I'll Be the Judge of That
This past week, I had the wonderful honor of being asked to act as a judge for the science fair at the Gooden Middle School (a small private middle school in Sierra Madre close to Caltech). I went along with Richard, a grad student at Tech studying Physics (black holes!) who was the other judge.
Never in my life would I ever think that I would ever be qualified to act to be a judge for a science fair for any kind, so I jumped at the chance when asked….and let’s just say I was so happy that I did! We judged all the science projects of 6th, 7th and 8th graders over 2 days…each student giving a short presentation of their experiment and results in front of their poster-board and answering questions Richard and I had for them. Projects ranged from life science to some physical science topics. Some topics: “The Effects of Antioxidants” “Does Music Help Your Memory?” “How Tornadoes Breathe” “Are Fingerprints Genetic”, etc, etc…there were a TON of different topics, and even more enthusiasm about science…and I can’t even begin to explain how undeniably CUTE a 6th grader talking about the movement of electrons is…(waaay too cute!)
The judging sheets were based on a rubric with a total score of 48, broken down into 3 different areas: Scientific Procedure, Originality and Simplicity. We also gave written comments on their presentation skills, ability to answer questions and how they could improve. Though we made some notes while they presented..the main time to judge was after the students left and we were left alone to go over each project more closely.
I had a blast, and it was really heartwarming to have seen middle school students and their interest in science. They did so well and I was impressed by the amount of understanding and enthusiasm they had—and was inspired by such young bright minds. As I watched them present, I thought about myself and how young I was when I first found science to be exciting and almost magical…I only hope that their desire to learn and question the world around them continues for years to come.
