ACCUSATIONS have been made concerning the recently held Marianas High School Science Fair. Could this be Saipan’s version of the scandal that rocked the U.S. in the 1970s? Many questions have been posed that need to be answered. Who knew what, and when did they know it? Was there a conspiracy against innocent teachers and students? If so, how far up the chain of command did this conspiracy run? How much did the governor know? What were the motives of these diabolical conspirators? Were payoffs made involving secret illegal sushi funds? A special Public School System prosecutor may be on the horizon to get to the bottom of all these underhanded dealings. Oliver Stone called with a conspiracy theory of his own, and there’s a movie in the works. Henry Kissinger claims he never knew anything about secret science fair projects.
Were there problems with the fair? Yes, there were. The MHS gym has become a popular and busy place lately. Because of this, there was a limited amount of time to hold the fair and accommodate all parties involved. Unfortunately, the structure and organization of the fair judging was flawed from the beginning in order to expedite the proceedings. This had nothing to do with the individual judges, and everything to do with the format they were asked to work within. My sincere apologies to the judges who volunteered their time.
Seeing these problems develop as the fair progressed, the science teachers who actually contributed to organizing and setting up the fair made the decision to review some of the judging forms and make corrections based on their combined experience of over 60 years of teaching science in the classroom. No consideration was ever given to which school the entries were from. In fact, the projects’ school of origin was not indicated anywhere on the judging form.
Our motives were to make sure that those students who followed the well established guidelines for entering a science fair project in the MHS Science
Fair were recognized. We reasoned that the primary purpose behind all science fairs is for students to learn how to apply the scientific method through the combination of research and experimentation. If we are guilty of anything, it would be our naiveté in thinking this whole affair had more to do with science education rather than awards and individuals recognition.
This was the first year MHS has had the science fair in a facility of accommodating all the projects together in a single room. Talking to students after the fair, many commented on how this was the first time they had a chance to see all the projects. For the majority of students, this was an opportunity to compare projects, exchange information, and possibly learn something about the scientific method. As far as I’m concerned the science fair was a success.
I hope that the negative views of one individual will not discourage participation in future science fairs. Marianas High School is grateful to all the organizations and individuals that donated their time and money. Plans are already underway for next year’s science fair. All those involved have made note of the needed changes, and I’m sure that we will implement most of them. After all, problem solving is one of many things we teach as science teachers. So it turns out, science fairs can be learning experiences for everyone involved.MIKE GIORDANO
MHS Science Fair Coordinator
Garapan, Saipan
