Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums General Discussion Science Fair experiment didn't work

Thanks Dbat. That's funny about the maple syrup, etc. My kids probably would have done that if I had left it completely to their own devices. It would have been ugly.

The school was pretty clear that they expected parental involvement and what it should look like, with a hypothesis, data tables, conclusion, etc. No way would early elem. be able to do something like that on their own. It was not judged and there were no prizes, but there were designated adults going around asking the kids about their projects. I wasn't there but DD said she talked to the principal and her science teacher and her science teacher took a picture of her with her poster board. Someone asked her why nothing was over 1 and she was able to say the hypothesis about the screw (thanks to this thread and me explaining it to her).

Okay, I get it (kind of). It's about having an activity and being involved in it.

I suppose I question the school's wisdom in having such an activity. It just looks like the school is engaged in self-interested puffery.

It was optional, and probably only about 10 percent of kids participated. We filled out a form saying we were doing the project and the title so I was panicking thinking we'd have to back out since the results didn't make any sense. It's too bad not everyone did a project, but at least it wasn't required which wouldn't be fair to kids who don't have help. But even if a kid just slapped something together like maple syrup and corn syrup, it would have been fine since it wasn't graded or judged.

Sorry--as usual, I need to remember to give more context/explanation!! So DD's school is a very small, private Montessori school, where the concept was just to teach the kids how to make a hypothesis and test it; there was [officially] no competition, and no awards, etc. And it's very laid back--hence the 'misunderstanding' or whatever about the level of parental involvement. So it works very well for us, since DD is eccentric to say the least, and the teacher is very tolerant and lets her bring in her own math books (that we are happy to purchase), and is also letting her work ahead in language arts although we are less clear on that--our reports basically come from DD, who is kind of like Luna Lovegood. Unless there is a problem and then we hear from the teacher, which we are happy not to have happen.

I fear for our family when we have to go to a more 'regular' school next year or the year after, because I think it will be at least an order of magnitude more formal and that is not something any of us are very good at handling.

Well I think science fairs in general can be confusing, as to where to draw the line with parental involvement.
Some schools seem better than others in making a statement about what parents should or should not do...
For younger kids of course it makes sense to have lots of involvement...

A lot of projects are like this, frankly, but I did find a good science fair handbook that helps draw the child through most of the process via question and answer, so that is helpful for me to keep my big nose out.