The DPS District Science Fair was a lot of fun, as usual. We had a kind of ridiculous number of judges this year - not that a large number of volunteers is a bad thing - so we did most of the fair in teams. I actually rather like team judging, since it means that the kids tend to be more thoroughly questioned about their project. Judges seem to have a couple favorite lines of questioning, and as long as they don't overlap that means we're generally more thorough.
Of course, my own favorite sorts of questions are:
- Now that you've done your whole project, if you could change one or more things about your experiment design or your hypothesis, what would you do? (I like this question, since it shows if they've really thought about what they did and picked out sources of error.)
- Can you explain [insert basic scientific principle behind the experiment here] to me? (Which shows if they actually understood any of the research they did.)
This time I got a boot up into middle school, looking at eighth grade projects. To be honest, the three my team looked at didn't really wow me... they all had some serious design issues, and in one case the student couldn't explain the basic scientific concept behind their experiment. Which was sad, since the experiment itself would have been a good one if there'd been some deeper understanding there. Also, as usual everyone had "literature" cited on their boards, but very few students incorporated it into their discussion or conclusion.
So parents, if you're reading this - make sure your kid actually incorporates their research into their experiment and understand it! Otherwise, it really gives the impression that they looked up a bunch of sources and just stuck them on the board because they had to, without actually reading and understanding anything.
Which, I suppose, really prepares them to be freshmen in college, huh.
The thing that set all of the grade winners out this year was definitely use of research - the first place in each grade actually did additional research after their project was done, so they could discuss their possible sources of error or reasons for unexpected results. Which is quite charming. And the winner for all of middle school was a sixth grader, which was pretty surprising. He did a model rocket project which involved testing different design elements, predicting how they would affect the flight of the rocket, and then figuring out why things didn't go the way he predicted when they inevitably didn't. It was pretty impressive.
Anyway, for a bit of excitement, I realized that the Colorado State Science and Engineering Fair has its judging on a Thursday. Now that I've dropped a class, I'm free that day, so I can participate in that one! And it's even more exciting because this year, I can be sure I won't come down with mono again. Wahoo.
It's cold as hell here right now, and only going to get colder. I'm doing an experiment of my own - I pinned blankets over the patio door, since that seems to turn into a little wind tunnel at times, and I'm going to see if the house stays a little warmer. Tengu is already mad as all get out because he was content to stay away from the patio door until the blankets went up, and then he had to OMG LOOK OUT THERE RIGHT NOW. Except I won't let him, since he might pull the blankets down. Yay for cat drama.
Really, I'm just looking forward to making like The Day After Tomorrow and running away from the cold air. It's something to do, since in a moment of brilliance I left my homework at school, where it's going to do me a lot of good. I'm really not looking forward to trying to get to school tomorrow morning, considering this morning it took about two hours each way.
Also, I've added some amazing entries to my "Undergrads say the darndest things" file, but I feel like I shouldn't share them until after the semester is done.
Monday, January 31, 2011
Monday, January 17, 2011
Science Fair Season
Ah, it's that glorious season, when the sale of tri-fold boards spikes, and eager young scientists stand ready to excitedly tell judges how they grew mold on bread or watered plants with a variety of appalling substances. It's science fair season!
I actually feel a little sad about it this year. Because of my class and teaching1 schedule, the only one I can possibly volunteer for is the DPS District Science Fair, since it's on a Saturday. The rest take place on weekdays, when I can't afford to miss. I'm particularly disappointed that I'll have to miss the Colorado state science fair again. That's the one I missed last year because I'd just come down with mono and, I was informed, looked like I was going to die.
Bread mold jokes aside, this sort of volunteering is something that anyone who cares about science education should take seriously. Particularly when it comes to people who make their living in the sciences (either in academia or in the private sector) it really does make a huge difference for kids to meet us as judges. It's one thing to hear about how cool science is in school, and another entirely to meet real grown ups who do real science for a living.
To my fellow Coloradoans, particularly any Denverites that might be reading this, it's time to get involved!
Denver Public Schools science fair information
Denver metro science fair information
Colorado state science fair information
If you're not a Colorado resident, don't despair - there are science fairs everywhere in the country, and this is the time of year they get started, preparing for the International Science Fair. If you're interested in judging for a fair, a good place to start looking for your local events is on the Intel ISEF website. Though that's by no means an exhaustive list and all you really need is some Google-fu.
Make a kid's day. Make a difference. And as a bonus, there are normally cookies.
1 - Still feels so, so weird to be saying that.
I actually feel a little sad about it this year. Because of my class and teaching1 schedule, the only one I can possibly volunteer for is the DPS District Science Fair, since it's on a Saturday. The rest take place on weekdays, when I can't afford to miss. I'm particularly disappointed that I'll have to miss the Colorado state science fair again. That's the one I missed last year because I'd just come down with mono and, I was informed, looked like I was going to die.
Bread mold jokes aside, this sort of volunteering is something that anyone who cares about science education should take seriously. Particularly when it comes to people who make their living in the sciences (either in academia or in the private sector) it really does make a huge difference for kids to meet us as judges. It's one thing to hear about how cool science is in school, and another entirely to meet real grown ups who do real science for a living.
To my fellow Coloradoans, particularly any Denverites that might be reading this, it's time to get involved!
Denver Public Schools science fair information
Denver metro science fair information
Colorado state science fair information
If you're not a Colorado resident, don't despair - there are science fairs everywhere in the country, and this is the time of year they get started, preparing for the International Science Fair. If you're interested in judging for a fair, a good place to start looking for your local events is on the Intel ISEF website. Though that's by no means an exhaustive list and all you really need is some Google-fu.
Make a kid's day. Make a difference. And as a bonus, there are normally cookies.
1 - Still feels so, so weird to be saying that.
Saturday, January 01, 2011
Agora
Home from England, safe and sound. I've been fed (thanks to my parents) and have also taken a shower so I no longer smell like the inside of a plane. So really, I'm feeling refreshed and human again, but incredibly tired. I knew we'd gotten back into the US of A when, upon entering the immigration area, there was a TSA agent wandering around and telling everyone that we had to keep our cell phones off because it was illegal to have them on. For no apparent reason. Oh capricious and ridiculous airport security, I haven't missed you at all.
I spent most of the flight back watching movies. One of them was Agora, which is a movie about the fall of Alexandria to the Christians and the death of Hypatia. So, I expected it to be a very depressing movie, because we all know what happens to Hypatia.**
What I didn't expect was how angry the movie made me feel. Not angry at the movie, but just angry, the emotion building up from helpless frustration.
One image the movie kept coming back to was the library of Alexandria, after it had been ransacked by the Christians. The movie showed it as basically being destroyed inside, the scrolls torn up or gone entirely because they'd been burned, and animals were then penned inside it. The willful, gleeful disregard and hatred of knowledge made me angry, even if it was just a movie, even if it was an event that happened over a thousand years ago.
Then I think about our modern day situation, say, with John Shimkus on the Energy and Environment subcommittee, claiming that global climate change can't be true because of something the Bible says. And I feel exactly the same sort of building, helpless frustration, because I don't think we've really changed at all since Hypatia was flayed and dragged through the streets of Alexandria.
It's a good movie. Watch it. Be prepared to cry at the end. And to feel angry, so angry, every time you see the destroyed library, every time someone makes an argument based completely on illogic and blind belief that simply can't be refuted because no one would listen.
** - Just in case you don't know, let's just say that the Christians didn't give her chocolates and an award for being female, outspoken, and interested in science.
I spent most of the flight back watching movies. One of them was Agora, which is a movie about the fall of Alexandria to the Christians and the death of Hypatia. So, I expected it to be a very depressing movie, because we all know what happens to Hypatia.**
What I didn't expect was how angry the movie made me feel. Not angry at the movie, but just angry, the emotion building up from helpless frustration.
One image the movie kept coming back to was the library of Alexandria, after it had been ransacked by the Christians. The movie showed it as basically being destroyed inside, the scrolls torn up or gone entirely because they'd been burned, and animals were then penned inside it. The willful, gleeful disregard and hatred of knowledge made me angry, even if it was just a movie, even if it was an event that happened over a thousand years ago.
Then I think about our modern day situation, say, with John Shimkus on the Energy and Environment subcommittee, claiming that global climate change can't be true because of something the Bible says. And I feel exactly the same sort of building, helpless frustration, because I don't think we've really changed at all since Hypatia was flayed and dragged through the streets of Alexandria.
It's a good movie. Watch it. Be prepared to cry at the end. And to feel angry, so angry, every time you see the destroyed library, every time someone makes an argument based completely on illogic and blind belief that simply can't be refuted because no one would listen.
** - Just in case you don't know, let's just say that the Christians didn't give her chocolates and an award for being female, outspoken, and interested in science.
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