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  • PhDs and ABCs: Science Fair

    By Dana Campbell November 19, 2008 4:59 am

    My daughter came home from school with a slick science fair booklet last Friday along with a homework assignment to begin initial explorations into the topic she had chosen in class: “Do different colors of light change how plants grow?” She is excited. This is her first year doing a science fair project. I’ve never done one either, and I’m impressed at how much parents are encouraged to assist with carrying it out. At back to school night, the teacher passed out a science fair booklet written for parents, and discussed at length the importance of supporting this project at home. Well, we thought, with advanced degrees in biology that shouldn’t be too hard.

    Friday night, after my daughter went to bed, my husband (also a biologist) and I had a science fair project pow-wow. It started with us thinking about what kinds of seeds would be best to use for this kind of experiment. I wanted to make sure that we could order seeds online with enough time to do the experiment, since the last time we were at the garden shop they had a slim selection (being winter and all…). And our conversation grew from there. Soon, our simple Google search for seeds turned into full-fledged research. How many seeds she would need required us to look into sample size and numbers of treatments. This easily flowed into a discussion of experimental design. Before we knew it we had dug up all sorts of scientific papers describing plant experiments. We discovered that while growth in many seed types is not affected by wavelength, far-red light does inhibit germination in lettuce seeds. A discussion of how we could separate far-red wavelengths from red light ensued. We started talking about pilot experiments, measurements, statistics, controls.The project pulled us in, the complexities exciting to think about collaboratively. But WAY beyond fourth grade level.

    It is clear that my daughter’s science project will not be a superficial experiment. With two academically trained biologists for parents (who have spent much of our lives working on our own experiments as well as leading college students in designing, carrying out and analyzing science experiments) and solicitation for parental help coming strongly from her teacher, my daughter won’t be shining lights on seeds willy-nilly. We will make sure that the process is done right. At the same time, it’s going to be a learning experience for all of us – my husband and I will be learning how to simplify and restrain ourselves from the rigorous completeness we would otherwise throw into this kind of project, and figuring out what expectations are appropriate, while still retaining the integrity of the scientific process. We need make sure we can express our enthusiasm without overwhelming our developing scientist, so that even if she doesn’t decide to pursue a career in science, she will have a healthy respect for, enjoyment of, and understanding of the process.

    A different facet of the complex challenge of balancing academia and family.

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Comments on PhDs and ABCs: Science Fair

  • Whoa!
  • Posted by Karen D on November 19, 2008 at 9:00am EST

  • Yes, I would say restraint is called for! It's great to be able to share what you do with your child this way, but remember it's her project and her learning. I think asking her good questions and helping her along when she's not sure of the answers is a great way to participate. Maybe you should take her to the store to try and buy seeds just so she sees and gets why there aren't many selections this time of year. She may need to settle for short cuts you won't be entirely comfortable with just so it's manageable for her.

  • Whose project?
  • Posted by Lisa Maruca on November 19, 2008 at 11:55am EST

  • My son did his first project last year in 5th grade. His school wisely encouraged parents (strongly) to step away from the project, reminding us (again firmly) that this was supposed to be a learning opportunity for the student. Luckily, I'm an English prof so that was not a hard sell.

    I do have a more difficult time when it comes to his papers, but his again his teachers urge restraint. They worry that parents who help too much actually undermine their children's belief that they can do it themselves. And as I think about those kids approaching their college years and entering my class, I do want them to feel ownership over their own learning. The process is more important than the product.

  • Posted by Erin on November 19, 2008 at 1:25pm EST

  • What would happen if your daughter does a mediocre project that has been done a million times and doesn't even get an honorable mention? She will learn that projects are hard work, that if she wants to excell at the next science fair that she must find a more orignal or better researched project, and that her parents love her and are proud of her even when she is not the best. Sounds like a successful science fair to me!

  • Who's fishing?
  • Posted by Ada at UCC on November 19, 2008 at 1:35pm EST

  • Doing the brainstorming and the research for the science project without the child's involvement misses the point of the exercise entirely. Though it's more fun and intellectually satisfying for the parents to catch the fish, they are in essence preventing their child from learning how to fish. If the science project is too sophisticated for the child to understand, then who's doing the learning?

    Many parents are faced with children being assigned projects that require additional home schooling. Is it because the complexity of our knowledge is too great for the teachers to teach or is it because the standards of teaching and being a student has fallen?

  • Posted by Lisa on November 19, 2008 at 4:40pm EST

  • To temper the "aaaaah back away back away!" message (although I agree with it in general) I do want to say that it's a very good thing to talk to her about the scientific aspects of the project - not just the cookie-cutter hypothesis-experiment-results form, but helping her see that there's something interesting in all the details, and that there are many factors to think about and study - seed type and number, for a start.

    I wish I'd had that kind of support for my science projects, which always ended up being hasty which-laundry-cleaner-works-better type things. It was just a thing we had to do to go through the motions of showing that we got the idea... but there wasn't a lot of room for passion or interest. I wish someone had told me that the things I was studying actually had implications for things that mattered (like hydroponics, in this case), and were questions that Real People found interesting too. Showing her that you think the topic is interesting can help keep her interest up as well. But you do have to walk the tightrope of keeping it her project, not badgering her or taking over.

    Best of luck! Hope she has a great time and learns a lot.

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