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Kyle Garafolo
Dos 771 - Clinical Practicum 1
May 2, 2019

Science Fair
This semester I had the privilege to volunteer at a local elementary school in my
community to act as a “judge” for its annual science fair. The word judge is used loosely in this
context, as this was a non-competitive event for kindergarten through fifth graders.The science
fair was held in the school’s gymnasium and involved 150 students who presented a total of 121
science related projects (figure 1). For many of these students, this science fair was the
culmination of many weeks worth of research, planning, and preparation. For most, it would be
their first time publicly speaking in front of a crowd and to a judge. With there being such a large
group of young presenters and only a small number of judges, our responsibilities as judges were
limited to a small group of students each.
I was assigned a group of 7 second grade students to evaluate and oversee their
presentations / projects. Each presentation was allotted approximately 10 minutes, and topics
related to my assigned group kids included subjects such as volcanos, static electricity, observing
matter, color mixing wheels, and electrical conductors. My duties were to rotate to each student
in my assigned area, introduce myself, listen to the students present and showcase their project,
ask engaging / stimulating questions, and present an award certificate for each student (figure 2).
Throughout this event, I was fascinated and enthralled in not only the amount of time and
effort these students put forth into their projects and presentations, but by the quality of their
work as well. While all the presentations were fascinating, perhaps the one I enjoyed most was
the color mixing wheels exhibit. This presentation involved the mixing of a few select
ingredients, particularly milk, dish soap, a cotton swab, and food coloring. The process is simple:
milk is poured into shallow plate, an assortment of food coloring drops are scattered near the
middle of the milk, a drop of dish soap is placed onto the end of the cotton swab, and the cotton
swab is placed in the middle of the milk. Like fireworks, the arrangement of food coloring drops
disperse near the edge of the plate, creating a beautiful display of mixed colors (Figure 2)!
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As soon as I returned home from the science fair, I quickly gathered the necessary
supplies and recreated this chemistry experiment with my own preschool-aged son. It was a fun
learning experience and many great memories were had. Thinking back to my elementary school
days, I recall having to create similar projects to present to my classmates; having the
opportunity to participate in such an activity but form the evaluator’s prospective, and then build
upon the experience with my own children was such a unique experience. Growing up, little did I
know where my future would lead; however, witnessing these young minds hard at work gives
me reassurance that the future of science has many great things ahead.

Figure 1: Science fair posters and displays presented by kindergarten through fifth
graders. In total, 150 students presented 121 projects
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Figure 2: Me at the science fair as a volunteer judge

Figure 3: Example of milk, dish soap, and food coloring science experiment. Image taken
from http://scienceduca.blogspot.com/2015/01/fun-for-kids-magic-milk.html
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Figure 4: Thank you letter from appreciative school PTA member for my time spent volunteering at the
science fair