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November 7, 2011
6.7: Unfair
The Science Fair is going to kill me.
I'm the child of a scientist, so when I did science fairs as a kid, they were done right. There was never more than a single variable. Any and ever detail that could be recorded was. Statistics (that I STILL don't understand, in spite of several college courses) were employed. The sample size was adequate for an accurate result.
I was in junior high when these affairs happened, so I had a decent understanding of the scientific process that was only enhanced by the guidance of my father.
Now it's my turn to be the teacher, and I'm not doing so well. Because I was so well-schooled in the exacting details of research, it pains to me allow a project to be less than legitimate. The scientific process is the same, but it's being applied to a much younger age. I'm assuming it's ok to lose some of the details, but which ones? And to what degree? If I explain the proper way to set up the experiment and then insist we do it that way, am I injecting myself too much in the project?
I'm walking a fine line, and even I don't know which side I'm falling on.
Posted by me at November 7, 2011 9:15 PM