Science Fair

So last week was the school science fair. Maddie's project was to include an actual experiment, and she decided that she wanted to compare regular grocery store eggs with the free range organic eggs we've been getting in our neighborhood. She made three recipes: scrambled eggs, chocolate souffles, and a ham and spinach quiche.
You can't really see the difference in color in this picture, but it is pretty pronounced. The other thing she noticed is that the organic eggs are more viscous, and particularly the membrane around the yolk is a lot stronger which you can see, because the ones on the left broke when they fell in the bowl. Everyone noticed a difference in taste in the scrambled eggs, and preferred the organic eggs. No one could tell once there was chocolate or ham and cheese present.
It is always difficult to find a project that your child is interested in, and something they can really own -- this was good because Maddie could do most of the cooking, and she learned a lot for herself; she's a big supporter now of Clifford Farms and buying our eggs there.

Will's project only had to be researching some scientific topic. So he chose bats and studied up on them. Our interest was piqued because we'd just been to the Bean museum where the janitor had come upon a bat and we got to see him up close. And we wanted to find out where to place Rob's Christmas present: the bat house from his brother and sister-in-law. He's pretty excited about it. I think if they want to hang around, they'll find a way into the attic.
But it was also a good science project. Rob and Will typed up everything using a comic strip font, and Will was "Bat Boy", a super-scientific hero.
Science fair is always a big drain on the family in terms of the time, money and energy we spend, but the kids love it and it's one of the high points of their academic year. We think they should feel like they can contribute scientifically. And getting out of a day of classes to receive ribbons isn't bad either!
Sebastian decided that he wanted to do one too, so we gave him leftover pictures from Will's project, and an old display board from Maddie's electric pickle project, and he glued together his own science project. Thank heavens we won't have to do three for a while yet.

Comments

Lois said…
How fun! I remember going to that school to see my niece's and nephews' science fair projects (who are they kidding? It was really my SISTER's science fair projects that her kids just stood in front of). Our school doesn't do science fairs. Sounds like they had a lot of fun!

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