Reflections on Middle School Science Fair

anothermom2
Wed, 03 Mar 2010 14:51:37 +0000

It doesn’t sound like a great event zmom.

My kid’s middle school had science fairs, and there were no winners. Everyone for the most part did the work in school, in pairs, and got to display at the fair. I think they have a fair every other year. You get a grade for your project, and it has nothing to do with looks; it is all about whether your experiment or project works/worked. This eliminated the possibility of projects made by parents. The total middle school was less than 250 kids so the format of having all projects (125 or less) displayed worked. The kids got the experience of working with a partner which has its pros and cons, but for the most part seemed to add to the interest of the students.

There were many other projects in other subjects done at home, and of course many were done by parents. My D’s grade school teacher found D’s own sewing too sloppy, and I had to redo it. The lesson there was…? We never liked that lady.

In my own grade school, a 5th grader brought in a project cut with a power saw. I wonder who ran the saw on that? I always thought the Dad did the work. Mine was a disaster since my parents wanted us to do our own work.