Parents, siblings and middle school faculty crowded the gym on Dec. 19 for the annual Weinberg Family Science Fair. Unlike recent years, this year’s science fair was held in Dec., rather than near the end of the second semester. This was because Director of Upper School STEM Alexandra Brown and other faculty members realized it was hard to manage the fair with the 8th grade Model Congress and Bridges Capstone Trip to Atlanta and Montgomery, Al. which are held around the same time.
The science fair is a chance for eighth-grade students to showcase the experimental projects they have been working on in their science classes and at home.
“[This project builds] pure science skills, like how to write a hypothesis, how to write a procedure and conduct experiments [and] drawing conclusions,” Brown said. “And some of them are also life skills, like how to persevere through failure.”
Eighth-grade students Lilah Meyerstein and Miriam Barkinskiy share their experiment on mold growth in bread with different moisture levels. While they faced several challenges, such as starting their experiment a bit late, Meyerstein said she learned many skills, like time management for multi-step projects and communication with partners.
“It was very fulfilling to share all of my hard work and Miriam’s hard work in detail,” Meyerstein said. “All of the hours we spent working on it, it was a lot. It took a lot of work, and it was worth it.”
Displaying the materials used to conduct his experiment, eighth-grade students Noam Serlin and Jake Forseter share their project, aiming to determine how the launch angle and design of a paper airplane affect how far it travels.
According to Serlin, they chose this experiment because they were interested in forces during their physics unit in science class and, generally, in airplanes and aerodynamics. Serlin said he enjoyed both the creative aspects of the project, such as creating a poster, along with the hands-on experimental parts. Not only did a lot go into the experiment itself, but there was also a lot of preparation and work necessary for presentations.
“[I was] nervous at first presenting the judges, but after we got that done, it was a lot easier than expected,” Serlin said. “And [there was also a] learning aspect like saying things in a clear and concise way, and presenting all of your information in five minutes when you were learning about it for a month.”
While many came to see their own kids’ projects, parents perused through other students’ experiments. Not only does the science fair allow parents to learn new science, but it also serves as a chance for them to hear about their children’s work in their science classes. This project emphasizes the scientific method while also allowing students to research something that interests them. This year, the eighth grade had a kickoff event where Matthew Weinberg, who endowed the science fair in his family’s name, spoke about his family’s love for science.
Touring the gallery, Serlin learns about his friends’ experiments. In addition to presenting their own projects, another big part of the science fair is for the students to hear about each other’s experiments. To do this, the grade is split into two groups, with one group presenting during the first shift while the other group explores the gallery and takes notes on their peer’s projects and vice versa during the second shift. This gave students a chance to see other approaches to the project in addition to supporting the work of their classmates.
“It was pretty cool to see the different projects, especially of kids who weren’t in my science class because we couldn’t really see what they were doing,” Serlin said. “And so it was really interesting to see how they conducted their experiments, especially the ones that were similar to ours, like people launching different things.”
Prior to opening up for an hour of presenting to parents and other guests, the eighth-grade students present their projects to judges. A new addition to this year’s science fair was including High School STEM Fellows in the pool of judges, which was previously made up of high school and middle school math and science teachers. While there is no so-called “winner” of the science fair, the students’ presentation scores contribute to their final grade.
Brown decided to separate the presentations to the judges from the presentations to the parents because she found that in past years, it was stressful for students to present to judges while in front of their parents. Overall, Brown said that she was very impressed with the students’ work.
“I’m proud of them getting through the process. A multi-month project is a big deal,” Brown said. “It’s hard to wrap your head around, it’s hard to make all the deadlines, it is hard to receive feedback and make changes without getting your feelings hurt. All of those things are hard and they made it through all of that. They did such an amazing job tonight. Their parents were so proud and they were very excited, it was so sweet.”
