Judge Joel
This is (I think) the ninth year I've judged at Murray - ever since Norris was in 7th grade. A good time and good to see the old judges come back, as well as the new ones who have joined us each year. They do pay us with cheese, crackers, and fruit - as well as coffee and punch. But it is hard work - and even more work for the staff and volunteers who organize the thing. This is one of the biggest Science Fairs in the cities, and is mandatory for the 7th and 8th graders in the magnet science program at Murray.


I think I am the least scientific Science Fair judge.... although in talking to my colleagues, I think that many follow the same procedure: 1) look at project, 2) talk to student 3) pick a total score you think they deserve, then 4) fill in the judging form so the total comes out right.

Tonight I judged these projects (and more):

• Hamster Tunes (how hamsters ran a maze depending on the music they heard)
  
• How caffeine affects test taking (subjects drank Pepsi, Mountain Dew or Mineral water and then took math tests)
  
• Whether people like spices (with this one I heard - in great detail - how to make egg rolls)
  
• Whether boys or girls were better at judging the gender of bare feet. (they're about equally good, or bad, at it)
  
• How propellers affect airplane performance ( a lot - and different propellers are good for different things)
  

It is an exhausting experience - for the old judges like me who have to keep marching back to get the gym and interviewing students, and for the students who keep waiting for their judges. They each have to have three judges - by the end of the evening they are like flowers tracking the sun; as a judge walks past they are all turning to watch him or her, with the (usually forlorn) hope that this is their final judge. Tonight one boy wrote his number on a piece of paper, which he held up high and waved back and forth, hoping his final judge would see it and come.

The most fun is with projects that really interested the kids (like the ones mentioned above). They are eager to tell you what they did, and are usually full of ideas about why they got the results they expected (or didn't).