We spent most of our drive to Capitol Reef talking about the STEM fair, trying to figure out what kind of projects the kids were interested in doing. After all of that, we landed on a couple of questions the kids were interested in answering, and projects that they wanted to do.
The next Monday, we registered for the fair.
The next Saturday, we spent the first half of the day working on their projects. I was able to work with Lucas on his project about how sound moves through solid objects, and Karl worked with Mirah on her project about the effect that Sodium Bicarbonate has on cookies.
Mirah’s Project:
Half of the time you take on these projects is thinking about how you are going to organize them. Karl and Mirah had a pretty clear picture. They would mix all of the wet ingredients into a bowl:
Then they would put equal amounts of it into previously labeled bowls:
Then they would add the wet ingredients into 5 separate bowls. They put the same weighed amount in each bowl.
A. None, B. Half C. Normal D. Double C. Quadruple
Then they added the dry ingredients in the same way, weighing each to make sure that bicarbonate, or baking soda, was the only variable that was different.
They then made sure that they added the same about of chocolate chips to each batch, and made balls that each weighed 50grams
They even baked them on the same tray at the same time in the same oven.
Here are the results:
None: NO rise, and raw inside.
Half: A little raw, some rise.
Noraml: Normal cookie.
Double: A little hight rise, not that much different.
Quadruple: not that different, bad taste.
Lucas’s Project
After a false start with Lucas with a project about static electricity, we worked on a project about the way sound vibrations move through solid objects. It became a project about which thing it moves through best.
Through a process of elimination, we discovered that yarn does NOT conduct sound well, and that kite string does the best. Less and more tight vibrations. We were able to get almost 50 feet apart.
The Boards
Once the projects were done, we spent the next Monday making the boards. Besides printing the pictures, Mirah did most of the work herself. Karl helped her make the graph, but she was able to put a lot of it together.
This was, my favorite part.
The Fair:
The day of the fair finally arrived. Most of my work on the fair had been working with the school administrators, teachers, and district over 4 years. The work with my kids was a joy. The work with the school was a nightmare. BUT the kids were happy, and their projects were there, and they learned about the scientific method, and I can’t be more happy about that.
I was able to wrangle my mom to come be a judge for the STEM Fair!
And my mom was able to wrangle a couple of her friends to be judges for our fair!
As they arrived, the Dragon Parade started:
Then we headed down to do orientation with Ms. Naval about judging.
The kids were separated into Judges Projects, and Non-Judged projects. The 5th and 6th graders were put into the judged group, since they would be competing to see who could move onto the District fair. The K-4th projects were for presentation only. All the kids did so great.
Here is Lucas with his Project!
Here is Mirah with hers:
The kids were all so cute.
It was a LONG day. But I am so thankful they were able to participate in a science fair!