What do marbles, Dance Dance Revolution, “cow poop,” and baseball parks have in common? The answer is the Tooele County School District’s Science Fair, held Feb. 27 at Clarke N. Johnsen Junior High School in Tooele. Students from elementary, junior and senior high schools participated.

As a scientist and a science teacher, I was impressed. Although not all students had all the answers, it was clear that each had actively participated in their own project. I asked the students whose data did not support their original hypothesis if they thought they had failed. Some said they thought they had failed, however, most said they had not failed because they had learned more about the subject they were studying. (That, by the way, is the correct answer.)

Equally as interesting was what had prompted their choice of a project. One young lady said her brother left the milk out and it spoiled. She wondered if fat content made any difference in rate of spoilage. She tested skim, 1 percent, 2 percent, whole, buttermilk, and whipping cream to see which spoiled fastest.

A young percussionist said he noticed the bounce of the sticks “felt different” at times and wondered what difference there was in the bounce off different materials.

Another student was interested in encouragement of others. Her project used performance on a Nintendo Wii game to measure the effects of encouragement, discouragement, and just being ignored. (Her research would suggest that yelling at the other team helps them do better!)

A young baseball player wondered if the distance to the center field fence in a major league ball park made a difference in batting averages. He did a wonderful job of gathering and analyzing statistics. (By the way, no difference!)

I must commend the teachers and parents who prepared these students for the fair. For the most part they knew about controls and why they needed a control. If you are growing crystals, for example, you need to have a jar of water with a string hanging in it to show that it is not just the water that causes crystals to form.

Their projects usually involved collecting quantitative data — data that was measured. The plants fertilized with “cow poop” not only grew taller than the others, they grew 3 inches taller in a certain time period. That is quantitative.

Often they were able to say what tests would logically come next based on what they had observed.

They were able to tell us what they had done, how they had done it, and so on without a lot of “ya know,” “like,” “and everything,” or other verbal pauses. They were well spoken, interested, and interesting.

I know I had fun and learned many things from my viewpoint as a judge. And I think they had fun and learned a lot from doing the project and presenting it at the fair. After all, that’s what it’s all about — having fun and learning.

Michael Allen Klock is a scientist and deputy division director for Jacobs Technology at Dugway Proving Ground. For seven years he was a biology and science teacher.