different.

Would it be reasonable since we do not live near the ocean to try to make salt water from aquarium supplies and then do things like freeze and boil the different waters? I still don't see how that will answer the why part of his question. Seems like to great an assumption to me. His research has told him that it has to do with the salt levels needed by the fish and the salt levels in the environment.

In a macrabre way, his question would be much easier to test and prove if it was Can a salt water fish live in fresh water? :P

It IS nice when kids can explore interests without the competitive stuff overshadowing everything. What fun is science without the mistakes? DS got a cool book several years ago called, "Mistakes that Worked". It's a great read both for young perfectionists and out-of-the-box thinkers.

elh0706, send me a pm and I can hook you up with email to DH's best friend. He has his Ph.d. in a rather esoteric branch of marine biology and we lovingly call him, "the fish guy". He has helped my kids and their various science groups with all sorts of projects and I think he'd be happy to email back and forth to your son a bit.

take care-

I love Ms. Frizzle's perspective "Take chances, make mistakes, get messy!"

Several years ago I worked on a NASA history project and interviewed several important men who participated in the early space program. One nugget that has always stayed with me was from an engineer who was said that it is important to have the freedom to make mistakes because we learn much more from our mistakes than from occassions when we get all the answers right.

TS, thanks for reminding me about Ms. Frizzle. I think my youngest would love MSB- I'll have to look for our old books.

That NASA history project sounds really fun! What did you do with your research?

It is part of the NASA history website.

http://www11.jsc.nasa.gov/history/oral_histories/oral_histories.htm

A great example of the project is the audio documentary "Apollo 8: Earth's Rise to a New Era" near the bottom of the page. It is about 5 minutes long.

Ooh! Very cool! I bookmarked it for future reference.

thanks!

Hi, usual lurker here but I did start a thread about a month or so ago. Anyway, my girls (K and 1st grader) did not want to do a science project so we skipped it this year. I did walk through the exhibits, though, and could only find about 6 out of over 100 projects that looked like they had been completed by the child. I overheard a group of Dads discussing their "kids" projects and how long it had taken them (the Dads) to put it all together.

Really, I just don't see the point of a science fair if Johnny goes to bed at 8PM and daddy stays up late to get it ready for the contest.

I guess I am more of a process than a product type of learner but I just don't see the point of parents living vicariously through their kids by competing in their child's science fair.

If my kids do want to compete next year, it's fine with me. But their projects will look like they were completed by a 7 year old, because they will be.

I don't feel strongly about this subject though, really I don't ;-).

Around here, science fairs are optional for 4th grade and required for grades 5th through 8th. Seven years old seems awfully young for this type of competition. I do have memories of the Boy Scout car derby and 1st grade dioramas to reference for your comments of products that are obviously not the work of the child!

Our area/county science fair was held yesterday. DS won the Best of 6th Grade, Engineering trophy and a $100 savings bond! We met one of the judges, a full time engineer and a part time college instructor, who told us that DS�s project was among the first they honed in on. DS is trilled. I hope his teachers will contact the regional science fair managers in time for entry since DS is talking about �nationals� LOL!

Yeah for delbows' DS! Glad to hear DS is trilled, Mon! (LOL, sorry for making fun of your typo. I am punchy from lack of sleep!)

BTW, I have been meaning to ask, is delbows a handle derived from Catherine's English in Henry V?

I know what you mean about the parent participation. It drives me crazy! The Pinewood derby in our area has been won by the most inept kids some years- boys who look like they can barely dress themselves, for Pete's sake.

Girl Scouts participation has been wonderful for my daughter, but we didn�t re-enroll DS again after the pinewood derby event because we were literally dumbfounded by the overt competition amongst the dads. Poor DS showed up with a block of wood with wheels that he had painted with almost every color ending with a murky purple-black. The other kids had aerodynamically designed cars sporting very detailed painted designs. We watched a few dads insist on positioning the car for their son�s to �launch� and getting angry with them if it weren�t executed to their specifications.

My handle is not that creative and I�m not that well--read!