Friday, November 18, 2005

Science fair, part II

One of my Girl Scouts said "hippomopatus" last night. I was amused.

These jewels come from the middle school science fair I judged on Wednesday . . .
  • One student studied his urine. He drank 84 oz. of a different liquid on four different days - milk, water, Gatorade, and Coke. He measured the volume of urine he produced and recorded the color of the urine. This whole experiment kind of freaked me out, and I was hesitant to touch the notebook that accompanied the project. The thing that saved this project in my mind was the fact that this kid had a great sense of humor (albeit a little corny). At the end of his introduction, he wrote, "Ur-ine for some surprising information."
  • I learned that popcorn was first discovered in the Bat Cave. Now, I immediately thought of the Bat Cave as in Bruce Wayne, Batman, Alfred, etc. I was doubtful. Turns out, she was correct, but it's the Bat Cave in New Mexico, not Gotham.
  • Many of the projects were written in a friendly casual tone instead of the traditional straight-laced scientific style. One of my favorites included the following: "Yes, at first it was hard, but then it got easier by the end of it . . . But I would love for all of you to enjoy."
Thus concludes my commentary on middle school science fair projects. I'm signed up to judge another fair in a couple of weeks, so there may be more to come.

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