Columbia Elementary Holds School Science Fair

     It's that time of year again when students across the nation ponder questions such as "How do Traffic Lights Work?" and "Is a Yawn Contagious?"
     Columbia Elementary held its annual science fair Thurs. January 26.  The school was abuzz with excited young scientists eager to show and discuss their projects with the wider community.  Science fair projects were displayed on tables in the gym.  Students participating were in grades K-5.   Students proudly climbed the stairs of the make-shift stage in the cafeteria when their class was called by principal Tom Gresham to receive their science fair participant certificates.
     With recent studies citing U.S. students lagging behind peers in other nations in science and math, it is refreshing to see that students in the Columbia Neighborhood are learning to write a hypothesis and perform an experiment to test their hypothesis.
     Every year the Program for International Student Assessment  (PISA) administers a test to a cross sample of 15-year-olds across the U.S and other countries.  According to the latest test results, students in other countries continue to out-perform U.S. students in science and math.  U.S. students have an "average" rating on the PISA (www.pisa.oecd.org) and the 2009 results placed U.S. students at 23rd in science out of 65 countries.
     One positive note, U.S. students made the biggest gain out of all the participating countries with the ranking of the U.S. rising by six slots overall for science, reading and math.
     The next step for some young Columbia scientists will be the Washington State Sscience and Engineering Fair which takes place in Bremerton, Wash. on March 30 and 31 (www.wssef.org).






Where else could besides Google could you go to find out information about elephant tooth paste or which citrus fruit will produce the most electricity?