Science Fair

Tonight was the home school group science fair. My friend works hard at putting together a wonderful evening!

Not surprisingly my kids love different parts of the process. As always, Aria knew she wanted to be a part of it, what exactly she wanted to do and how it would be done. My only role was to pass the tools to her and type up a tiny bit of information she got tired of writing. She choose to do potions, to mix together things found around the kitchen (vinegar, baking soda, corn starch, water, gum, sugar, lemon juice, flower petals, etc). She recorded what happened when they were mixed. After doing some reading about accidental inventions, as a total aside, she put the two together and decide to put some of these on her board because "you never know what you might get when they are mixed together!"

Ben took his very seriously. He also needed no guiding, his love of rocks directed his project and specifically how to identify a mineral. He came up with the whole concept that mineralogists are like detectives and the characteristics are like clues. He hid the clues on his board and had hands on demonstrations for each of them, including a hardness testing machine (scelerometer) model out of Lego. Again I was just the tool to make things happening, like typing what he told me to do and cutting out letters, etc. He had such a clear vision, such a drive to put it together.

Elias took a long time to decide what he wanted to do. I suggested optical illusions, Dad took it one step further and took him to the library to check out some very cool books. Once he was interested he started rolling. He was fascinated to learn how the brain could be tricked, that it wasn't his eye. He was amazed that something as complicated and fascinating as your brain could be fooled. He dreaded the 'presentation' part, which really isn't as formal as it sounds. People (kids and adults)walk around the tables and look at each display, some ask questions, other leave comments. Often the child who did the presentation is walking around-hence the comment card. So what he dreaded was the thought of someone asking him to explain it. It happened, people asked...and he said it went really well.

There are a few things about the science fair I really love. The process for my kids, choosing something, following where it goes and presenting it. They totally embrace this process, without dread, they freely choose to participate. I also love watching the kids share their projects with others- adults and kids alike. Watching two kids standing in front of a display sharing what they think was pretty cool on the board. It was a great night.