How to respond to a parents email
Posted: Tue Jan 14, 2020 11:45 pm
Hi,
I'm the volunteer S&E Fair Coordinator for my kids Elementary school and I received the email below from a parent.
My son would like to do a Science Fair project on the Rubik’s Cube, testing how patterns repeat due to its mathematical symmetry. However, going through the registration there is no obvious category for this kind of project, so I have a few questions:
- I assume the categories are standard and you have no ability to add a “Game Theory/Mathematics” category? (it would make sense to have one)
- Is “Physics” the closest category? (the primary principle at work would be symmetry, which is also a physical concept)
- Is there a risk that the judging of his project will be penalized because it doesn’t fit neatly into a category?
Your comments are greatly appreciated.
We follow the Scientific and Engineering process for our S&E Fair and the first place winners attend the Mountain Area S&E Fair so there won't be any new categories added before this year's fair (the registration deadline is tomorrow). Is there a way to make the above project follow the Scientific or Engineering process? Can he child predict how patterns repeat, etc? Any ideas or suggestions will be helpful.
Thank you,
Lisa
I'm the volunteer S&E Fair Coordinator for my kids Elementary school and I received the email below from a parent.
My son would like to do a Science Fair project on the Rubik’s Cube, testing how patterns repeat due to its mathematical symmetry. However, going through the registration there is no obvious category for this kind of project, so I have a few questions:
- I assume the categories are standard and you have no ability to add a “Game Theory/Mathematics” category? (it would make sense to have one)
- Is “Physics” the closest category? (the primary principle at work would be symmetry, which is also a physical concept)
- Is there a risk that the judging of his project will be penalized because it doesn’t fit neatly into a category?
Your comments are greatly appreciated.
We follow the Scientific and Engineering process for our S&E Fair and the first place winners attend the Mountain Area S&E Fair so there won't be any new categories added before this year's fair (the registration deadline is tomorrow). Is there a way to make the above project follow the Scientific or Engineering process? Can he child predict how patterns repeat, etc? Any ideas or suggestions will be helpful.
Thank you,
Lisa