Scandal at the science fair

With no class to worry about this semester and a very part-time job, I've had a lot of time to invest in Madison's science fair project...

We put together a splendid presentation utilizing the photos in my previous post, maybe even a prize winning presentation. Bright and early Monday morning, Madison and I took in the presentation so it could take its place in the scientific community. But when I picked up Madison from school that afternoon, she told me that she wasn't allowed to use pictures with her face in it or her name (immediately under the title, "Yeast Feast," it said "Investigator: Madison Uthoff")....or she would be disqualified!!! Dun, dun, dunnnnn... I went home and re-read the rules, but apparently this one was unpublished common knowledge. Madison told me a teacher said she would put stickers over her face and name, and that would be okay for getting judged. Ever skeptical, I went in again this morning to check on things. No stickers on her presentation and at least 7 other presentations that would be disqualified! I put Curious George stickers on Madison's face and covered up her name with shiny stars. But I felt really bad for the other kids, who's hard work was going to be disqualified.

Andrew contends that this rule really is a common convention in academic competitions, like writing competitions. When I think of academic competition, though, I think of my own experiences on academic team and in speech competitions, where the student isn't anonymous. And in athletic competitions, the opportunity exists for bias among referees. But Andrew counters (rightly, I think) that if you can remove the opportunity for bias, you should. But I still think there's something to be said for putting your name on something and standing behind it.

Maybe if the science fair weren't a competition...

...or maybe if I just knew the rules...


Originally posted at www.myspace.com/wannabedutch on 1/30/07.

Madison's science fair experiment

Madison put 1 tsp. active dry yeast, 1 tbs. white sugar, and 1/4 c. warm water in 16 clean, numbered 20 oz. bottles.  In 4 bottles, she put only sugar and water for control bottles.  I put the balloons on, and Madison swirled the contents.  She randomly picked 4 bottles with yeast to go into each of the 4 temperature treatments, along with one control bottle without yeast.  Every 30 minutes for 6 measurements, she recorded the circumference of the balloons and the temperature of each treatment.  Treatment 1 was in the fridge (~38F).  Treatment 2 was room temperature, sitting on the counter (~72F).  Treatment 3 was a water bath sitting on a heating pad set on medium (~84F).  Treatment 4 was a water bath sitting on the stove set on high (~110F).  Madison's hypothesis that different temperatures would affect the amount of carbon dioxide made by the yeast appears to be supported by the data she gathered, although we haven't analyzed (e.g. graphed) the data yet.  We've had a great time working on it so far.  We still have quite a bit to do before the big day on Jan. 29, but it's great to have the experiment out of the way!

Originally posted on www.myspace.com/wannabedutch on 01/17/07.

"Andrew, grab the fire extinguisher!"

So the refrigerator plug caught on fire Friday night...more excitement than I need from appliances. Andrew valiantly unplugged the combusting cord while I fetched a fire extinguisher. Then he sprayed down the outlet for good measure. The good news is that we were awake, since it happened at about 3am. I thought we were going to get a new refrigerator out of the deal after living out of cooler for a couple of days. However, the landlady sent over an electrician who came today and tested the outlet (okay), replaced the burnt plug end, and installed a smoke detector over the fridge. Now we're more or less back to normal with smoke on the wall and the same fridge but safe! Scaaarrrry!

Originally posted at www.myspace.com/wannabedutch on 01/15/07.