Everyday Educator - Help Me Help My Student — Science Fair
00:00:00.000 | (upbeat music)
00:00:03.000 | - Welcome friends to this episode
00:00:05.720 | of the "Everyday Educator" podcast.
00:00:08.520 | I'm your host, Lisa Bailey,
00:00:10.200 | and I'm excited to spend some time with you today
00:00:13.520 | as we encourage one another, learn together,
00:00:16.760 | and ponder the delights and challenges
00:00:19.600 | that make homeschooling the adventure of a lifetime.
00:00:23.000 | Whether you're just considering
00:00:25.520 | this homeschooling possibility
00:00:27.520 | or deep into the daily delight of family learning,
00:00:31.760 | I believe you'll enjoy thinking along with us.
00:00:35.200 | But don't forget,
00:00:36.920 | although this online community is awesome,
00:00:40.440 | you'll find even closer support in a local CC community.
00:00:45.440 | So go to classicalconversations.com
00:00:49.720 | and find a community near you today.
00:00:54.400 | Well, listeners, I'm excited to talk to you today
00:00:57.400 | about a topic that grew dearer to my heart
00:01:02.120 | as my years of tutoring went on.
00:01:05.640 | We're gonna talk about the science fair project today,
00:01:10.160 | and I can remember when that was not
00:01:14.000 | my favorite topic of discussion.
00:01:16.160 | And I can remember the years of shepherding my own students
00:01:20.240 | through the process and sometimes loving it
00:01:23.000 | and sometimes ruining the day we ever got started with it.
00:01:26.880 | But I have a very encouraging guest,
00:01:30.240 | one who has lots of answers to share,
00:01:33.240 | and Emily Martin has come to be the guest today.
00:01:37.080 | Emily is the academic advisor
00:01:41.200 | who gives all manner of good counsel and advice
00:01:46.200 | to parents and directors for challenges A, B, and 1.
00:01:51.680 | And Emily is gonna help walk us through
00:01:56.400 | the beauties and delights of the science fair project.
00:02:00.160 | Emily, thank you so much for agreeing to come on today.
00:02:03.840 | - Well, thank you for having me.
00:02:05.700 | - I think that this is gonna be a lot of fun.
00:02:08.520 | Let me ask you this.
00:02:10.120 | Were you a science-loving kid growing up?
00:02:15.120 | - So I would say I've always had an interest in science.
00:02:21.160 | - Oh, cool.
00:02:22.000 | - But I can't say that I've always understood science.
00:02:26.560 | - Okay, now see, that is a really great distinction.
00:02:30.680 | So you as a child were interested in science things
00:02:35.080 | or in asking questions maybe and knowing why,
00:02:39.040 | but you didn't always feel like you totally got it?
00:02:42.360 | - Right, yeah.
00:02:43.240 | So I enjoyed always watching "The Magic School Bus"
00:02:47.200 | or I would always be interested in science in school,
00:02:52.200 | but it was the why things are the way they are
00:02:57.560 | were always difficult for me to fully understand.
00:03:02.120 | - Right, right.
00:03:03.520 | I remember that I loved to read.
00:03:10.720 | And so I like to read all kinds of stuff
00:03:13.680 | and I liked to read science books
00:03:18.680 | and I liked to think about experiments
00:03:22.200 | and I liked to know why things happened.
00:03:26.000 | But you know what?
00:03:26.960 | I think as a child,
00:03:28.160 | it was for a very narrow spectrum of things.
00:03:32.600 | Like I was really interested in the things
00:03:35.000 | I was interested in and not so much about the things
00:03:39.840 | that had never dawned on me
00:03:42.480 | or had never piqued my interest.
00:03:43.920 | So I don't know if I would say that I myself
00:03:47.320 | was a big science person,
00:03:49.760 | but I do remember my kids really loving to experiment,
00:03:54.760 | especially when they were little,
00:03:57.720 | they were always asking me,
00:03:59.280 | "What would happen if we did this?"
00:04:02.520 | And I would say, "Well, I mean, I don't know."
00:04:05.440 | "Well, can we try it?"
00:04:07.120 | You know, and my knee-jerk reaction was,
00:04:09.280 | "No, of course not, that's gonna make a mess
00:04:11.440 | or it's gonna use up something in my kitchen
00:04:15.000 | or we're gonna spill something
00:04:16.720 | or you're gonna get dirty
00:04:17.920 | or that's gonna take a long time
00:04:19.400 | or I have to go buy something."
00:04:21.200 | But then I would stop myself.
00:04:22.800 | As a homeschooling mom, I would stop and say,
00:04:25.680 | "Okay, let's see how far we can chase their curiosity."
00:04:30.680 | And so I can remember doing experiments on buoyancy
00:04:36.000 | when my daughter was five
00:04:38.760 | and it all started because she wanted to know,
00:04:40.600 | will this rock float in my bathtub
00:04:42.880 | and what about my Polly Pocket?
00:04:44.560 | And so I let them chase their curiosity.
00:04:49.560 | Were your kids curious when they were little?
00:04:53.640 | - Yes, they were.
00:04:55.040 | I remember doing a lot of experiments
00:04:57.480 | during the winter time.
00:04:58.840 | - Oh.
00:05:00.080 | - If I put a cup of water outside, will it freeze?
00:05:03.000 | - Yeah.
00:05:03.920 | - Yeah, a lot of that.
00:05:06.080 | Yeah, especially my boys.
00:05:07.520 | My boys were always very, very curious.
00:05:10.440 | Got all sorts of things, especially space.
00:05:13.240 | And we got my son a telescope at the age of six.
00:05:18.120 | So, and we stayed up late one night
00:05:19.760 | so he can look at the moon through the telescope.
00:05:22.640 | And my daughter just the other day
00:05:25.960 | found a bunch of beakers that we have.
00:05:30.160 | And I currently direct Challenge One
00:05:32.760 | and we have to have those
00:05:33.920 | for a lot of the Challenge One experiments.
00:05:36.160 | - Right.
00:05:37.000 | - And so I'd taken them home and had to wash them out.
00:05:39.480 | They were all over the counter.
00:05:40.520 | Well, she decided, she's 10.
00:05:42.440 | She's like, "I'm going to grab these beakers
00:05:43.760 | and I'm going to do a space project."
00:05:45.520 | And they were all over the floor.
00:05:47.120 | And she was checking the temperature of water
00:05:51.360 | and mixing things up in these beakers.
00:05:53.840 | And there were probably six of them
00:05:55.320 | all over my kitchen floor.
00:05:57.080 | - Oh my word.
00:05:57.920 | - And that was one of those moments I had to hold back
00:05:59.600 | and say, "Don't worry about the mess.
00:06:01.400 | It's about the curiosity."
00:06:03.440 | - Yeah.
00:06:04.280 | Well, and she was learning to use some of the tools
00:06:07.560 | that a scientist uses.
00:06:09.480 | That's what I was going to ask you.
00:06:11.280 | How is it, how can we help our children,
00:06:15.400 | even our little kids, our younger kids,
00:06:18.440 | think like a scientist?
00:06:20.280 | And what is it that we can do at home
00:06:24.400 | without a curriculum or without a textbook necessarily
00:06:31.320 | to help our kids think like a scientist?
00:06:35.600 | - I love this question because I found myself,
00:06:39.480 | even as a young mom, before we started CEC,
00:06:44.080 | instead of giving my children the answers,
00:06:46.160 | I asked them more questions.
00:06:48.880 | So for example, they would say,
00:06:50.600 | "Mom, what would happen if I picked this flower?"
00:06:53.720 | And so, "Well, okay, let's think about it.
00:06:56.080 | What are the parts of the flower?"
00:06:58.000 | And they might say, "Well, petals and leaves
00:07:00.480 | and a stem and roots."
00:07:02.480 | Like, "Yep, that's right."
00:07:03.800 | "Okay, so now what happens when you pick that flower?
00:07:07.880 | What parts of the flower do you have now?"
00:07:10.360 | And they might say, "The petals and the leaves and the stem."
00:07:13.240 | "Okay, so what do we know about the roots?"
00:07:15.840 | "Oh, the roots help give it water.
00:07:18.400 | It helps suck up the water and it gives it its food, right?"
00:07:23.120 | And, "Okay, so if you pick a flower
00:07:25.560 | and the roots are not on it anymore,
00:07:28.000 | then what do you think might happen to the flower?"
00:07:31.080 | And they'd say, "Oh, it can't get the food anymore
00:07:33.320 | and it might die."
00:07:34.360 | "Well, there you go.
00:07:35.400 | So what happens when you pick a flower?"
00:07:37.160 | "Oh, well, it'll eventually die."
00:07:40.080 | And so, it's asking more questions
00:07:42.480 | instead of giving the answers.
00:07:44.720 | You help them think through that whole process.
00:07:47.440 | - That's great.
00:07:50.720 | I mean, and that is so easy.
00:07:52.600 | And people are gonna listen to this podcast, Emily,
00:07:56.200 | and think, "Oh, well, that is so obvious."
00:07:59.280 | You just keep asking them questions
00:08:00.920 | and you just keep going deeper and deeper and deeper.
00:08:05.200 | And it is so obvious, but we don't do it sometimes.
00:08:09.400 | Or we think that we really need a science book
00:08:12.880 | or a science unit study or some kind of curriculum
00:08:16.960 | in order to help our children think like a scientist.
00:08:20.920 | But your example is perfect.
00:08:24.320 | And it reminds me of a story that I heard one time
00:08:28.000 | of a really famous scientist,
00:08:30.680 | and I can't remember who it was,
00:08:32.280 | who was going around,
00:08:33.720 | he was visiting some factories in England.
00:08:37.960 | And this was like, I think back in the '40s and the '50s.
00:08:41.120 | And so he was visiting
00:08:43.120 | and he was going through just the assembly line,
00:08:46.600 | just the "regular people."
00:08:51.080 | So he was a high-muckety-muck scientist
00:08:53.480 | and he was coming to look at their production line.
00:08:57.200 | And he stopped to talk to a lady
00:08:59.880 | who just looked so bored by what she was doing.
00:09:03.280 | And he was always so interested, he said,
00:09:05.920 | in everything around him
00:09:07.600 | that he didn't understand how anybody could be so bored.
00:09:09.840 | And so he stopped to talk to her and he said,
00:09:13.320 | "Well, are you not interested in what you're doing?"
00:09:16.440 | And she said, "Well, no."
00:09:18.240 | And he said, "Well, why not?
00:09:21.320 | You should always be interested in what you're doing."
00:09:23.640 | And she said something to the effect
00:09:25.640 | that all I do all day is stand on this brick floor
00:09:30.280 | and make my part of this product.
00:09:33.560 | That's all I do.
00:09:35.080 | And he said, "Well..."
00:09:37.400 | And she said, "And my feet hurt."
00:09:39.200 | And he said, "Well, why do you think your feet hurt?"
00:09:40.960 | And she said, "Because I stand on bricks all day."
00:09:44.680 | And so he said, "Well, what kind of brick?"
00:09:47.800 | And she looked at him funny and she's like,
00:09:49.960 | "Well, I don't know, it's just brick."
00:09:53.280 | And so he said, "Well, why don't you find out about the brick?"
00:09:58.080 | And he went on down the line
00:09:59.240 | and she was just left standing there thinking about the brick.
00:10:02.960 | But when she went home,
00:10:04.640 | she discovered she was still thinking about the brick.
00:10:06.600 | So she went to the library and read about brick
00:10:10.600 | and found out that there are lots of different kinds of brick
00:10:13.880 | and the amount of support it gives to your feet
00:10:18.680 | and the porousness of the brick,
00:10:21.080 | it's all related to what the brick is made of.
00:10:23.080 | So she kept studying, what is the brick made of?
00:10:25.720 | And he came back through the factory
00:10:27.560 | and said, "Well, what..."
00:10:32.040 | She looked a little more interested and she said,
00:10:33.640 | "I found out all about brick
00:10:35.280 | and now I guess I've gone as far as I can go."
00:10:38.240 | And he said, "No, what's under the brick?"
00:10:40.520 | And she's like, "Oh my word."
00:10:42.280 | But she dug out the brick
00:10:44.120 | and she found this certain kind of dirt
00:10:47.400 | and there were ants under it.
00:10:48.960 | Long story short, she continued to ask questions
00:10:53.760 | and continued to study.
00:10:55.360 | And in 15 years, she had become the foremost expert
00:10:58.920 | on some certain kind of ant
00:11:01.280 | in the entire country of England.
00:11:03.720 | - Oh, wow.
00:11:04.560 | - All from just asking a question
00:11:06.400 | and going deeper and staying curious.
00:11:09.280 | And so I love what you said.
00:11:11.120 | We just ask our kids questions
00:11:13.720 | and that helps them to think like a scientist,
00:11:16.400 | exploring and reading and even what you said, using tools.
00:11:21.400 | Get your kids some beakers and some eyedroppers
00:11:26.120 | and maybe some calipers and some simple machines
00:11:30.560 | and some thermometers.
00:11:32.960 | Just give them the tools of a scientist and let them play.
00:11:37.960 | I love that.
00:11:39.080 | - Yeah, and like I said,
00:11:40.600 | my kids love doing the wintertime experiments.
00:11:43.280 | And so it's, okay, well, what's the temperature outside?
00:11:46.280 | What's the low tonight?
00:11:47.560 | And all right, if you wanna see when,
00:11:50.280 | if the water freezes, go for it.
00:11:52.520 | Then the next morning, well, oh, it didn't freeze.
00:11:55.200 | Okay, well, what's the freezing temperature of water?
00:11:58.560 | And asking them, oh, well, it's 32 degrees.
00:12:02.240 | Okay, what was the low last night?
00:12:03.720 | Well, it was only 43.
00:12:05.400 | So do you think we have a reason?
00:12:07.200 | No, things like that, asking the questions.
00:12:11.040 | - I love it, I love it.
00:12:12.400 | Now, lots of families jumped on this podcast
00:12:16.920 | because they're challenge A families
00:12:19.320 | and they are jumping into the science fair now.
00:12:22.160 | So for those families who are dipping their toes
00:12:27.160 | into the science fair,
00:12:30.480 | can the science fair become a family affair?
00:12:35.120 | I know we talk a lot about the one room schoolhouse
00:12:38.600 | and moms trying to educate all of their children,
00:12:42.680 | even though they're doing different things at the same time.
00:12:45.720 | How can families pull all of their kids
00:12:49.800 | into the science fair,
00:12:51.200 | even if only one of the students is a challenge A student?
00:12:55.040 | - Yeah, so I will use my son for an example.
00:12:58.280 | He went through challenge A a few years ago
00:13:00.600 | and his experiment was to see what type of bridge
00:13:05.600 | can hold the most weight.
00:13:07.800 | And so we researched the different designs of bridges
00:13:11.720 | and you built these bridges out of popsicle sticks
00:13:15.720 | and Elmer's glue.
00:13:17.040 | It was really basic.
00:13:18.920 | And so in that case, we ended up, I think,
00:13:21.840 | using somewhere around 900 popsicle sticks
00:13:25.040 | for this experiment. - Wow.
00:13:26.880 | - Because you have to test it more than once.
00:13:29.080 | - Oh, that's true, that is very true.
00:13:31.920 | - And so we built three different bridges twice.
00:13:34.560 | So we went up six bridges.
00:13:35.960 | And so during that process,
00:13:38.280 | my other two younger children
00:13:40.680 | got in on helping us glue the popsicle sticks together.
00:13:45.680 | We kind of had an assembly line situation set up.
00:13:49.320 | And then when it came to testing,
00:13:50.680 | we had to put weight on these bridges
00:13:53.080 | to see how much weight they could hold.
00:13:55.120 | And so my husband was in the garage with my son
00:13:58.520 | and they were working together to weigh all of these
00:14:04.240 | or put the weights on the bridges.
00:14:06.040 | And we had another person who was the photographer
00:14:08.480 | so we could have pictures of the whole thing and video.
00:14:11.840 | And so in that case,
00:14:14.080 | our whole family got involved in this project.
00:14:16.600 | I know another family who,
00:14:18.680 | they wanted to test hand sanitizers
00:14:21.600 | and the ones that were most effective.
00:14:23.360 | So everybody got a turn to stick their dirty hands
00:14:26.800 | on Petri dishes. (laughing)
00:14:30.120 | And especially ones where you have plants.
00:14:32.640 | You can always have kids go and water the plant.
00:14:36.040 | We need to fill the water to this line
00:14:38.000 | and put it on the plant.
00:14:39.200 | And so I think there are definitely ways
00:14:41.720 | to get the whole family involved.
00:14:43.600 | One of my friend's daughters
00:14:45.080 | is going to test the fluffiness of buttercream.
00:14:48.160 | So I can imagine a lot of helpers
00:14:50.240 | eating that buttercream ice cream.
00:14:51.680 | - Yes, I'm sure she'll have plenty of volunteers for that.
00:14:56.680 | I know that when one of my daughters
00:15:00.200 | was doing the science fair project,
00:15:01.760 | she was into more of the testing
00:15:05.160 | and the tabulating the results.
00:15:08.080 | She wasn't as into making her science fair board
00:15:12.600 | and the presentation aspect of that
00:15:14.680 | and knowing what colors and what shapes and all that.
00:15:18.000 | But her younger sister was really into
00:15:22.600 | what colors will pop and what are good combinations
00:15:26.840 | and what will make things stand out
00:15:28.840 | and what other colors or situations
00:15:31.480 | would make information recede.
00:15:33.840 | And so that was one way that the younger sibling
00:15:37.680 | was able to help the older
00:15:39.560 | simply by virtue of what they were interested in.
00:15:42.280 | - Yeah, absolutely.
00:15:44.680 | I think it definitely can turn into a whole family affair
00:15:49.680 | very easily, especially when you have a project
00:15:52.240 | that the whole family is excited about.
00:15:55.160 | - Yeah, yes.
00:15:56.840 | - And picking a topic, and we're gonna get to that,
00:15:59.760 | actually, maybe we should just go back up a little bit
00:16:02.200 | and actually talk about the science fair.
00:16:04.880 | What are the parts of the science fair project?
00:16:09.760 | - Yes, okay, so I have divided in true CC form
00:16:14.760 | our parts into three sections.
00:16:17.880 | So I think you have your invention,
00:16:19.240 | your arrangement, and the elocution.
00:16:21.440 | So the invention is your ideas.
00:16:24.760 | You know, like what, like you need to, of course,
00:16:26.480 | start with a great idea,
00:16:27.640 | something that you are excited about,
00:16:29.800 | because it's a project that your student
00:16:32.200 | is going to be working with for, you know,
00:16:34.320 | two to three months.
00:16:36.440 | So a good idea, and the problem.
00:16:40.000 | So every science, every good science fair project
00:16:42.360 | has a problem.
00:16:43.200 | Like, what is this problem that we're working with?
00:16:45.840 | And what question arises from this problem?
00:16:50.640 | So for the case of my son
00:16:52.280 | and what bridge can hold the most weight?
00:16:54.920 | I mean, that was his question.
00:16:57.200 | The problem is we have bridges all over the world
00:17:00.440 | and what is the best design for these bridges?
00:17:04.360 | And then your background research,
00:17:05.880 | let's gather the information and figure out,
00:17:09.800 | what do I need to know to move forward with my project?
00:17:14.200 | - Right, right.
00:17:15.600 | - And then that brings us into the arrangement.
00:17:17.840 | Okay, what are the steps of this experiment?
00:17:20.240 | So that's a procedure.
00:17:22.240 | So you're gonna, you know, work out the procedure
00:17:24.400 | and what is your plan of action,
00:17:26.800 | followed by materials and safety considerations.
00:17:31.000 | And so that's your whole plan.
00:17:33.560 | That's how you're arranging your experiment.
00:17:35.760 | You're gathering everything you need
00:17:38.000 | in order to execute the experiment.
00:17:40.960 | So that'd be your elocution.
00:17:42.200 | It's actually doing the experiment
00:17:44.840 | and observing the results,
00:17:48.000 | writing them down in your lab journal,
00:17:49.960 | taking really, really good notes.
00:17:53.440 | And of course, keeping up with your research plan.
00:17:57.320 | - Yes.
00:17:58.520 | - So, and that's a whole other ball game
00:18:01.400 | that I could go into if you would like.
00:18:03.880 | - Yeah, I want us to get to that
00:18:07.240 | because I know that, you know,
00:18:10.920 | there are certain things in the challenge program
00:18:14.880 | that give parents pause.
00:18:16.560 | And a lot of times it's those things
00:18:19.600 | that we've never done ourselves
00:18:21.600 | or we didn't do well ourselves, you know,
00:18:24.440 | like mock trial or a senior thesis
00:18:27.480 | or the science fair project.
00:18:30.640 | And so if we never really got into science as a student
00:18:35.640 | or if our parents didn't push us
00:18:38.600 | to be involved in a local science fair,
00:18:40.920 | or we never had to do it for a class,
00:18:43.960 | then a lot of us as parents are kind of left floundering.
00:18:47.760 | And we want to do our best by our students,
00:18:50.520 | but we don't really know.
00:18:51.640 | I mean, we do know that it starts with an idea, okay?
00:18:55.400 | And that is, you're right, Emily,
00:18:57.520 | that is what students have to do first is to pick a topic.
00:19:01.360 | So let's walk through it.
00:19:02.640 | We'll walk through all those pieces
00:19:04.200 | because some of them are more obvious than others.
00:19:08.480 | So, all right, what do students do first?
00:19:12.560 | You said, we got to start with an idea.
00:19:15.120 | And I love that you remind us that it needs to be something
00:19:19.160 | that our student is excited about
00:19:22.080 | because they are going to spend
00:19:24.120 | a sizable amount of time on this.
00:19:26.640 | - Yes, yes.
00:19:28.120 | So the first, yeah, of course they have their idea.
00:19:31.320 | And once they have that idea,
00:19:34.560 | they want to get their lab journal.
00:19:36.560 | The lab journal is such an important piece to this puzzle.
00:19:39.920 | I like to think of it as the place for like the brain dump.
00:19:42.920 | It's every idea that they have,
00:19:44.800 | every question they have,
00:19:46.600 | all needs to go into the lab journal.
00:19:49.160 | And so there are, of course, questions.
00:19:51.520 | There's a way to set up the lab journal
00:19:53.200 | that their director will instruct them on how to do that.
00:19:57.960 | But the first thing they'll do in that lab journal
00:19:59.720 | is to write out their research problem.
00:20:02.040 | So what is the problem that they have?
00:20:04.560 | And then take that and form their question.
00:20:08.640 | So once they get that done,
00:20:11.160 | they're simultaneously going to be working
00:20:13.000 | on their research plan.
00:20:15.080 | The research plan and the journal differ
00:20:17.800 | in that the research plan is an actual typed document
00:20:21.440 | that they'll keep,
00:20:22.480 | and that that will then later transfer
00:20:25.400 | into their research paper
00:20:28.320 | that they will present to the judges later.
00:20:30.880 | So as they're working through their lab journal,
00:20:35.480 | they're gonna end up putting those same pieces
00:20:37.320 | of their journal onto their Word document.
00:20:40.440 | But I always say it's really great
00:20:41.800 | for the parents to look at the lab journal
00:20:44.120 | and have it approved.
00:20:45.960 | Anything that they have in that lab journal,
00:20:48.440 | give it the green light before they go
00:20:50.520 | and type it up on their research plan,
00:20:52.240 | or they're just gonna have to go back and redo
00:20:54.160 | if the parent--
00:20:55.000 | - So for instance, if it calls for,
00:20:56.600 | I know this has happened to me before.
00:20:58.360 | We used to do Science Fair in Challenge B
00:21:01.200 | that I taught, tutored for years and years.
00:21:04.240 | And I would always have kids who wanted
00:21:06.000 | to design these really intricate experiments.
00:21:10.000 | And they called for all these hard to get ingredients.
00:21:13.880 | And so I always reminded my kids,
00:21:16.080 | look, here's the truth.
00:21:18.440 | It's probably not gonna work well
00:21:20.000 | the first time you do it.
00:21:21.160 | And you're gonna have to do this probably at least twice,
00:21:24.680 | maybe more than that.
00:21:26.680 | You need to ask your mom and dad,
00:21:28.160 | these are expensive ingredients
00:21:30.120 | and you can't just get it at the neighborhood Walmart.
00:21:33.200 | So you need to be sure that it's okay with mom and dad
00:21:36.680 | that you're laying out this kind of expense
00:21:39.480 | and time to get this.
00:21:41.040 | Is that the kind of thing that you think parents
00:21:43.040 | need to check behind?
00:21:44.760 | - Absolutely, yes.
00:21:46.360 | And following the parameters of no humans or pets.
00:21:50.880 | - Right.
00:21:51.840 | - So that's always a big consideration as well.
00:21:56.600 | So yeah, and even as they're working through
00:21:58.760 | the whole steps, double checking the problem.
00:22:03.760 | Is this the right problem we're trying to solve?
00:22:05.600 | Is this the right question to ask?
00:22:07.560 | Yeah, I think parents need to be involved definitely
00:22:10.640 | in every step of the way,
00:22:12.480 | just to make sure that the students are staying on track
00:22:15.000 | because we are still dealing with 12 year olds.
00:22:17.600 | - Right, right.
00:22:19.160 | - We think of challenges,
00:22:20.960 | oh, you've graduated into this upper level.
00:22:23.520 | But then when you really think on it,
00:22:25.400 | well, these guys are still 12, 13 years old.
00:22:28.160 | They're still in the learning process.
00:22:29.840 | - Yes, and there are some things they don't have
00:22:33.320 | a realistic idea about.
00:22:35.120 | Timetables is one of those.
00:22:38.120 | They think that everything can be completed
00:22:40.840 | in one weekend, one Saturday.
00:22:43.120 | Oh, it's only gonna take me a week to really do this.
00:22:46.360 | So I can wait until a week and a half before it's done.
00:22:49.960 | They don't realize that,
00:22:53.360 | oh, you mean mom can't just drop everything
00:22:56.160 | at the drop of a hat and help just me
00:22:59.360 | finish this by tomorrow?
00:23:01.720 | And so they're not realistic.
00:23:03.760 | - And if they are using their friends
00:23:08.760 | as subjects of the experiment,
00:23:11.160 | I mean, somebody else's mom's gonna have to bring them
00:23:13.840 | to your house.
00:23:14.720 | And it's just the kind of thing
00:23:17.600 | that doesn't naturally occur to Challenge A students.
00:23:21.600 | - Right, yep.
00:23:22.680 | Yeah, and so after they get that research question
00:23:27.480 | formulated and written correctly,
00:23:31.280 | then they'll start on their background research.
00:23:34.280 | All their research will go in their journal.
00:23:37.280 | So any website they visit, any book they open,
00:23:40.480 | any expert they may talk to,
00:23:42.880 | it all gets recorded into that lab journal
00:23:45.800 | and making sure they have a great,
00:23:48.520 | their bibliography because citing those sources
00:23:51.040 | is a really important step
00:23:52.640 | to keep it ethical and professional.
00:23:56.560 | - This is great.
00:23:58.960 | - Yeah, all that'll go in the lab journal.
00:24:00.680 | And then again, once that's mom-approved or dad-approved,
00:24:04.800 | then it gets put into that research plan
00:24:09.120 | that they're keeping track of.
00:24:11.120 | - I love, one thing that you said,
00:24:13.320 | I really wanna stop and camp out on
00:24:16.280 | because this is something that gets glossed over
00:24:19.200 | and our kids won't necessarily think about this.
00:24:21.400 | You mentioned gathering their research
00:24:24.720 | and that all the notes that you take
00:24:27.480 | from all of your sources go in your lab journal,
00:24:32.480 | keep track of everything there.
00:24:35.000 | But one thing you said really made my ears perk up
00:24:38.800 | because we don't often think about interviewing people
00:24:42.840 | as part of the research that our student could do
00:24:47.440 | for their science fair project.
00:24:49.480 | I mean, in my era, I looked at books,
00:24:52.840 | I mean, I went to the library
00:24:54.360 | to do almost all of my research
00:24:56.880 | 'cause my family was not a homeschool family
00:24:59.080 | and we didn't have all these resources at home.
00:25:02.200 | So a lot of times I went to the library
00:25:04.240 | and so I could look for online things,
00:25:06.800 | I could look for magazine or journal articles
00:25:09.920 | and books and all that stuff.
00:25:11.960 | It never, I'm pretty sure that it never occurred to me
00:25:14.840 | to go and do an interview as a way to research.
00:25:18.600 | So talk about that, what kind of community resources
00:25:23.600 | might students find to interview?
00:25:26.960 | - Yeah, so I had a student in challenge A a few years ago
00:25:31.960 | who wanted to see what was the best type of manure
00:25:35.680 | to grow plants.
00:25:37.480 | And so- - Oh my word.
00:25:39.080 | - Yes. - That is too fun.
00:25:40.200 | - He's a really great, like very agricultural minded student.
00:25:44.040 | And so, for example, one of his,
00:25:46.280 | one of his research could have been talking
00:25:51.840 | to maybe the local agriculture teacher
00:25:54.560 | at the school or college nearby.
00:25:57.200 | If you have a student wanting to do something with germs,
00:26:02.360 | they could speak to a local doctor or microbiologist
00:26:06.960 | if they have maybe a university in the area.
00:26:09.800 | I had another student wanting to grow mold on hamburgers
00:26:16.240 | to see which one grew the most mold.
00:26:19.360 | And so, maybe speaking to somebody in the food industry
00:26:23.200 | might be a good start. - Right, right.
00:26:26.720 | It's always fun to start making a list with your student
00:26:31.480 | of different people that you could ask questions of
00:26:35.200 | or different places to go.
00:26:36.760 | If you have local community college
00:26:39.120 | or another kind of college,
00:26:42.320 | if you have industries in your town,
00:26:47.680 | most businesses, if you approach them,
00:26:51.680 | I mean, ahead of time,
00:26:53.480 | if you don't need the interview today or tomorrow,
00:26:56.680 | they are way more willing to set up an interview
00:27:00.120 | for your student to talk to some kind of expert in the field.
00:27:05.120 | It's great.
00:27:07.760 | Parents and students,
00:27:10.480 | I can remember when my girls were 12,
00:27:12.800 | I mean, they thought that pretty much
00:27:14.920 | that I didn't know as much as they had hoped that I would.
00:27:19.920 | And students forget that their parents have friends
00:27:25.680 | and that their parents have colleagues
00:27:27.960 | and that their parents have connections
00:27:30.560 | to people in the community.
00:27:32.240 | So, moms and dads who are listening to this podcast,
00:27:36.160 | remind your student that you can help them
00:27:39.240 | find people in the know
00:27:42.000 | that could be an interview resource for them.
00:27:45.480 | That's really good.
00:27:46.840 | That's just one of the ways
00:27:48.360 | that parents can be involved though, Emily.
00:27:51.000 | How can parents be involved with the science fair,
00:27:55.400 | but also give us some caution,
00:27:58.440 | how involved should parents be?
00:28:03.240 | - Yeah, that is a really tricky one, right?
00:28:07.240 | Because we know our students are learning
00:28:10.640 | to be individuals and they're learning,
00:28:13.280 | they're taking on that ownership, right?
00:28:14.800 | That ownership, knowledge A.
00:28:16.680 | But at the same time,
00:28:18.640 | we also acknowledge, "Oh, but they still need my help."
00:28:21.600 | So, yeah, so we can offer encouraging words to them,
00:28:26.080 | of course, like, "Okay, well, you can do this.
00:28:28.040 | You're doing a great job, keep going."
00:28:29.960 | But beyond that, it's, I think,
00:28:32.200 | I think probably the most difficult part of science fair
00:28:36.120 | is really that beginning stage, that invention stage,
00:28:38.480 | where they're still wrestling with,
00:28:41.240 | "What do I really wanna focus on?
00:28:43.080 | What is my big idea of my project?"
00:28:46.040 | And so the parent can say,
00:28:48.480 | "Okay, well, how does this relate to that?"
00:28:52.400 | Okay, so going back to the bridge example,
00:28:54.640 | "How does weight relate to structure?"
00:28:57.760 | And of course, most everybody,
00:28:59.080 | even a two-year-old knows,
00:29:00.320 | "If I put my foot on this, it's gonna break."
00:29:02.520 | So, okay, well, they got that.
00:29:04.480 | Okay, so then what happens if?
00:29:07.040 | So what happens if there's too much weight on this bridge?
00:29:10.240 | And then, okay, yeah,
00:29:11.320 | and so they start wrestling with those ideas.
00:29:13.760 | And so, and if they need more motivation,
00:29:17.280 | you know, think through ideas,
00:29:18.600 | you can say, you go back to the definitions.
00:29:20.320 | "Okay, well, what is the definition of weight?"
00:29:24.200 | Or, "What is the definition of this?"
00:29:26.240 | And that really helps them start thinking
00:29:27.680 | about the basic ideas behind their question
00:29:31.240 | and what do they really need to define
00:29:33.440 | in order to draw that question out,
00:29:35.920 | the big idea question
00:29:38.040 | for their overall science fair experiment.
00:29:41.320 | - That's good.
00:29:42.160 | So generally, refining questions are good.
00:29:47.160 | The things that help students sort of put the pieces,
00:29:53.880 | so connecting questions that will help the student
00:29:57.840 | put together pieces of information that they might have
00:30:02.080 | or wonders that they have that will help them connect.
00:30:07.080 | 'Cause here's the thing, parents,
00:30:09.680 | you might not have studied science in a long time,
00:30:14.160 | and you might think you have no interest
00:30:16.800 | in doing a science fair project personally,
00:30:19.760 | but you still are a grownup and you have context.
00:30:24.720 | You have way more context in the world
00:30:27.720 | than your 12-year-old does.
00:30:29.200 | And so you know how things might fit together.
00:30:34.160 | You are able to identify relationships that might exist,
00:30:39.160 | and you're not necessarily, like Emily said,
00:30:42.080 | telling your student what to do,
00:30:43.880 | but you're asking them questions that will prompt them
00:30:47.880 | to make the connections necessary to design,
00:30:51.720 | to ask a good question and design a good experiment.
00:30:55.360 | - Right.
00:30:56.200 | And then more practically too,
00:30:58.280 | it comes to gluing things on the board, right?
00:31:00.760 | - Yes, okay.
00:31:02.240 | - So, all right.
00:31:03.440 | Well, they found this really great picture
00:31:06.080 | or they printed off this really great picture or whatever.
00:31:09.680 | So, okay, I can help cut it and glue it on the board.
00:31:12.400 | - Yes, yes, yes.
00:31:13.920 | - You know, and learning the skills of,
00:31:17.280 | okay, well, you need a table to reflect your data.
00:31:21.640 | So let me help on the computer.
00:31:23.240 | Let me show you how to make a table in Microsoft Word.
00:31:26.560 | - Yes, yes, good.
00:31:28.680 | Although I will tell you,
00:31:29.840 | my kids could run circles around me
00:31:31.680 | on most of the computer stuff.
00:31:34.240 | But there are gonna be things,
00:31:36.360 | like if your student is gonna construct something,
00:31:40.720 | maybe they're not used to using the power tools
00:31:43.560 | by themselves.
00:31:44.440 | And so that's the kind of help that parents can be,
00:31:49.440 | driving them somewhere to find supplies
00:31:52.880 | or helping them brainstorm an alternate supply
00:31:57.720 | that might not be easily procurable.
00:32:02.280 | - Right, or yeah, getting on the computer.
00:32:04.120 | Okay, well, how much is this gonna cost?
00:32:06.360 | And let's set a budget.
00:32:08.720 | - Yes.
00:32:09.640 | - This might be a little more expensive.
00:32:11.600 | My son was looking at a project.
00:32:13.000 | He's like, well, mom,
00:32:14.000 | we're gonna need this type of thermometer
00:32:15.480 | and this type of heat lamps.
00:32:16.760 | And, you know, it sounds like a lot of stuff to buy.
00:32:19.520 | I'm like, well, yeah, you're right.
00:32:20.920 | So we need to think about this.
00:32:22.400 | You know, how are we gonna,
00:32:24.000 | let's think about our budget and what type of experiment,
00:32:26.840 | how big can we go on this experiment?
00:32:30.200 | - That's really true.
00:32:32.040 | They sometimes need help in thinking past the immediate,
00:32:37.040 | make this thing and ask this question,
00:32:42.480 | what else is involved?
00:32:44.160 | And so that's really good.
00:32:49.840 | So let me ask you this, Emily,
00:32:52.200 | what are some of the common pitfalls
00:32:56.480 | that befall our students?
00:33:01.000 | What are some common pitfalls to avoid?
00:33:05.120 | - Yes, well, so the first one that I am seeing
00:33:09.120 | and my family is currently struggling with it right now
00:33:11.800 | is coming up with the idea.
00:33:14.000 | - Oh yeah.
00:33:14.840 | - I had, you know, my oldest was gung ho about the,
00:33:17.760 | yes, let's do science fair.
00:33:19.400 | He had, you know, five ideas.
00:33:21.120 | My middle is a much more relaxed kind of kid.
00:33:23.520 | And he's like, I don't know.
00:33:25.040 | I don't know what I want to do.
00:33:27.080 | - Yes.
00:33:27.920 | - Talking your student through,
00:33:31.760 | okay, what are your interests?
00:33:33.280 | And I asked, okay, so when you're,
00:33:34.920 | when you watch something on YouTube
00:33:36.320 | and you find something really interesting,
00:33:38.120 | what subject matter is that?
00:33:39.920 | You know, let's try and narrow this down.
00:33:42.800 | Another pitfall would be, of course, procrastination.
00:33:45.280 | They, right now they're thinking it's October, November.
00:33:48.200 | I don't, this isn't due until January.
00:33:51.040 | - Oh my word.
00:33:51.880 | - They forget about Christmas break in there
00:33:55.120 | and how they want to do nothing but sit on the couch
00:33:57.280 | and drink hot cocoa for two.
00:33:58.600 | - Yes, or go out and play or watch a movie
00:34:01.680 | or do anything that doesn't have anything
00:34:03.640 | to do with science fair.
00:34:04.840 | - Exactly.
00:34:05.680 | - Travel, travel for family.
00:34:07.720 | - Exactly.
00:34:08.680 | And they don't think about the fact that,
00:34:11.720 | yes, it might only take you 45 minutes
00:34:15.280 | to put your board together.
00:34:17.080 | But that's if you've done all the research
00:34:20.360 | and if you've typed up all the results
00:34:23.080 | and if you have all the supplies
00:34:25.720 | and if you are a fast cutter
00:34:28.000 | and if you have a plan, a design plan,
00:34:32.080 | otherwise it takes you way more than 45 minutes.
00:34:36.080 | - Yeah.
00:34:36.920 | And something else I've seen too is they start on a project
00:34:40.440 | and once they get to the actual experimentation
00:34:43.360 | or the background research part,
00:34:45.320 | so we're talking a couple of weeks into the project,
00:34:48.360 | they realized I don't understand
00:34:50.400 | what is going on with this project.
00:34:52.040 | - Oh, yes.
00:34:52.880 | - I don't understand enough to move forward.
00:34:55.080 | And so it's making sure at the beginning
00:34:57.760 | that your student has a clear understanding of the science,
00:35:02.760 | not and I'm not saying understand every single aspect
00:35:05.120 | of physics or chemistry,
00:35:06.960 | but enough that they can intelligently speak to a judge
00:35:10.760 | on the process and why that happened.
00:35:13.560 | And so getting too deep into a project
00:35:16.240 | where they have to scrap it and start new
00:35:18.680 | halfway through December.
00:35:20.800 | So I've seen that happen.
00:35:22.120 | - Oh, gosh.
00:35:23.720 | Okay.
00:35:24.640 | That is really good advice.
00:35:27.960 | So what you're basically saying is
00:35:32.040 | our students can't just pick something
00:35:35.320 | that seems really flashy and exciting to them
00:35:40.400 | if they either don't understand the basic science behind it
00:35:45.400 | or aren't willing to dig into it to understand it.
00:35:51.480 | - Yeah.
00:35:52.920 | In this case, it was a chemistry.
00:35:53.960 | It was chemistry related.
00:35:55.280 | And it was mixing this chemical with that chemical.
00:35:58.720 | And when you do this, this is the reaction that happens.
00:36:01.360 | And now that he's older, he probably understands it.
00:36:03.560 | But as a 12 year old Challenge A student,
00:36:05.880 | it was way too much.
00:36:07.640 | And he goes, I don't understand what's happening with this.
00:36:10.360 | So okay, let's scrap it and try something new.
00:36:13.040 | - Yeah.
00:36:13.880 | - Yeah.
00:36:14.720 | - Parents are very able.
00:36:19.520 | Parents, your wisdom is very valuable.
00:36:22.680 | You're not necessarily pouring cold water on your student.
00:36:27.880 | You're helping your student to consider
00:36:30.160 | all the ramifications of their choice.
00:36:32.880 | Especially if it's something that you know
00:36:35.240 | the student doesn't know a lot about in the beginning.
00:36:40.800 | That doesn't automatically disqualify that as a choice.
00:36:44.920 | But if your student is not a great self-starter,
00:36:49.920 | if they are not going to be willing to spend time
00:36:53.240 | delving more deeply into the subject,
00:36:56.720 | if you have a very busy holiday season coming up,
00:37:01.160 | if you don't want to dig in and go elbow deep
00:37:05.480 | in this knowledge yourself,
00:37:08.160 | those are all at least pink flags, if not red flags.
00:37:12.840 | Those are pink flags to choosing a different project.
00:37:17.400 | - Right, yeah.
00:37:18.720 | And that, yeah, so we've already touched
00:37:20.480 | on the procrastination.
00:37:21.760 | And then I think another pitfall is kind of getting bogged
00:37:24.120 | down into the minor things.
00:37:25.760 | - Oh, yeah.
00:37:26.600 | - Like, what color am I going to do my board?
00:37:28.680 | Or, you know, what's the best arrangement or setup?
00:37:31.520 | And so those are not really the things
00:37:33.600 | that you need to spend your time on,
00:37:36.280 | or worry about.
00:37:38.120 | And that, you know, while having a nice display is,
00:37:41.480 | it is important, it's not, you know,
00:37:43.720 | where you want to butt heads.
00:37:46.920 | - Yes, exactly, exactly, exactly.
00:37:50.200 | Okay, so what do I do?
00:37:52.240 | I'm a parent, and my student is really
00:37:55.800 | not very interested in science.
00:37:58.080 | And, you know, they would be so thrilled if I said,
00:38:00.960 | "Yeah, we're just not going to do the science fair.
00:38:03.840 | Nobody in our family's really into science."
00:38:06.520 | Why is the science fair still a really important part
00:38:11.520 | of the Challenge A experience?
00:38:14.760 | And I want you to answer that,
00:38:17.080 | but then also give us some good ideas
00:38:19.520 | about encouraging students to find something to love
00:38:24.400 | about the project.
00:38:26.600 | - Yeah, so I think, you know, if you have a student
00:38:29.400 | who is just not into science fair at all,
00:38:33.160 | there are so many really just basic experiments
00:38:36.280 | that could be done.
00:38:37.760 | Because I think that the process is what,
00:38:40.960 | is the goal of science fair.
00:38:42.480 | It's not the actual experiment.
00:38:45.080 | It's the learning process is the goal
00:38:47.760 | that we have for our students.
00:38:49.360 | So they can do something as simple as,
00:38:51.600 | let me test to make sure water does boil
00:38:55.240 | at this particular degree,
00:38:56.960 | or water doesn't freeze at this one.
00:38:59.880 | It can be as simple as that.
00:39:02.120 | But it teaches them to, for one thing,
00:39:04.440 | follow through with a project start to finish.
00:39:08.440 | And I think that follow through that,
00:39:10.360 | "Hey, I started this with an idea
00:39:12.520 | and now look at what I have accomplished."
00:39:15.160 | And that gives them such a, that sense of ownership, right?
00:39:18.240 | That Challenge A, you know, theme is ownership.
00:39:22.000 | And so it teaches them, you know,
00:39:24.200 | to look at the details of something.
00:39:26.840 | And I think for some students, it really,
00:39:28.880 | it takes that one little bit of curiosity
00:39:31.200 | they had on that subject.
00:39:32.400 | And it really fans that flame.
00:39:35.200 | And it could turn into something a lot bigger down the road
00:39:38.920 | that they may not have nurtured at all until science fair.
00:39:43.920 | So, you know, you might have like a budding, you know,
00:39:46.280 | chemist that you would never have known
00:39:48.920 | had they not, you know,
00:39:50.240 | really dug into that one little project that they did
00:39:53.240 | that was chemistry related, you know,
00:39:54.920 | when they were, you know, 12 years old.
00:39:57.120 | - Yeah, yeah.
00:39:58.920 | I just, I so much appreciate several things
00:40:01.560 | that you just said that I think it's really beneficial
00:40:06.560 | for us as parents to stop and take a deep breath
00:40:10.520 | and think about.
00:40:12.200 | You said that the process is actually more important
00:40:17.200 | than the project.
00:40:19.120 | I think that's really important for us to hear
00:40:21.440 | that you are teaching your student
00:40:24.440 | about the scientific method.
00:40:26.680 | You are teaching them how to think well
00:40:30.120 | and how to think clearly
00:40:32.160 | and how to design a process to answer a question.
00:40:37.160 | That is an awesome ability to inculcate in a child
00:40:45.840 | from the time they're 12.
00:40:47.680 | That's a skill that's gonna pay dividends forever in life.
00:40:52.160 | - Yeah, and I think that's so important that they,
00:40:56.520 | and it teaches them also that time management,
00:40:59.960 | that that's a really important skill,
00:41:02.160 | that this is a project that goes on for a couple of months
00:41:06.280 | and learning how to take a big picture idea
00:41:09.240 | and break it into bite-sized pieces is a life skill.
00:41:12.960 | - Yes.
00:41:13.800 | - And they get to do it under the guidance of their parents
00:41:16.800 | and with the help of their peers along the way
00:41:19.640 | that, you know, they're all working in it together.
00:41:23.200 | They're all going through the same process.
00:41:25.400 | And so it really teaches them that,
00:41:28.720 | okay, this big picture can be broken up into small pieces
00:41:32.000 | and let me figure out how to manage my time appropriately.
00:41:36.560 | - Yeah, that's great.
00:41:39.640 | That is great.
00:41:41.360 | That's a good encouragement for us
00:41:43.280 | reluctant science fair parents as well.
00:41:47.560 | So let me ask you one more really practical question
00:41:51.520 | and then I wanna ask you one big,
00:41:53.920 | let's go out thinking about this kind of question.
00:41:57.080 | Here's the practical question.
00:41:58.840 | Where can parents and students go
00:42:02.600 | to find ideas for science fair projects?
00:42:07.280 | - Yeah, so there's a great website called Science Buddies.
00:42:12.280 | - Oh, yes.
00:42:13.120 | - And they have a lot of good ideas
00:42:14.960 | and they break it up into a category or like area of science
00:42:19.280 | whether it's chemistry, physics, culinary sciences,
00:42:23.600 | all sorts of, they break it down into sciences
00:42:25.920 | I didn't know were a thing.
00:42:27.280 | - What?
00:42:28.120 | - And also age, grade level
00:42:33.240 | and addition to a difficulty level as well.
00:42:36.440 | So if you have one of those kids that are just like,
00:42:38.280 | "Meh, I don't wanna do this, mom, why are you making me?"
00:42:42.080 | Maybe click on one of the easier ones.
00:42:44.200 | - Yes, yes.
00:42:45.040 | - So a student who is like,
00:42:46.520 | "Okay, I plan on graduating high school at 15
00:42:49.480 | "and starting college at 15 and a half."
00:42:51.400 | Then maybe the hard one.
00:42:52.640 | - Right, right.
00:42:54.400 | - So that's a really great website.
00:42:56.600 | But in addition to, I mean,
00:42:57.720 | we have such wonderful technology these days.
00:43:00.400 | I think even if you just Google search
00:43:03.160 | seventh grade science project ideas,
00:43:05.920 | you can get tons of results.
00:43:08.160 | But I think asking your student the questions,
00:43:10.520 | okay, what do you find interesting?
00:43:12.280 | If you were to maybe watch an episode of the Mythbusters,
00:43:18.120 | talk about a great show to watch about scientific method,
00:43:21.040 | by the way, it's amazing.
00:43:22.840 | My children have learned a lot watching that.
00:43:24.840 | - Yeah.
00:43:26.080 | - But it's like, which experiments do they do
00:43:29.240 | that you would like to find something similar?
00:43:33.120 | Is it more of their chemistry related things
00:43:35.080 | or more of their physics related things?
00:43:38.080 | Do they have a wide variety?
00:43:39.840 | So I've asked my student that,
00:43:43.280 | the one who's just hasn't quite settled on an idea yet.
00:43:46.280 | So we're still on that journey.
00:43:47.600 | - Yeah, yeah, well, see, that's good to know.
00:43:50.200 | So everybody, we're all feeling the same pain.
00:43:53.880 | We all are searching for the project
00:43:57.000 | that will pique our students' interest,
00:43:59.520 | that won't break our family bank,
00:44:02.840 | that will keep us all sane.
00:44:05.120 | I know my daughter did a science fair project
00:44:07.800 | about plants and music,
00:44:10.160 | and we got really tired of the musical selections.
00:44:15.160 | She was playing to these two sets of plants.
00:44:17.960 | You have to count the cost as a family.
00:44:21.200 | But that's great.
00:44:22.080 | Thank you for that practical advice.
00:44:24.000 | And here's my big philosophical, leave us thinking today.
00:44:28.440 | How does the science fair help us as families
00:44:33.440 | incorporate wonder into our homeschooling?
00:44:38.480 | - I think it sparks the curiosity.
00:44:42.360 | It leaves your whole family,
00:44:45.120 | if you're discussing, okay,
00:44:46.680 | what science fair topic am I going to do this year?
00:44:49.040 | Or even my daughter,
00:44:50.560 | who was still in her second year of essential,
00:44:52.480 | she's already thinking ahead to her challenge A year.
00:44:56.040 | So as we're sitting around the dinner table
00:44:57.720 | thinking about science fair ideas,
00:44:59.360 | it's giving us all, hey, I wonder what would happen if.
00:45:03.360 | - I love that.
00:45:04.200 | - And it's a great discussion for the whole family
00:45:07.600 | and to get the bells turning,
00:45:10.160 | the wheels turning in our heads
00:45:11.560 | and the questions that we're asking.
00:45:14.840 | And it's a great way to leave us all
00:45:18.360 | feeling a little more curious.
00:45:20.120 | - Yes.
00:45:21.000 | - I think it's our students have the availability
00:45:25.160 | to research far more than I think future
00:45:29.240 | or past generations ever have
00:45:31.560 | because of the internet and the technology.
00:45:35.080 | So I think they have the ability
00:45:36.960 | to have their questions answered.
00:45:39.640 | But the science fair really,
00:45:41.000 | I think just sparks that curiosity.
00:45:43.800 | - That's really good.
00:45:45.080 | That is really good.
00:45:46.080 | And I did see that.
00:45:47.720 | And so I can attest you are right about that.
00:45:50.440 | It will start your family on the journey
00:45:53.560 | of asking questions together
00:45:56.320 | and encourage them to explore together.
00:46:00.720 | That's really good, Emily.
00:46:02.280 | Well, listeners, if you are exploring
00:46:06.000 | more than just the science fair,
00:46:07.960 | if you are a listener who wonders
00:46:12.480 | about classical education or families,
00:46:14.760 | if you have neighbors or relatives or church friends
00:46:19.760 | who are wondering what it is that you do
00:46:23.360 | when you homeschool your kids
00:46:25.000 | and what is classical conversations anyway,
00:46:28.720 | you might be a candidate or know a candidate
00:46:32.240 | for a community day.
00:46:34.000 | You might have somebody
00:46:35.560 | who would like to come to an open house.
00:46:38.880 | You can observe a classical conversations community day
00:46:42.760 | in action when you come and visit.
00:46:45.720 | And during that open house,
00:46:48.600 | parents and children alike will get some hands-on experience
00:46:53.440 | with homeschooling and community.
00:46:55.400 | Who knows, you may even visit a community
00:46:57.960 | who is in the midst of the science fair project
00:47:00.960 | and you will get to hear some of the ways
00:47:03.880 | that students encourage and refine one another's ideas
00:47:08.880 | on community day.
00:47:11.240 | You can see firsthand what CC Community Day is all about.
00:47:15.520 | If you wanna find an open house near you,
00:47:19.420 | go to classicalconversations.com/events/
00:47:24.420 | That's classicalconversations.com/events/
00:47:33.640 | Families, I hope that you have been as blessed
00:47:38.240 | by the conversation today as I have.
00:47:40.640 | Emily, thank you so much for sharing your wisdom
00:47:44.160 | and your experience about the science fair with us.
00:47:46.960 | I really appreciate it.
00:47:48.440 | - Well, thank you for having me.
00:47:49.680 | I had a great time.
00:47:50.840 | - So go, families, go and ask good questions
00:47:55.000 | and do good experiments and don't blow up the kitchen.
00:47:59.080 | And I'll see you next week.
00:48:01.040 | Bye-bye.
00:48:02.080 | (upbeat music)
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