Reflections on Middle School Science Fair

Treetopleaf
Wed, 03 Mar 2010 18:39:51 +0000

What a shame. I agree with you, zmom. I’m not surprised, though. IMO most grade school teachers are not generally able to determine what is scientific, or what uses the scientific method, and what doesn’t. So they rely on looks. So stupid. BTW my sister teaches 6th grade science, but that is what she majored in at college - middle school science. It is the only thing she teaches. They have fairs w/o judging, just displays. She does lots of labs. I wish my kid had had her instead of the insipid ‘science’ she received in middle school.

I read a lot of kid science books to my daughter throughout grade school, and frankly that is the only way for most kids today to get a decent exposure to science. The schools have watered it down a great deal.

I agree w/pursuing Science Olympiad - but the school needs to have a team, and most schools don’t have teams.