2011 Science Fair

Well, the 2011 Science Fair is in the bag.  (Hear the bells ringing and all the rejoycing??)  Yes, even though there was much whining (by me), we did survive, and, maybe, even thrived.  I complain a lot about the science fair and I am vowing to change that.  It's just that I feel completely inadequate when it comes to choosing projects, finding supplies, etc. (I'm telling you, million dollar business opportunity).  I do think it's important for kids to participate in them though, it concerns me how the US is lagging further and further behind our countries when it comes to math and science.  Teaching kids that science is fun! and interesting! would go a long way towards changing that.  (For the record though, I HATE it when teachers assign the science fair.  That definitely takes it out of the fun! and interesting! category.)

Jacob elected to do a project this year on mapping taste buds.  It was super-interesting.  You take four substances; bitter, salty, sweet and sour and map where your tongue tastes them the best.  He did a great job.

Julianna's project was on magnets.  It wasn't the flashiest, nor the most innovative project, but she learned a lot about magnets and had fun, so I thought it was a big success.  I'm still a little bitter that her teacher graded it and marked it down because it didn't have information presented in paragraph form.  I was under the impression that they had to do a project on weather OR a project of their choice, and I thought if they did a project of their choice they could do it their way.  She was devastated when she saw she had been marked off.  Oh well.  Definitely not her fault.

Now, if any of you are super-scientists, you might note that the taste bud map on Jacob's project is wrong.  Yup.  But what's a scientist (or more accurately, a parent of a scientist), to do?  (He doesn't know it's wrong.)  He did the experiments and all of our data matched perfectly.  Later on I was doing some reading and discovered that where we felt the sour taste buds were, are not where they are.  Oh well, maybe our family tongues are different.  I wasn't going to burst his bubble and make him feel like a failure.  He worked hard, he did the experiments, we went with his data.

There was an incredible presentation by a wonderful scientist who, I swear, if he could teach all our kids would have us first in the world in science and enthusiasm in no time.  Jacob was chosen to be one of his helpers and his demonstrations on physics and gravity and all kinds of things above my head, was awesome.

Best of all, at the end of the evening, they both were proud to pose with their certificates and happy with their accomplishments.  Yay!  Mission Accomplished!  Now, anyone have any great ideas for next year??


If you're looking for inspiration, we've actually done some pretty cool projects.  Last year Jacob did experiments with density, Julianna experimented with how flowers absorb water.  The year before Jacob tested brands of popcorn to see which popped best and had the least unpopped kernels, Julianna's was about the importance of washing hands.  Jacob, the first year he participated did the carnations and colored water experiment as well.   If you'd ever like any details, not that I consider us experts by far, I'd be happy to share.