General Discussion
Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsHow much turmoil does the science project cause familes?
Are kids today REQUIRED to enter science fairs?
OKNancy
(41,832 posts)I don't know how many products were tested, or beans planted, or two-way toothbrushes invented... but I do remember the struggle.
As a parent I hated the required science fair.
winter is coming
(11,785 posts)When my kid was in elementary school, you had to do either science fair or history fair every year, and there were years when "history fair" wasn't an option. If you were in 3rd-5th grade that meant an individual or small group projects; kids in K-2 did class-sized projects with a teacher's guidance.
In middle school, kidlet now has history fair every year but no science fair.
notadmblnd
(23,720 posts)It wasn't for a science fair, it was assigned in class. But we made a double helix with marshmallows and licorice. He looked forward to sharing it with his friends after he was graded for it.
FSogol
(45,624 posts)tridim
(45,358 posts)nadinbrzezinski
(154,021 posts)that led to my life long fascination with astronomy.
frazzled
(18,402 posts)I hated these projects as well, and tried to stay out of them as much as possible ... because I thought it was totally unfair that the parent who was an architect would always build some fabulous display thing for their kid's (otherwise, just as goofy as everyone else's) project, and would win. Or then there were the families that spent a lot of money on supplies, or the kid whose dad was a nuclear physicist. Some other kid's single mom was a drug addict and couldn't help.
My kids went to inner city public schools that at the time incorporated everything from upper-middle class families to recent immigrants. (How were the Hmong parents, whose culture doesn't even have a written language and who never attended a school supposed to compete with the highly educated families)?
How about just creating science projects at school?
LibertyLover
(4,788 posts)In grade school participation was voluntary, but in her middle school every child in all three grades had to participate. In fact, it was part of their science grade for the first marking period. I am so not looking forward to the next two years.
Response to Playinghardball (Original post)
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Control-Z
(15,682 posts)with my kids. Though, the required projects were never that involved. In the lower grades they had to do things like make a family tree, build a leprechaun trap, construct a protective egg container to drop from the roof. Things along those lines.
Upper grades, 4 - 6, had school projects/field trips workout parents. Flying to Sacramento. Spending a weekend on a Pilgrim ship - wearing period clothing and working the ship. They swabbed decks, cooked meals, kept watch through the nights. In 6th grade they went up to the mountains for a week of science camp. It snowed the year my youngest went. She had a blast!!
I felt my kids had a rich learning experience during their elementary school years. Things changed once they went on to middle school. I still helped with a few projects but was so proud when they no longer needed me and were able to pull off great projects on their own.
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