My daughter, the scientist

Today was Science Fair day (and night) at Katherine’s school. So this morning she and Margie schlepped her experiment to the school gym to get it set up, during the day she got to chat with the judges, and this evening we headed over to see how she’d done and to let her share her experiment with all the other kids (and parents).

The basic experiment was a terrarium, and the hypothesis had to do with tropical plants doing better in a terrarium than desert plants (cacti). About 2-3 weeks ago we bought a fish tank, filled it with dirt, planted the plants, watered it, plastic-wrapped the top, and watched.

As it turns out, the hypothesis was not proven over the course of the experiment, though some fallen leaves got some mold and Katherine thinks the cacti are beginning to not look as healthy. By the same token, she learned a lot about the water cycle, etc.

Over the past few days, she put together some water cycle pictures, mounted then up on a display board with some photos we’d taken and her experiment info, and ended up with a very nice display. Well done.

(It turns out that K-2 only get “Participant” ribbons, while 3-5 get either a First or Second Place ribbon. But, for my money, her stuff was pretty darned good, in general as well as within her grade level.)

Margie provided a lot of inspiration and help, and I did a few things, too, but the real work — and, clearly, from her explaining the whole thing to passers-by, the learning — was all Katherine’s. Bravo!