By SARAHI GARFIAS – Web Writer
Clarke County School District superintendent Dr. Philip Lanoue has integrated science fair into the 2013-2014 curriculum of all advanced science courses.
In early Dec., over a 100 students at Clarke Central High School participated in the newly implemented science fair requirement.
Administrators hoped to increase student involvement and teacher assistance which had been previously optional in the 2012-2013 school year.
“This is pretty new for our school we haven’t really done this in the past what the idea was and I need to say that our superintendent is a big supporter of science fair and he believes in this, he was a former science teacher and he saw what good things came out of it for his kids that’s why he wanted as many kids doing this as possible.” science department teacher Claude Gonzalez said.
On Jan. 11, 23 projects were selected from the school level to advance to the district competition.
“I’ve seen this happen dozens of times, where there is a project at the school level that (I think is mediocre), but then it turns into a fantastic project because the kid realizes I need to do my presentation this way. Even though the content of their experimentation hasn’t changed the overall project has changed,” Gonzalez said.
Sophomores Alexandra Saupe and Ruth Barrow’s project focused on water preference for rodents. Their experiment involved analyzing the different water flavors that would affect medicine products.
Saupe and Barrow moved on to regionals at Athens Technical College on Jan. 31st where they were awarded second place.
“Well me and Ruth have both been interested in animals since we were little; we’ve always had lots of pets and she actually has had pet rats.” Saupe said.
Sophomores Alexandra Saupe and Ruth Barrow’s tested rat’s flavor preferences of water.
Gonzalez believes that the science fair requirement will remain in next years curriculum and will allow students to grow as learners.
“Inherent in this is a big truth, science isn’t something you read about, it is something you do. Too often the way we learn science is by making lists of what other people have discovered,” Gonzalez said. “While there is import to studying this minutia, the only way that we can truly integrate this process into our thinking is by doing the process. Hence, science fair.”
