Some discussion from last year's editor, Michelle Olsen, and several readers comments about science fairs prompted Ypsilanti, Michigan, teacher Kathy Bailey to ask her second grade class at the end of school last year to tell what they thought about science fairs. We were so impressed with their ideas, we ran the whole class' views. --JE

Mrs. Bailey: "Our class had many ideas to share in response to the letters to the Editor of the SCIENCE NETWORK NEWS, Vol.3, #9, May, 1991. They responded to the question of whether parents should help students with this annual rite as well as to what they personally gained from their experiences in science fairs both as presenters and as visitors."

Chad: "It's not true that parents do most of the stuff. The kids think up what to do and how they're going to do it. Another thing is, it isn't a waste of time. Kids can figure out how things work from other kids' projects. I didn't know about friction until I saw Jim's project. "

Nick: "I don't think Science Fair is a waste of time. I didn't know you could make a magnifying glass out of syrup until I saw Laura Q's project."

Jessica: "I think that people say it's a waste of time because some kids just copy off a project they've seen without thinking. Some people bring in a pet and some food and call it a project."

Megan: "I have never been in the Science Fair but I think it's fun to look at things like Karen's hamster."

Linda: "It's neat to look at stuff you've never seen before like baby rabbits and iguanas."

Laura T.: "Kids can learn new ideas and go home and teach their families what they've learned."

Nick: "Some guys just show something they know about, like cutting a worm into pieces to see if new worms will grow. "

Jessica: "Yeh, they do the same project year after year."

Lauren: "This was my first year with a project. It may be hard in the beginning when you're working on the project. When you get it set up, you feel nervous because you don't know what to say. After a while I started having fun and then when no one was there to talk to, I said to myself, 'when will more people come?"'

Matt S.: "If parents help, they might learn something too."

Jessica: "Last year I did the artesian well. I was looking through the dictionary and wondered what an artesian well was. The dictionary had a lot of words that I didn't understand. Dad helped me. Then he helped me build the artesian well. We had a fresh clay pile and Dad helped me pack it in. He bought gravel and he helped me write a speech to explain how it worked. He learned some about it too."

Lauren: "I think parents should help, if the kids really want to be in the Science Fair. Parents can give good suggestions. When I did mine, Dad suggested I trace my body but I couldn't do it without help."

Mike A.: "Parents help us when accidents happen like when the tornado bottle spills."

Steven D.: "I think if you're using electricity stuff, parents can help so no one gets shocked."

Matt S.: "If you had a mouse and you're holding it and it gets away, Dad can help catch it."

Anna: "My brother couldn't find the stuff to make an electromagnet. Dad helped him."

Matt S.: "In kindergarten I did a dinosaur diorama in a box this big. I wanted to find out how to make a Kroneosaurus sticking it's head out of the water. Dad suggested a box inside of a box. It worked great."

Chad: "In kindergarten I was going to make a volcano. Mom and Dad helped find the boards and plaster."

Nick: "In kindergarten I made a paper mache dinosaur over a toy dinosaur. "

Laura Q.: "Science Fairs are interesting because you learn how to make things happen."

Matt S.: "We learn from Science Fairs because kids have interesting projects. "

Robin: "It's fun talking with kids about their projects."

Mike A.: "Kids are learning while they make up the project at home."

Nick: "To people who think it's a waste of time... kids see projects and decide to try them at home."

Chalin: "I don't want Science Fair next year. I've never done it and don't want to."

Matt C.: "Then how do you know whether it's fun or not?"

Lauren: "All you're doing at Science Fair is learning. That's what school is about, is learning. If Science Fairs at other schools aren't fun then maybe they should change how they do it. Our Science Fair is fun!!!"

Marinda: "I think you should have Science Fair because some people like it. I've been in it 3 years. The fun part for me is getting ready for it at home."

Lauren: "If people don't like the idea they don't have to be in the Science Fair at our school. This was my first year and I'm sure I'm going to be in it next year."
 
Michael B.: "I've never been in the Science Fair but I think it's fun because lots of people have experiments like volcanoes."

Chad: "How do you know whether people like Science Fairs? Teachers need to ask kids and parents about what they think about Science Fairs and not decide on their own."

Steven F.: "I agree with Chad. I've been in Science Fair for 3 years. The best part is that kids learn new things."

Robin: "It's still fun to see projects even if you've seen them before. I like new ones too."

Jim: "I think Science Fair is fun because I learn."

Sinyon: "Some people put a lot of work into the projects."

Shevawn: "It's fun to see what kids can do."
 
Jenny: "People who think we shouldn't do Science Fair may not like science. I think we should have Science Fair because doing projects is a fun way to learn."

Michelle: "I've never been in the Science Fair but I liked learning about the sun and the planets."

Kevin: "I think we should have Science Fair. I've been in it 2 years. I like learning from others better than presenting. "

Scott: "I've never been in the Science Fair. I liked Mike A's experiment, where he had a bag with a balloon in it. The bag went up to the ceiling."

Mike A.: "The air pressure from the balloon made the bag go up."

Laura Q.: "I like it because kids can answer your questions and sometimes when we ask Mom and Dad, they can't answer our questions."

Karen: "I like Science Fair because it gives kids a chance to be teachers to other kids."

    Reptiles that move around at night can often be found with a red light because they do not usually respond to red light.  Reptiles like some snakes, lizards, and turtles, burrow in the ground, and the hunter needs to know what their burrows look like and how to get them out safely.

    Some very rare reptiles, like the Komodo Dragon, are shot with darts that inject them with medicine that puts them to sleep, so they can be captured safely.

  The Komodo Dragon is the largest os all lizards.  It can reach up to nine feet in length and weigh up to 250 lbs!  They are found mainly

    Zoos and pet shops usually do not cooperate with people who hunt animals in a way to hurt them or destroy their environment, such as burning fields to find the snakes in them.

I also heard on TV that more than 90% of the animals in zoos were raised in captivity. --JE

    Many birds are known to be able to find their way home after being taken many, many miles away from their nests. One bird in particular, an albatross found his way back to his nest after being taken 3,200 miles away, and it only took him 10 days to do soil!!!

How do these birds find their nests so easily, and from so far away?

    The ability of a bird to find its way back to its nest is called the "homing ability." Some scientists believe that birds (and other animals that have the homing ability) use familiar landmarks to find their way home. When birds are taken far away from their nest, and then released, scientists have observed the birds exploring the area, and hesitating, as they apparently look for familiar landmarks. These landmarks may be geographical, like a mountain system, a river system, or a coastline. The landmarks may also be ecological, like a certain vegetation zone. Or, they may be climatic, such as certain air masses which differ in temperature, humidity, or winds. Much like you and I remember what our neighbor's house looks like, a bird "remembers" what the mountains, rivers, and vegetation looks like around its nest. (People who fly a lot may remember what the land looks like seen from the air around their home town. --JE)

    But, familiar landmarks cannot explain how birds find their nests from areas which they have never seen, or where they find no familiar landmarks. So, some scientists believe that birds also use the sun and the stars to find their way home from long distances. According to these scientists, a bird watches the path of the sun, and the angle which the sun makes with the horizon.  A bird can then know which direction it has to fly to get home by comparing the sun's position in the sky with the position of the sun at its nest. How might a bird be able to know the direction to its nest during the night?

    Some scientists believe birds also have a special, unique sense which adds to their homing ability. This special sense is called the "compass sense." Scientists have observed that a bird flies in a particular, constant direction regardless where, or in what direction it is released when taken from its home. They think that birds can fly in a constant direction by sensing the direction and intensity of the Earth's magnetic field, and by sensing the force created as the earth rotates (Coriolis force). Much like you and I can taste when we eat something bitter, or sweet, or salty, a bird can "taste," or sense, when it is flying in a constant direction.

    Birds use many things from nature to help them find their nests. They use familiar landmarks, or they use the sun and stars to guide them when they see no familiar landmarks. And, birds also have a special "compass sense" which allows them to detect the Earth's magnetic and rotational force to help them fly in a constant direction. Can you think of any other ways a bird might be able to find its nest? --Tracie Mankowski

-The Flicker (Coloptes, Order PICIFORMES),
length 13 inches, a woodpecker that forages
both in trees and on the ground.  (After U.S.
Biological Survey)

    According to the August 1991 issue of Science News magazine, female Red Woodpeckers have found a way to get calcium, a mineral that they need to make strong eggshells, anytime they need it. Biologists have found that female woodpeckers will pick up fragments of old bone from the forest floor and wedge them into the bark of trees near their nests so they can peck at them to get the calcium they need during egg-laying season.

    Biologists theorize the woodpeckers put the small pieces of bone in the trees so they can avoid predators that would attack them if they fed on the forest floor.

 

    Science for August 30, 1991 reported that investigators can easily tell the difference between the real thing and the hoaxes a few people have perpetrated. The Tabloid, Today, reported that "Douglas Bower and David Chorley of Southampton contacted them and gave detailed information about how they planned and executed each design, since the late 1970's." (AP, News Gazette, 9-9-91) That doesn't explain why circles have reportedly been found in the midwest. On the same day as the Tabloid article was published, CBS News showed two men in England in the process of knocking down wheat stalks with a board they moved around in a circle marked out with a string. CBS also showed an aerial view of two complete circles connected by a straight line, with extra circles and straight lines around them. Science also pictured the British expert, Terrance Meaden, who claims to have investigated thousands of these circles in England. Science also told about a Japanese scientist who has discovered dust circles in abandoned subway tunnels in Japan and recreated dust circles electrically in his laboratory. The "dust devil", or vortex theory, tornadoes (see diagram below), and the electrical theory described in Science all fail to account for why these circles most often occur on a cloudless, calm night. --JE

Ginat UK crop circle under investigation.

1986 tornado in Minnesota appeared to turn inside out, creating a ring in which the central flow of air reversed

    Mary was the oldest of the five children who started playing together in and around the oval track. She had the controller and insisted on finishing her trip around the track before she would let anyone else use it. This was because Bill, Tom, Charlie and David were all putting bits of Lego and other toys on the track to make the train go off, or at least stop. When the train, or some of its wheels, went off the track, Bill jumped to put it back on, something he usually had a lot of difficulty doing. It seemed certain that Mary's turn would never be finished, and indeed there was no complaint from the boys about the division of labor. When the train was thought to be ready to go, Bill, and one or more of the others, would shout orders repeatedly to Mary to "start," "back up," " stop, " or " wait. "

    Tom kept putting things on the track, even though he had to wait a long time for the train to get going again after each derailment. Charlie still seemed totally absorbed in Lego construction.

    Later, Tom, who is about Mary's size, became involved in social interaction with her. They took turns operating the controller and seemed to like discussing rules about turn taking. Orders to stop and start the train were directed to Tom, when he had the controller. David became interested in a specialty of his own, how high the track could be elevated and have the train make it over the hill. He tried putting all kinds of things under the track, but most of the time, the train would stall on the hill, with the locomotive spinning its wheels, or it would jump the track. Bill participated actively in David's task by carefully putting all the wheels back on when they slipped off, so the three-role interaction continued.

    The three-role play described above went on for about an hour, but it was not free of conflict or tempers--however, the flare-ups were brief and resolved quickly. At one point, partly in exasperation, Mary asked the boys, "Are you all related?" Someone said, "Tom and Charlie are brothers." Mary asked again, "I mean are the rest of you all their cousins?" She knew she wasn't related to them, but no one responded although it was true. Perhaps it was too difficult or too irrelevant a question--but it quieted things down for just a bit.

    The main activities described above was also interrupted by adults who came and watched and went away again. They were parents or uncles or aunts of the children. One parent insisted, at one point, that each person get a turn driving the train twice around the track. The order of turns was to be decided by the stone, scissors, and paper game. Subversion of this rule started even before that adult left the scene, e.g., driving the train backwards (so it wouldn't count) or stopping it just an inch away from the completion of two round trips, making endless adjustments of the wheels, couplings, obstacles on the track, etc.

    A second adult interruption was from me, when I asked if each of the kids would state what they wanted to do, e.g., to wreck it, to run it, to put it back on the track, but no one said anything. Then I asked Charlie if he wanted a turn, since he had dropped out of wrecking trains. He said, "No." David asked for time out so he could go to the bathroom. His request was honored, as Mary kept the train on one part of the track, going back and forth an inch or two only, while he went and came back. Within a minute of each adult interruption, the main interaction described above resumed again.

    This scene ended, however, when Mary observed that her folks were going.

    After supper David and Tom were running the train and wrecking it, while Charlie played with Legos in the center of the oval track. An adult told David that there was something on the track. After the train jumped off, this adult said that it would be easier to put the wheels back on if the locomotive were on a straight section of track instead of the curved one where it was. (This latter advice was followed once.)

    Uncle Cal and Kelly joined the group. The train ran around with no incidents and no one operating the controller. Another adult asked Charlie if he knew how to blow the whistle. He tried but couldn't. Kelly helped but couldn't. Soon David had gone and the other three were playing with a dinosaur sticker book. Tom and Charlie continued seriously matching dinosaur stickers in the middle of the oval track.

Kelly: (from the piano stool) Hey, guys, I'm going to jump over the train. (She does it successfully, as it passes underneath.) She tries a second time, falls over as she lands, and the train falls over.

Tom: Hey, that's my dinosaur. Charlie, can I have somebody's? I stole some money and I'm putting it back (p u Is paper money down the back of Uncle Cal's shirt). Kelly: Stop the train! It's ... Lincoln: (to me) Will you put the train on the track? Me: Why don't you ask one of those boys? (she asks Uncle Cal)

Kelly: steps on the track while arguing with Tom about something else. She gets on the piano stool and jumps off again, hurting her thigh.

Charlie, who had earlier told me he didn't want a turn, takes over the controller, which was just lying there, blows the whistle, etc.

David: (to Charlie) Hey, I had that first. (jumps off the piano stool).

Uncle Cal: Be careful how you jump.

Charlie, meanwhile, runs the train forward and backwards, whistling, and ringing the bell, all the while. Tom puts obstacles on the track, but pulls them off at the last minute before the train hits them. The passenger car jumps the track while the train is backing up.

Leslie: Stop it, please! (stops the passenger car with her hand).

Charlie removes the passenger car while mindlessly stepping on the dinosaur chart he had been working on earlier. Leslie puts obstacles on the track and takes over operating the controller. Now, Charlie rushes over to fix the train, which has jumped the track. He gives up and turns off the battery switch. Charlie tries to operate the controller but it won't work. He moves it up and down in a zapping motion as he presses the start button to no avail. He seems intrigued with the problem.

Charlie: That's why! It's not on the track.

Adult:  Somebody lost all their money! Doesn't all that money belong in your purse?

Somebody: Yep!

Adult: You'd better look out. You're going to get robbed.

Kelly slides off the piano stool with feet wrapped in a chair arm cover. Kelly dances with the cover, then sits on it and slides off the piano stool again. Kids leave the room and play elsewhere until their parents leave or it's bed time.

    As I finish my notes, I am fascinated at the evidence of all the things the children had learned (how to wreck the train, how to put it back on the curved track, how to operate the controller, how you get hurt jumping, how to satisfy adults' suggestions minimally), childish though they may seem to adults--and how little of the adults' input they had accepted as relevant for their play. This is the problem of teaching--children learn what they want to learn not what w e want them to learn. --JE

 Eight People Move in to the Biosphere the Week of Sept. 23 to Stay 2 Years
 

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