The first words uttered by 11-year-old Dominic Bleeg are more comforting than he could know.
"Beans," Bleeg says simply.
"For my science fair project, I'll have three different egg cartons full of beans. One I'll shake for 30 seconds, one I'll shake for a minute, and one I'll just leave alone. I'm calling my project 'Shake, Rattle and Germinate.' "
Just minutes earlier, I'd wandered into Maryam Raymond's sixth-grade science class at Willow Glen Middle School wondering what modern Silicon Valley kids would be creating for science fairs these days. I saw visions of cloned sheep and genetically engineered plants. The idea of preteens splicing strands of DNA to invent new animal species seemed well within the realm of possibility.
Thankfully, the enthusiastic Bleeg and his peers seem to be sticking to more traditional tests in preparation for this March's annual science fair. Held the evening of March 10, the big event will take over the school cafeteria, and feature the experiments of sixth- and eighth-grade science classes. Classes taught by teachers Raymond, Maxey and Worley will all participate in the fair.
Some, like 11-year-old Marisa Salazar, will explore the great mysteries of the universe. She has created a small model of the solar system, each planet painted with brilliant swirls of color. Salazar, who says she discovered Jupiter to be her favorite planet, is now writing an essay about her findings.
Exploring a less celestial phenomenon, her classmate Ashley Rodriguez is studying how the home-court advantage affects a sports team's chances of victory. An avid basketball player, 11-year-old Rodriguez, along with her family, hosted several San Jose Lasers players until the team folded in December.
"I think teams win over 50 percent of the time, when they have the home-field advantage," Rodriguez says. "I saw it in a book and thought I could explore it more."
Like Rodriguez, most of Willow Glen Middle School's science students found inspiration for their projects through reading. Raymond herded the class to the library and encouraged them to do independent research. The result is a wide range of topics showing each student's individual tastes.
For 12-year-old Precious Bowes, that means delving into the question of which flavor of Jelly Bellies is the favorite of Willow Glen students. Between outside research and circulating surveys throughout the school, Bowes already has a strong working hypothesis. "Watermelon," she says, nodding emphatically. "I'm pretty sure it's going to be watermelon."
Although no one will really know until the night of the fair whether brilliant new discoveries have been made, there seems to be some shattering of scientific myths already in the works.
Eleven-year-old Rebecca Evans is testing a slew of battery brands to determine which one lasts the longest. Unfortunately for the Energizer Bunny, Evans' initial experiments show that any creature--even a tortoise--powered by the modest Walgreen's brand batteries would actually beat the poor hare.
Willow Glen Middle School's Annual Science Fair is at 7pm on Wednesday, March 10. For more information, call the school at 535-6277.
Willow Glen, California Since 1992
