My little guy's Science Project.. :(

E

eden2020

Members
Well...

He tried.. and seems a little disappointed. Thanks to Arlene for the Shellies to study for his school's science project. Not sure why he wasn't graded better, but evidently we did not have Cichlid fans do the judging. He received a pink ribbon (yeah pink for an 8 yr old boy.. lol). The ribbon colors were blue, red, white, pink, and then a certificate. It was scoring based. It was like getting a "D"...

Anyway- regardless of the results, he helped to feed them, set up the tank, put the shells in, and watched what they did for a month. Result was a pretty nice project we thought, and lots of family time watching them and taking pictures. His reward, a nice little group of Shellies and some new fry!

Still don't get it though- clearly dropping mentos in a 2 liter of soda or watching things rot on the porch is more scientific than keeping and breeding Shellies..

We are proud of him, and thanks to everyone here for the support. Shame is that I don't think he'll enter next year. But I am sure fish will be a part fo his life forever.

-Marc and family..
 
scientist0724

scientist0724

Members
Marc,

That is so disappointing. I think that Marcus had a well thought out project.

I guess that the judges are not fish fans at all. Don't they realize how hard it is to get fish in general to breed in captivity?

Anyway, tell Marcus that we are proud of him, and that he will always get an A from our group!

Arlene
 
Sonny Disposition

Sonny Disposition

Well-Known Member
Sorry it didn't work out as he had hoped. It's hard to see your kids disappointed when they've gone to the trouble and made the effort.

He shouldn't take it too personally. One never knows how the judges are going to react to what they see. I hope he tries again next year with something else. I think it's not so much the winning that's worthwhile in the long term, but the trying.

I know that this is a cichlid club, and I don't mean to suggest that cichlids are not worth an interesting project, but there are lots of other species that scientists have studied. Zebrafish are really big in research, because the researchers can watch the embryos develop. The developmental process provides a lot of insights into birth defects and developmental conditions.

Here's a link to a site dealing with zebrafish in the classroom.

http://www.zfic.org/


eden2020 said:
Well...

He tried.. and seems a little disappointed. Thanks to Arlene for the Shellies to study for his school's science project. Not sure why he wasn't graded better, but evidently we did not have Cichlid fans do the judging. He received a pink ribbon (yeah pink for an 8 yr old boy.. lol). The ribbon colors were blue, red, white, pink, and then a certificate. It was scoring based. It was like getting a "D"...

Anyway- regardless of the results, he helped to feed them, set up the tank, put the shells in, and watched what they did for a month. Result was a pretty nice project we thought, and lots of family time watching them and taking pictures. His reward, a nice little group of Shellies and some new fry!

Still don't get it though- clearly dropping mentos in a 2 liter of soda or watching things rot on the porch is more scientific than keeping and breeding Shellies..

We are proud of him, and thanks to everyone here for the support. Shame is that I don't think he'll enter next year. But I am sure fish will be a part fo his life forever.

-Marc and family..
Click to expand...
 
E

eden2020

Members
Thanks!

I just knew this "family" would be supportive and I wanted him to read that it is ok to try again. Thanks again, and if I can convince Marcus to give it another shot with anything else next year we will help him...

-Marc and family.
 
Hawkman2000

Hawkman2000

Members
IT WAS RIGGED!!

You should post the judges email addresses so we can email bomb them with, uhm, whatever we want.
 
Andrewtfw

Andrewtfw

Global Moderators
If you have any questions regarding the judging process, as a second grade teacher, I encourage you to follow up with your son's teacher/judges. Was a rubric or criteria for success provided?
 
M

Montbard

Members
Tell your son that is how things go sometimes. Judges are people too and sometimes make mistakes or just don't get it. I remember I submitted a project in 4-H on painting miniatures, got a poor ribbon for that too because the judge thought I should have sculpted my own miniatures (which is a whole different thing than painting).
In the end, it is what he got out of it, what he learned, and the family time that really matters. You can't put a price tag on that, but I think a blue ribbon would work. :rolleyes:
 
dogofwar

dogofwar

CCA Members
What Andrew said. I'd ask for feedback, if nothing else, to learn from the experience.

If I were to guess, I'd bet that the project was judged less favorably because of issues with the scientific method / experimental design (vs. the subject matter).

Or maybe the judges were killifish people!

Matt

Andrewtfw said:
If you have any questions regarding the judging process, as a second grade teacher, I encourage you to follow up with your son's teacher/judges. Was a rubric or criteria for success provided?
Click to expand...
 
E

eden2020

Members
Science Fair..

Actually- it wasn't so much about the "place" so to speak. It was that somewhere along the line the judges felt that 60-69 out of 100 points was what his project was worth. I thought about asking for the actual judge notes but at this point, it's really not THAT important. Truth is that this afternoon I read some of your responses and the support from all of you put a big smile on his face. In the end, you all nailed it- it's the time spent as a family, what he learned, and the enjoyment of the hobby that he will keep with him forever. I am a supporter of "everybody is a winner, but not everybody wins". It's real life. After readin your responses I almost wonder if I placed too much importance on his project being a success in someone else's eyes, when really all that matters is if we had fun with it.

Between the Shellies breeding for my son, and my personal success with my first ever spawn of Syno Multipuctatus, we will fly our pink ribbon on his tank with pride! LOL

Thanks again everyone.. you kind words and support really helped Marcus understand better.
 
Andrewtfw

Andrewtfw

Global Moderators
The other students will likely forget about the project/ contest and their projects will sit and collect dust or be thrown out. Your son's "project" will continue on and result in financial gain. Sounds like he won to me. :)

Sent from my DROIDX using MonsterAquariaNetwork App
 
fishman13

fishman13

Members
Andrewtfw said:
The other students will likely forget about the project/ contest and their projects will sit and collect dust or be thrown out. Your son's "project" will continue on and result in financial gain. Sounds like he won to me. :)

Sent from my DROIDX using MonsterAquariaNetwork App
Click to expand...

+1 true dat.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top