Science Fair Follow-up and Plans

This year's Science Fair was a great success. Here is note from the coordinators sharing some of the conclusions from the parent survey as well as some plans for next year and beyond.

Thank you to all parents and teachers who gave us feedback about the Science Fair. We have analyzed the responses, listened to the suggestions, and met with the teachers to discuss the feedback. Here are some of our conclusions.

The faculty decided that it seems best to have science fairs every other year with one exception. In order to capitalize on our first experience and also to synchronize certain aspects of our curriculum with the science fair, we will hold another science fair next year, and thereafter every other year. On the off years we will have a science awareness event that will be fun, educational, and interactive for the whole family. We think students, teachers, and parents will benefit from doing the fair two years in a row this one time, because changes we want to implement will be more fresh in our minds. Also, it will keep up the momentum from all we have learned about science fairs.

We plan to incorporate the suggestion to have an information night for the parents prior to launching the next fair. Before the students start their projects the parents will meet to learn more about what is expected and to have a chance to ask questions.

We agree that communication is important, and we will do our best to improve that. Teachers are on board for being able to help more: making sure deadlines are communicated, and that work brought in to class will be checked. Teachers will also be able to help the students understand what is expected of them for their level. The older students will be given more lessons on the scientific method.

Once again, thank you for your support of this new program. We look forward to doing it again. Let us know if you have additional comments, questions or suggestions.

Sincerely, Élise Gladish and Gay Elphick

For the record, below is some of the information used during the 2008 Fair:

We are excited about this year's Science Fair!

This page provides information to help your child complete the requirements. See the bottom of the page for the documents explaining the expectations. We will be adding more information, and if you have information to share, let us know.  ~ Elise Gladish and Gay Elphick

Update on Progress

We are coming in on the home stretch for the science projects. Thurs., Mar. 6 was the deadline for students in grades 1-4 to turn in all their materials at school. Grades 5-8 will turn in their projects on Monday, Mar. 10. During school in the next week, students in each of the grades will have a chance to present their projects to their peers, teachers, and our team of evaluators, consisting of Gay, Elise, Tom Steen and Kristin Pitcairn. Students will talk about their projects and what they have learned. This can help prepare them to talk to any visitors about their projects at the event.

At the Thursday evening event, there will be no formal presentation by the students. Visitors to the fair will be able to walk around and look at each project and have a chance to ask the students about their discoveries. There will be a discovery table for younger ones to explore. This is a family event and we hope you will all be able to be there next Thursday night. Friends and visitors are encouraged to come and enjoy this first Oak Arbor Science Fair. ~ Élise Gladish and Gay Elphick

Important Dates for the Science Fair, 2008:

January 25   Students are introduced to the Science Fair
January 31   Phase 1 completed
February 14  Phase 2 completed
February 21  Grades 5-8 Phase 3 completed
February 28  Grades 5-8 Phase 4 completed
March 6        Grades 1-4 Phase 3 completed
March10       Grades 5-8 Phase 5 completed
March 13       Science Fair 7 PM

Here are some links to science project ideas and experiments, and on following the scientific method. Each link should open up in a new window or tab.

www.sciencebob.com  

www.sciencebuddies.org

www.ipl.org/div/projectguide/scientificmethod

www.sciencemadesimple.com/projects

www.isd77.k12.mn.us/resources/cf/welcome

www.tryscience.org/experiments/experiments_home

school.discoveryeducation.com/schrockguide/sci-tech/scigs

To help your child find a suitable quotation from the Word to go along with their project, you can go to the web site www.heavenlydoctrines.org. There you can look up quotations from the teachings of the New Church as well as from the Bible. For Bible quotations, scroll down the page and look for a search box for "Crosswalk". To search the Bible, type in a key word such as “horses”. Crosswalk will take you to verses that use the word “horses” in them.

If your child wants to find the spiritual meaning (the "correspondence") of a word like “horses” scroll back up to the search box at the top of that page and type in a key word. You will be linked with passages in the works of the New Church.

Another resource for learning about correspondences is the book called Language of Parable by William Worchester. You can find this book in our library.

For a copy of the requirements, click on the following links to open a pdf in a new window or tab.

Science Fair Requirements for Grades 1 and 2

Science Fair Requirements for Grades 3 and 4

Science Fair Requirements for Grades 5 thru 8