Science Fair

This is the first year Tanner was required to be involved in the science fair. It is a huge undertaking that takes the whole semester to finish. The kids do their projects for science class and they also do a corresponding research paper in language arts. It is all broken up into small increments for the kids, but that doesn't mean there are no late nights.

Tanner chose to do his project on sound. He tested whether sound would travel faster over string, metal wire, or fishing wire. Tanner hypothesized it would travel faster over string.
At the end of Christmas break we tested a Tanner's hypothesis. We stayed up late to run the test, since we needed the house to be very quiet. Tanner tested each medium five times and calculated the results. Tanner was surprised to find that his hypothesis was incorrect. Instead of string, metal wire was found to carry sound the quickest.

A couple of weeks later we stayed up into the morning hours to finish Tanner's board. We were all tired and a little looney by the time the board was done, but we got it done. It turned out well.

Several weeks later the science fair finally arrived. We weren't expecting that Tanner would win any awards, but we were wrong. The judging took place during school one day. Close to the end of the day Tanner called me from school to make sure we could come to the Science Fair that night because he was getting an award. I was surprised and pleasantly surprised that Tanner had won something.

Tanner was awarded a metal for being the grand prize winner in his division. We were so excited for him. Tanner also was awarded a cash prize. He was really sweet and he tried to give Chad and me some of his cash award since we stayed up to help him during his project. We, of course, declined the offer, but we were impressed with his kind heart!

Several of Tanner's good friends also won awards at the science fair. The second picture shows all the seventh grade winners.

We are really impressed with Tanner. This year has been a tough one for Tanner. He has had a lot of late night (not just because of science fair), but he is pulling through and his efforts are being rewarded! Great job Tanner!!