Science Congress

Yesterday was the science congress. The science congress is the local science fair, so each of the 9 schools in our zone was allowed to bring up to three projects in each of the subject areas (biology, chemistry, physics, math, agriculture, home science, applied science and computers). The theme this year was science and technology for environmental improvement. I was to be a judge for the math projects. The students started working on their projects about a week and a half before the competition. It seemed like short notice to me, but everyone else thought it was normal.

I should back up a bit and talk about everything leading up to the fair. Several students approached Mr. Godwin (the physics teacher) and myself for advice about selecting and proceeding with projects. He offered the structure and content guidance, and then sent them to me for technical advice. I was approached by several students, and as we approached time for the congress, we had seven projects to bring with us.

Two days before the congress, we discovered that the school was almost out of posterboards, and we would not be able to buy any until we had a new headmaster. Only 3 teams were able to go with posterboards, and the rest had to take deductions on their projects for that. Then, the day before the congress, one of my colleagues (it's always the same one) announced that the school did not have access to money to send students to science congress. The money was in the bank, but could not be withdrawn until we had a headmaster. After much persuading, he agreed to allow me to use my own money for the trip and be paid back later. It really shocked me how much I had to argue for him to agree to let the students participate in an educational activity.

We went to the congress with six projects: construction of a greenhouse (Math), raising sheep in arid climates (agriculture), the importance of beetles to soil fertility (agriculture), community scale water harvesting (agriculture), making medicated soap from local plants (chemistry), using household supplies to make hair product (home science). The seventh one had to be cancelled because one of the girls was suspended for giving names to the teacher (I haven't actually figured out what that means). We arrived early and helped the students prepare their presentations.

During my judging session, I was paired with another teacher from a different school. I wasn't really sure what to do, but the rubric was very specific, so I just filled it out. Each group made its presentations. For math, we only had 9 to watch. We were supposed to ask questions after each presentation. I had to restrain myself from asking the really hard questions, although the other judge did not feel similarly constrained. I was glad that I got to see Noel and Eunice present on their greenhouse (related to math through scale modeling and geometrical considerations). Most of the other presentations had to argue that the math they were demonstrating was relevant to the environment ("well you see, if people solve problems using our method, they will use less paper and save more trees.") while Noel and Eunice had to convince people that they were not supposed to be in the agriculture competition. Still, they won first in math and will be going on to district level next weekend. The rest of the school did not fare quite so well (remember, most of the students didn't have posters, so automatically received hefty deductions), but I spent the whole way home telling them how proud I was of them.

I also had the opportunity to watch some of the chemistry presentations. In that room, I did not shy away from asking the hard questions. (Two students demonstrated a water filter that they had created, so I asked them if they would drink the water they had just purified. They laughed and shook their heads.) I kept reminding myself that I was not in my D-Lab design reviews, so I didn't push them too far. I also made sure to tell everyone that I interrogated after they had finished that they had made a good presentation.

This was also a good opportunity for many of the students to meet other secondary school students and see how life is for them (the school that hosted the competition has been around for 30 years, so their facilities are far more extensive). I think my favorite moment was when Stanley (he is a mischievious third year, but he's a good kid) came up to me and explained that some of the students at the school were studying even though they were on break. "They could be at home resting or talking with friends, but they're reading! They're reading! And no one even told them to read. But they're still studying! Wow!!!" Hopefully he was inspired by this.

Before I end the post, I just want to mention one of the hardest moments. One of the groups was talking about using geometric patterns to beautify the area. As they were going over the problem statement they announced "Kenya has lost most of its anaesthetic." I bit my lip really hard to keep from laughing. At the end of their presentation, I whispered to them that they should make sure to say "aesthetic" the next time that they present.