Qualified members of the scientific cummunity are needed to serve as judges for Colina Science Fair.
Please inquire by contact science teacher Denise Agapoff at 495-7429, ext. 1132, or dagapoff@conejo.k12.ca.us
Science Fair 2008
Begining in the 2007-08 school year, participation in the Science Fair is via joining the Science Fair Club, which will meet daily during SURE. Students must complete the Science Fair Club Application form (download application or obtain from Colina Counseling Center), and submit it to club sponsor Ms. Agapoff, in Room 32, or to Counseling Center, which will forward it to her. Upon approval for the club, the student will have his/her SURE class moved to the Science Fair Club section, with Ms. Agapoff. Science Fair Club is open to students in grades 6, 7 and 8.
There is no Colina Science Fair; rather, students belonging to Colina Science Fair Club will enter their approved projects directly in the Ventura County Science Fair, which takes place April 23, 2008. Registration deadline for Ventura County Science Fair is Feb. 13, 2008.
Science Fair Open House viewing:
Wednesday, Feb. 14, 2007, from 6:30-8:00 p.m.
Colina Science Fair
Tyler Baca at his Sea Hermit Crabs project.
Colina Science Fair entry which went on to win one of 15 Coliina PTSA Special Awards.
Science Fair Setup:
Monday, Feb. 12, 2007, from 2:20-4:00 p.m., & Tuesday, Feb. 13, 2007, from 7:45-9:00 a.m.
Science Fair juding takes place all day Tuesday, Feb. 13, 2006
Science Fair Open House viewing: Wednesday, Feb. 14, 2007, from 6:30-8:00 p.m.
and open all day Wednesday, Feb. 14, 2007 for students to tour during their science classes.
Projects may be taken home at the end of the viewing.
Science Fair project pickup:
7:45-8:00 p.m. Wednesday, Feb. 14, 2007 and 8:00-9:00 a.m. Thursday, Feb. 15, 2007
(Any project left after this time will be discarded)
Ask your science teacher for due dates of specific parts of your Science Fair project.
The Colina Student Store will be selling display boards for Science Fair projects.
No late project will be accepted for any reason!
Colina 'Passport to Science' Fair,
Wednesday, Feb. 7, 2007
Colina's Passport to Science Fair, by invitation only, is for display by and judging of certain classes' science projects. Please contact Ms. McDaniel, Ms. Snibley or Dr. Stephenson for additonal information. Students should set up their projects on Wednesday, Feb. 7, 2007, between 7:45 and 9:00 a.m. in the auditorium. Viewing / judging will take place Wednesday, Feb. 7, 2007, during science class period, with open house scheduled for Wednesday, Feb. 7, 2007, from 6:30 to 8:00 p.m. Project disassembling, for taking home: 7:45 to 8:00 p.m.
Colina Science Fair Parent Info Night:
Wed, Oct. 11, 2006, 7:30-9 p.m., auditorium
Colina Science Fair Parent Info Night Ventura County Science Fair:
Ventura County Science Fair:
Students earning Blue or Red Ribbon (with modifications) in Colina's Science Fair are eligible for the Ventura
Friday, Feb. 16, 2007 at 4:00 p.m.: Application Postmark Deadline Ventura County Science Fair Application Science Fair Application Packet must be delivered the Ventura County Science Fair Office by 4:00 p.m.
Original Forms only. No applications will be accepted after this deadline.
Ventura County Science Fair, 200 Horizon Circle, Camarillo, CA 93010
April 17, 2007, from 10:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m.: Project Setup
at Seaside Park, 10 West Harbor Blvd, Ventura
April 18, 2007: Judging Day
Judges’ Breakfast and Orientation 8:00 AM – 9:00 AM
Judges review projects, interview students, finalize awards 9:00 AM – 4:00 PM
Students arrive for Student Orientation 9:45 AM
Student Orientation 10:00 AM - 10:15 PM Project judging and Science Career Day activities (Times differ for Life Sciences, and Physical Sciences) Oral Presentations: Life Sciences 10:15 AM – 11:45 AM
Career Expo: Physical Sciences 10:15 AM – 11:45 AM
Lunch Followed by Project Viewing: Life Sciences 11:45 AM – 1:00 PM
Project Viewing Followed by Lunch: Physical Sciences 11:45 PM – 1:00 PM
Oral Presentations: Physical Sciences 1:00 PM – 2:30 PM
Career Expo: Life Sciences 1:00 PM – 2:30 PM
Dismissal 2:30 PM
Public viewing of projects 4:00 PM – 7:00 PM
April 19, 2007: Project Removal, 10:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m.
If you wish to keep your project, this is the time to save it. Projects left behind after 6:00 p.m. will be disposed of.
The Science Fair is not responsible for projects left after this time.
April 19, 2007: Science Fair Awards Night, 6:30 p.m. to 8:00 p.m.
at Anacapa Hall, Seaside Park
California Science Fair:
California State Science Fair
Sonia Barrad, 2nd from right, went on the the state fair.
Science Fair Is Here
(Information subject to change)
Colina puts on a fantastic science fair and I hope you will take the time to view one of the best school science fairs in the state. The Colina PTSA plays a very active role in helping us put on this event. Thanks PTSA, you're wonderful!
Please don't wait until the last minute to finish projects.
At the Colina Science Fair we do not award first, second, and third place. The students will be actually given a numerical score sheet from the judges. We have four award categories.
Award of Excellence" score 20-16 Automatically qualifies a student for the Ventura County Science Fair.
Award of Merit" score 15-11 The student does not qualify for the Ventura County Science Fair. However, with special teacher recommendation selected students can make improvements to their project and then qualify for the Ventura County Science Fair.
Award of Merit" score 10-6
The judges do not feel that the project is competitive at the County level. Please do not try to appeal or question the judge's decision.
Participation" score 5-0:
Means that the student met all the standards of the Colina Science Fair, and is to be congratulated for all his hard work. However, the judges do not feel that the project is competitive at the County level.
The PTSA is also offering a "Special PTSA Award". This is the best of the best. Five top eighth grade, five top seventh projects, and two top sixth projects will receive this prestigious award. Good luck to all participants in our science fair. We sincerely hope that everyone finds this a worthwhile and rewarding experience. Hopefully all students who qualify for the Ventura County Science Fair will go. It should be a very memorable, challengin& and fun filled day. The Ventura County Science Fair is considered the best science fair in the state and naturally Colina usually wins more awards than any other school in the county. I highly recommend it!
Students have it down to a science Monopoly, nail-biting were among the projects at Colina Middle School Science Fair
By Michael Gottlieb, Our Times, Los Angeles Times, March 11, 1999
Colina Middle School students sought answers to questions that most intrigued them, like, what is the most common spot to land on in Monopoly? What happens when you bite your nails? Or, is a dog’s mouth cleaner than a human’s?
This week, more than 250 students in the sixth, seventh and eighth grades demonstrated how they found answers to those questions and more at the ninth annual Colina Middle School Science Fair.
Using scientific methods, the students have been working on the projects since October, testing and analyzing the results of their hypotheses.
Scientists, physicians and physicists from local high-tech companies, such as Amgen, Boeing and Rockwell, judged the event, selecting about 100 students that will move on to the Ventura County Science Fair in April.
Winners from the county contest will then move on to a statewide competition.
Denise Moss, a science teacher who organized the science fair, said it was important for the students to choose a topic they could relate to.
"They got to wonder about something, test it and see whether what they were wondering about is true," Moss said Wednesday. "It makes it their own. We hoped they would chose something that is important to them or meaningful."
For Donald Pawloski, a 14-year-old eighth-grader, his decision to unlock the secrets of Monopoly was directed by his love of the game.
"I like Monopoly. Every time I played, I noticed I landed on certain spots more," he said.
Donald spent about a month rolling the dice 4000 times to see which is the most common spot on the game board. "Go to Jail" turned up the most, about 4% of the time. He landed on one of the venerable railroad stops (B&O, Reading, and Short Line) quite often.
"It was fun. It gave me a better perspective on the game, " he said. "It got to be a little too much, but now I know how to win."
Meanwhile, Mariah Havens and Michael Hart, both 14-year-old eighth-graders, tested the mouth of humans and dog to see which was cleaner. They swabbed the mouths of a number of dogs and humans and put the swabs in petri dishes in a warm, moist environment for about a week. Then they compared how much mold had accumulated.
The result, Mariah said, was that she would rather be kissed by a dog. Michael agreed.
The middle school’s Parent Teacher Association sponsors the event, said Lisa Foltz, PTSA coordinator.
"It is absolutely outstanding. It is incredible what the students could do for their projects," she said.
Jessica Harper, another 4-year-old eighth-grader, has closely trimmed nails. Her experiment was inspired in part by a bad habit and her mother.
"I bite my nails and my Mom always told me not to, so I tried to find something positive in nail-biting," she said.
Jessica had 10 people measure their nails, and discovered that bitten nails grew faster than non-bitten nails, which was good as far as she’s concerned.
"My mom doesn’t find it [nail-biting] as bad now, but she still wants me to stop," she said.
Scientists at School
Caption to photo on Colina Science Fair, excerpted from Daily News, March 10, 1999
Local Amgen scientists like Ramakanth Munipalli and Yi Luoevaluate science projects by students at Colina Middle School. Other companies also furnished science minded workers to judge exhibits at the annual science fair in Simi Valley. Eighth-grader Mika Yokota, shown at right, wanted to find out whether girls would be more likely than boys to recognize their own facial profile and designed an experiment to test her thesis. Over 250 students participated in the science fair, researching chemistry, physics and psychology issues.
Middle school pupils ask questions, run tests, display results
Ventura County Star By Jean Cowden Moore, jcmoore@insidevc.com
February 13, 2003 URL: http://www.insidevc.com/vcs/co_valley/article/0,1375,VCS_166_1742317,00.html
Youths apply scientific method
All across the Conejo Valley, middle school students and parents are breathing a sigh of relief.
Over the past several months, they've conducted experiments, shed tears of frustration and finally finished display boards -- complete with sections for hypothesis, method and conclusion -- all for science fairs taking place this week.
Most students participating in science fair are in middle school. The idea is to let kids explore topics that appeal to them, as well as to have them learn the steps of the scientific method, said Denise Moss, a science teacher at Colina Middle School in Thousand Oaks.
"I hope it helps kids love science, lets them see the wonder of it," Moss said. "Really, science is just organized curiosity."
Students start their projects sometime in the fall, coming up with questions they want to answer.
Then they do research, conduct experiments, write up their results and summarize them all on display boards.
Over the years, those experiments have gotten more sophisticated, especially since computers have become commonplace, teachers said.
Changes in what schools teach are also showing up in projects. Environmental experiments are popular, maybe because students now study the environment in sixth grade, as well as life sciences in the seventh.
Also, students' projects don't divide along gender lines as often as they once did, with girls more likely to do experiments in engineering or electricity than they once were, teachers said.
"Women have finally gotten equality," said Cindy Vodraska, who teaches at Sequoia Middle School in Newbury Park. "It's much more acceptable for women to be in those fields."
Students say they learn more than just the scientific method. They can explore in depth topics that appeal to them. Many get some sense of whether they might want to make science lifelong pursuits.
"I'm thinking of science as a career, and this helps me decide if I want to do that or not," said Christy Goulet, an eighth-grader at Sequoia. "It gives you a chance to try new things."
Parents see their kids develop skills that carry over to other long-term projects: how to find information and manage time, specifically.
"It teaches them to take things step by step, to do things in a procedural way," said David Rodewald, who has two daughters at St. Patrick's Episcopal Day School in Thousand Oaks.
For all the benefits of doing proper experiments, science fairs can also be sources of frustration for parents and students alike.
Dogs knock over plants that have been growing for weeks. Rats die. Sometimes kids try to cram too much into too little time.
"It's kind of time consuming," said Nandini Bapat, 13, an eighth-grader at Sequoia. "If you do it the weekend before it's due, it's frustrating, especially if it's not going the way you want it to."
In some cases, parents can be a problem when they get too involved in the project. Because of that tendency, many schools have students explain their projects to a teacher or outside judge, a good way to tell if the child did the work, teachers said.
Both kids and teachers said parents should limit their role to guiding students and making sure they stay on track but leave them to do the actual work.
"They should know what you're doing and kind of oversee it," said Katherine Wilkins, an eighth-grader at Colina. "That's helpful."
Recognizing that science fair can be more frustration than fun, some schools, like Colina, give kids the option of participating. Others come up with alternatives. At St. Patrick's School in Thousand Oaks, for example, fourth-graders research a scientist, then dress up as the character.
For many who do a traditional experiment, though, there's a certain element of satisfaction when they get to this point: when the display boards go up, ribbons are awarded and a few learn they're going to the county science fair.
"When I'm working on it, it's usually frustrating," Goulet said, "but once I'm done, I'm proud of myself, and all the work is worth it."
