Building Inquiring Scientific Minds for 37 Years

Now in its 37th year, the Long Beach Middle School Science Fair continues to provide students with an opportunity to become actively involved in hands-on scientific research. This experience gives every seventh grader a taste of the kind of opportunities that await them in the Long Beach High School science research program, International Baccalaureate (IB) program and other college-level science courses.

In addition to seventh-grade projects, this year's science fair also highlighted sixth-grade projects, eighth-grade research papers and eighth-grade model bridge construction projects.

The LBMS science fair shows how students have learned the skills of a scientist by performing their own scientific investigations. The emphasis of these projects was on inquiry, discovery and proper use of the scientific method. Students used their technology skills in the computer lab, exploring principles of biology, earth science, chemistry and physics as they developed their research topics. Teachers instructed them in the proper development of data tables and graphs, and were available to assist them every step of the way as they conducted the experiments, gathered and analyzed data and drew their final conclusions.

At the science fair, students were judged for their abstracts, the physical appearance of the projects, oral presentation, use of controls and sampling techniques, use of the scientific method, originality of their projects, validity of their conclusions, and ability to answer questions about the projects.

Throughout the course of their presentations, they engaged in lively exchanges with the judges about their findings. During the public presentation for parents that evening, students had the opportunity to share their discoveries with a larger audience.