The Bermuda Triangle Explained
May 09, 2005
A couple of weeks ago, I was asked by the District Science Coordinator to be a judge for the District Elementary School Science Fair. If you recall, I helped judge one school's 4th Grade Science Fair last year. This year the stakes were raised as this was for the entire district, and all elementary schools and grades.
As this was all of the winners from every school, there weren't as many "funny" projects like there were last year. But there were some very well thought-out and executed ones. My favorite, although it didn't win, was one kid (I've forgotten his name) who studied the Bermuda Triangle. He even performed experiments with vortexes and magnets and the like.
I also really enjoyed another boy's experiment with sound waves and stereo speakers. The experiment wasn't necessarily that spectacular, but you could tell how much he loved music and stereos. He was, almost overwhelmingly, excited to hook up the little speaker to the amp and, finally, to turn up the music.
Trust me, these kids are much, much smarter than we were when we were their age, and even more smarter than the media gives them credit for.