MISSION VIEJO : Saddleback College to Host Science Fair

Budding scientists will gather at Saddleback College today for the seventh annual South County Science and Engineering Fair, where 200 junior high and high school students will display their projects.

Richard McCullough, head of the college’s biology department, said the students’ exhibits in 12 categories--including biochemistry, botany, math and computers, microbiology, physics and zoology--are expected to be far more innovative than exhibits presented in the fair’s early days.

“The first time we had the fair, many of the exhibits were just displays--rock collections, pictures of weather balloons,” McCullough said. “The students were not demonstrating any ideas. There was little research done.

“But what has evolved over time is that the students are now doing research following scientific principles,” he said. “They are going to the library, developing ideas and hypotheses and then developing projects do demonstrate their hypotheses.”

McCullough attributes the change to the improvements in schools’ science curricula.

“The projects reflect well on the junior high and high school teachers,” he said. “They are encouraging their students to think scientifically. Also, allowing students to do their own research is a lot more fun for them, and they learn more than when they are just memorizing a lot of facts.”

The fair is open to the public from 6:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. and from 8:30 p.m. to 9:30 p.m. today.