AUDREY KLEINSASSER

Perspective

"April is the cruelest month," penned the Nobel prizing-winning poet, T. S. Eliot. Many school-aged kids would agree, as April finds Wyoming students completing the Proficiency Assessments for Wyoming Students, commonly called PAWS.

Tests such as PAWS are one way to understand what kids know and should know. So are academic competitions such as History Day, geography and spelling bees and science fairs.

This winter, I went to the state science fair. My last science fair appearance was about 40 years ago as a high school junior taking chemistry. My partner and I presented a salinity study: garden variety beans grown in different solutions of salt water. This winter, I read names of the 2008 Wyoming Science Fair winners - almost 300 of them in grades seven through 12 from every corner of the state. Students competed individually or in teams.

Unhappy myths about science fairs abound. There's the cliché of the over-achieving parent who does everything except ride the bus to Laramie for the state competition. Then, there's the false notion that science fair is just for the nerds, kids with high-end calculators poking out of their backpacks. Worst of all, there's the idea that science fair projects are mysterious, that they have little or nothing to do with people's everyday problems and concerns.

Not true. This year's winning entries included projects with such down-to-earth titles as, "Testing Your Ticker," "Sugar Shock" and "Informed Consumer."

I didn't see evidence of science fair mythology. Instead, I saw a celebration of learning that can bring out the best in everyone, student, parent and teacher. For kids, a science fair project is a way to take real science from idea to completion, culminating with public presentations that require polished written and oral communication. Going public brings out the best in us. Think about similar events in music, drama and, of course, sports. Most of the fun and all of the challenge is absent without sharing your work in a public way, whether competing for a prize or not.

Kids need mentors to tackle science fair projects. To think that parents should not be involved is naïve and, in fact, runs counter to what we know about academic achievement. When parents are involved and interested, kids have a better chance of thriving in school. We simply need parents to be involved.

At the same time, those junior and senior high science fair participants wouldn't have gotten to the state competition without mentors at school. If science teachers don't have administrative support, especially in the current environment of high-stakes testing such as PAWS, they are less likely to help kids learn to think like scientists, demonstrate cognitive skills well beyond rote memorization, and use the scientific method ethically. Teachers model the scientific method. They are the ones who help kids learn how to respond when an experiment fails, which is more often than not in the real world of science. Teachers help kids learn to be persistent, perhaps the most important characteristic of successful work life as an adult, not just that of a scientist.

The science fair model also involves college and university professors in several important ways. They may consult on projects early on, and they serve as judges at the local, regional and state levels. Teaming with their professors, university students serve as judges at the state meet. The work is important enough that UW provides support for the state science fair through its experienced and expert director, Diane Gorski, a former high school chemistry teacher herself.

With kids, parents, and teachers on board, what's not to like? In Laramie, I was cheered to see that the number of female winners nearly matched the number of male participants (147 females, 149 males). In fact, there were more girls winning the sweepstakes awards than males.

It was troubling, however, to see that very few ethnic minority students were among the students in attendance. In United States colleges and universities, including UW, ethnic minority and females continue to be underrepresented in science, technology, engineering and mathematics. UW faculty are working on and developing a number of projects to increase those numbers. Just as important, all of us must acknowledge and work on ways to warm up chilly classroom environments that place emotional, psychological and social roadblocks in front of girls and minority students.

There might have been another invisible group at the state meet, kids who do not have the means to participate. Science costs money, even at the junior and senior high levels. Community organizations can find ways to help schools help students who might not have enough money to create a science fair project that would make its way to the state contest. There isn't a Wyoming teacher or principal who wouldn't help a student who asked for help. It's the asking that's hard for kids, and they shouldn't have to ask.

We're dead wrong if we think there isn't any good news about schools, teachers and kids. The recent report about Wyoming writing achievement as measured by the National Assessment for Education Progress is heartening. There's also plenty to celebrate around annual events such as science fairs that start in classrooms, extend to the district and culminate at regional, state and national levels. We know they nurture the next generation of working scientists.

Audrey Kleinsasser is a professor at the University of Wyoming and the director of the Wyoming School-University Partnership.