We got to the fair, set up, and I watched the fort while #1 took a brief tour through the fair to see what his classmates had done for their projects.
None of his classmates were there.
From what we saw, he was the only one from his class that actually showed up and participated in what he (and I on the phone to the school yesterday) was told was a mandatory activity if he expected a passing grade.
There were quite a few (I'd guess 150 - 200 participants or so) of students that were there participating and it was rather crowded. It is possible that there were other classmates there somewhere, but I would think out of a class of 30+ students, he would have seen at least one other classmate there. It was hard to really estimate how many participants there were as it appeared that most participants brought their entire family.
What I found interesting is how many duplicate projects there were. A good half of the projects were regarding plant growth under various light, soil, nutrient and sound conditions. A quarter of the other half was based on battery life, storage and usage. The remaining quarter was all unique exhibits (#1 fell into this category). The most colorful one by far was the project done on use, life span, and durability of different paints. The most dynamic was the project about doing jumps on a skateboard, and what conditions were the best. This was accompanied by a personal exhibit by the boy doing the project. It was a rather limited display as he only had about 8 square feet of area for which to do his jumps.
#1 did his project on Formula Fuelers. He used Pepsi, Sprite, Apple Juice and Orange Juice for his fuels in the experiment and had a blast doing the test runs. Putting the information together in a cohesive format was another story, but it got done (at the last minute last night about 10 or so).
Now, post Science Fair, I have a grumpy #1 on my hands (as he was the only one from his class there), but it is over. I don’t think he won any prizes, but he definitely generated a lot of interest from every male between the ages of 2 and 35 in the vicinity. The judge went as far to find out where he could get these for his own kids (Wally World, Fred Meyers or Toys-R-Us). He (mostly) had fun doing it, and that is what counts the most.
#1 has also informed me that at his new school next year, if he has to do a science fair project, he will be recycling this one. I recommended to him that he present it in a more formal manner, and have more details on his trials for the next time.
I’m fairly certain that advice fell on deaf ears.