Annual Big Walnut Science Fair just around the corner on February 14

By LENNY C. LEPOLA

News Assis­tant Man­ag­ing Editor

On Thurs­day, Feb­ru­ary 14, the Big Wal­nut Local School Dis­trict will hold an event that’s becom­ing rare in Cen­tral Ohio, if not the entire state. That event involves stu­dents from fifth grade through high school, encour­ag­ing them to think log­i­cally and cre­atively using the sci­en­tific method of inquiry, and sup­ports the district’s cur­ricu­lum goals across all grade levels.

What event is it? It’s the Big Wal­nut Sci­ence Fair.

Big Wal­nut High School sci­ence teacher Matt Wallschlaeger said Big Wal­nut is one of few school dis­tricts in the state that has had a con­tin­u­ous sci­ence fair for the past 50-plus years.

“The sci­ence fair has an impor­tant role in edu­ca­tion because stu­dents are encour­aged to be cre­ative, orig­i­nal and explore sci­ence beyond the typ­i­cal class­room sit­u­a­tion,” Wallschlaeger said. “As a teacher, it’s excit­ing for me to see stu­dents at dif­fer­ent ages excel in open-ended sci­ence inves­ti­ga­tion; and it’s also enjoy­able is see­ing how the Big Wal­nut com­mu­nity sup­ports one of the last local sci­ence fairs in Cen­tral Ohio.”

Wallschlaeger said this year’s sci­ence fair will host approx­i­mately 100 projects, mainly from the school district’s mid­dle school and inter­me­di­ate school buildings.

All stu­dents who receive a Supe­rior rat­ing dur­ing the Big Wal­nut Sci­ence Fair qual­ify to advance to Cen­tral Dis­trict Sci­ence Day held at Colum­bus State on March 16; and stu­dents who receive a Supe­rior at Cen­tral Dis­trict Sci­ence Day will be invited to advance to State Sci­ence Day held on May 11 at The Ohio State University.

Wallschlaeger said although involve­ment in sci­ence fairs has decreased dra­mat­i­cally in recent years, stu­dents who do par­tic­i­pate find that the sci­ence fair expe­ri­ence pro­vides oppor­tu­ni­ties that can improve their edu­ca­tional and occu­pa­tional futures.

“The impor­tant role these sci­ence fairs play for stu­dents not only includes expe­ri­enc­ing hands-on sci­ence, but also pro­vides an oppor­tu­nity for them to receive awards, cer­tifi­cates, plaques, cash, and even col­lege schol­ar­ships,” Wallschlaeger said. “Our school dis­trict sci­ence fair would not be suc­cess­ful with­out the vol­un­teers who help the evening go smoothly, includ­ing the 40 to 50 judges who donate their per­sonal time to eval­u­ate the projects, the Big Wal­nut School Dis­trict sci­ence staff, and Boy Scouts; and judges often become part of an impor­tant career net­work for seri­ous sci­ence students.”

The Big Wal­nut Sci­ence Fair will be held from 6 to 9 p.m. on Thurs­day, Feb­ru­ary 14, at Big Wal­nut High School. Stu­dents will be able to set up their projects from 5:30 p.m. to 6:15 p.m. Par­ents and the gen­eral pub­lic are wel­come to attend the sci­ence fair, but come early; pub­lic view­ing is from 6 to 7 p.m., the doors close dur­ing judging.

“Bring your Valen­tine and enjoy the best of what Big Wal­nut has to offer in sci­ence projects done by stu­dents in grades five through twelve,” Wallschlaeger said.

For addi­tional infor­ma­tion about Cen­tral Dis­trict Sci­ence Day go to < cscc.edu/docs/science/ >; for addi­tional infor­ma­tion about State Sci­ence Day go to < ohiosci.org/ssd.htm >.

Posted by Gary Henery on Jan 30 2013. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS Feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.