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Springhill Science Fair a resounding success

By Sandy Mouat
CORRESPONDENT

        The Springhill Elementary School Science Fair proved to be a resounding success, exceeding the enthusiastic expectations of participants and spectators alike.
        Sponsored by the Lafayette Arts and Sciences Foundation, the science fair this year had over 300 entries, the largest response ever. The co-chairs of the event, Koreen Kelleher and Anne Shaw, began organizing parent volunteers at the beginning of the school year.
        Said Kelleher and Shaw, "Each year the LASF Science Fair at Springhill has grown. This year, 2/3 of the students at the school, from every grade (including kindergarten) will participate, including all of the fifth graders who are required to enter projects. The Springhill Fair is a huge community effort, involving over 50 parent volunteers this year, including 26 guest scientists who will review each project with the students. This year's scientists include Professor Roger Falcone from the UC Berkeley Physics Department, who is the newest member of the School Board. We also have several other scientists coming, from both Cal and the private sector, all of them Springhill parents. Along with the student projects, the Fair
       will include hands-on science demonstrations by LASF docents, the LASF telescope if the weather is clear, and a science contest sponsored by Ms. Hungerford's fifth grade class. It should be a great event!"
        In preparation for the Fair, the fifth grade attended an assembly on the scientific method, given by Dr. Margaret Race. A week later, she followed the group demonstration with visits to the individual fifth grade classrooms, to impart one-on-one advice. Actively participating, the students offered many ideas for projects, as Race helped them to focus their ideas into scientific questions.
        The flood of project entries represented a myriad of concepts, including electrical circuitry, magnetism, robotics, weather forecasting, measurement of light, speed, and distance, animal behavior studies, and a few studies of human behavior, as well. According to Kelleher, "The projects are varied, from simple experiments like growing flowers in different colored water, to
       filling a large hot-air balloon. Some kids are growing things, others are freezing things, still others are experimenting with chemicals of all kinds."
        Fair-goers were treated to an engaging hands-on microscope demonstration by LASF science docents, in which the children could choose several slides to view and try to identify, erupting with giggles when it was discovered that a mysterious substance was simply pepper, or a similar household item.
        Adding to the excitement was a contest sponsored by Deborah Hungerford's fifth grade class, in which students had to guess the mass, length, or volume of several different objects.
        Meanwhile, the LASF telescope was set up outside for breathtakingly clear views of Saturn and Jupiter.
        Exuberantly discussing their fascinating projects, amid hundreds of display boards, small, proud faces gleamed with satisfaction over their jobs well-done.
        The remaining three elementary schools of the Lafayette School District have scheduled the following dates for their Science Fairs: Happy Valley Elementary on 3/1, Burton Valley Elementary on 3/23, and Lafayette Elementary on 3/28. For more information, please visit the LASF website @www.lasf.org.

2/9/00 Reprinted with permission. Visit the Contra Costa Times on the web at www.contracostatimes.com.

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