As Middle School parents know, our 6th to 8th graders have started on their science fair projects. I hope ALL of our families, regardless of whether your student is in Pre-K or 8th grade, will come see the students present their projects and findings on March 8th, either in the morning or the evening.
Why do we continue with this tradition of Science Fairs that became popular in American schools after WWII? Because, as the President recently reminded us in the State of the Union Speech, teaching to the test is not enough. We want all of our students to develop skills and a comfort level with hands-on application of the scientific process. This requires them to develop an idea or hypothesis (asking a question about how the world works), to develop a scheme to test their idea, then gather and evaluate evidence to form a conclusion. They may reach an answer, or they may learn that an answer is elusive. Either way, they learn how to think critically and express themselves clearly, two key skills that they will need regardless of their future careers. They also get their hands dirty, so to speak, not just reading about or watching a video of someone else doing research, but learning that they can do their own.
“Science fairs develop skills that reach down to everybody’s lives, whether you want to be a scientist or not,” explains Michele Glidden, a director at the Society for Science & the Public. The beauty of being an independent school like Friends School is that we are not overwhelmed by standardized testing. We have room to teach both content and critical skills and processes that students will need in high school, college and beyond. The Middle School Science Fair is a great example of hands-on project-based learning in action.
