Science Fair

When most Americans hear 'science fair', they think of school gyms
full of tri-fold posters and baking soda volcanoes. Mozambicans have
no previous experience with the concept though. PC science teachers
run annual science fairs, hoping to stimulate creativity and
scientific, critical thinking among our students. But without any
background, it took a lot of work on our part to get our school's fair
going, starting with explaining the scientific method, what an
experiment is and how to present information. Our students came up
with a variety of ideas, from the more scientific (which type of soil
grows better beans?), to the less scientific (can i play music from my
cell phone on speakers?), to the downright surprising (can I cook rice
inside a balloon without it popping?). After weeks of effort, we had 7
projects ready for the big day, but for reasons we still don't know,
only 3 showed up to present. This meant our 4-man jury, with community
reps from health, agriculture and 2 science teachers, was larger than
our group of kids! Despite this, the ceremony proceeded with all the
usual formalities and the jury selected the best (only) girl and best
boy to represent us at the regional fair the next month. We worked
hard to improve the kids' projects, make a poster about HIV, and get
our travel logistics set. There was lots of drama heading up to our
departure though because our boy's father died tragically in a car
accident and our girl didn't ask for permission from her father until
8pm the night before we left and he said no. We got it all sorted out
though and off we went: Janet, 2 kids, another science teacher, 3
posters, 3 bean plants, and 4 eggs in jars for the 10 hour journey to
Chimoio (2 eggs didn't make it). There were 12 schools there with 2
kids each. We had a play about HIV, a community raffle, the HIV poster
contest and the main competition. Our girl's beans placed 3rd and our
poster 2nd. Somehow, when we got home the next day, our whole town
already knew our results and greeted us with proud smiles.