Mom-and-Pop Projects Lose : Slick Out, Honesty In at Science Fair

The award for creativity at a school science fair Tuesday in Agoura Hills did not go to the scale-model solar system built out of marbles and Tinker-Toy parts. It didn’t go to the light bulb made out of a jelly jar or to any of the other 140 projects, either.

That prize went instead to the fair’s judges.

They came up with a procedure that allowed them to separate the table-top models and experiments that were put together by children from those assembled by parents.

“We’re talking to the kids and asking them to explain their projects to us,” said Jim Kotz, a Newbury Park physicist who was among six science experts who volunteered to judge at Yerba Buena Elementary School. “The No. 1 thing is the interest of the child, not how slick the entry is.”

Individual Interviews

Judges called the children in one at a time to explain their projects and demonstrate any moving parts. The youngsters were asked about their research and whether their experiment had turned out as they had expected.

Agoura veterinarian Dr. Kathy Jonokuchi gently quizzed a 9-year-old about his elaborate exhibit that used a propeller-driven model car to demonstrate “motor current versus force.”

The boy was at a loss to explain what made the car reverse its direction at the end of its track. He was hazy about the meaning of a graph illustrating the scientific concepts behind the project.

“I had a lot of fun working on this,” the boy explained. “But I don’t think my dad did.”

Jonokuchi said the children were honest about their parents’ involvement--or non-involvement.

“There were a couple of projects that were not that substantial to look at. But the kids really knew the subject. So they scored high,” she said.

Down the aisle, 10-year-old Ryan Falkner had no difficulty explaining how his electromagnet display worked--or how he came to construct it to look like a wrecking yard’s scrap metal crane.

“I’ve seen these on TV shows,” he offered. “I made this out of a smoke detector box and cardboard and colored it with a marker. I want to be a set designer when I grow up.”

Third-grader Lydia Yik, 8, persuaded judge Jerry Treiman, a geologist with the State of California, that her experiment with mold was all hers. She said she decided to do the project after she found mold on her lunch sandwich and “it tasted icky.”

Her display included pieces of bread in various stages of moldiness. Hand-labeled signs next to each read “Yuck,” “Total Yuck” and “No Yuck.”

‘She Knew It All’

Eight-year-old Heather Stokes’ simple entry included snapshots of her conducting an experiment comparing the moisture content of marigolds, petunias and celery. Her explanation to judge Sol Rubenstein seemed picture-perfect to him.

“She knew it all,” Rubenstein said afterward.

Rubinstein, a retired North Hollywood science teacher who coordinates secondary-level science fairs in Los Angeles County and for the state, said it is rare that young competitors are questioned personally by science fair judges.

“There’s a reticence on the part of teachers, especially elementary teachers who don’t have a science background,” Rubinstein said.

“But it’s a good thing to do. Parents should learn to help their kids with things like this--not do it for them.”

Teacher Ellen Weitz, who organized Yerba Buena’s first-ever science fair, said winners will be announced Thursday.

Weitz said she warned Agoura Hills parents that excessive parental involvement would be “a detriment.”