The 62nd Los Angeles County Regional Science Fair was at the Pasadena Convention Center, held from March 29 to March 31, 2012, bringing together over 1000 students from around Los Angeles County.
Consisting of three days, the Los Angeles County Regional Science Fair involved 1063 student exhibits in over 38 various categories. Running three days, it provided a chance for students to have an exchange of ideas with the judges who judged them and other students. “The Los Angeles County Regional Science Fair is the longest-running fair in the nation,” said Dean Gilbert, the president of the fair, “it is in its 62nd year, and is the largest in the western United States. We bring together students not only from the general population, but we bring special education students and students who are in juvenile hall to this fair.”
There were two divisions, Junior and Senior, in which students would be initially categorized; students in elementary and middle school would compete in the Junior division, while high school students would compete in the Senior division. In each division would be various categories – 22 for the Junior division and 16 for the Senior division – and from each category, a 1st, 2nd, 3rd place winner would be chosen along with honorable mentions. The rest of the students would be awarded a Recognition medal to honor them as some of the top science students in the Los Angeles County.
On the first day, the student entrants registered their posters along with their materials. The second day brought with it two rounds of judging in which a group of professionals in a student exhibitor’s chosen field of research would ask multitudes of questions, showing each presentation’s good and bad points. Students would exhibit their research to the public on the third day, and also attend the awards ceremony.
What is probably the most important thing students should learn from this experience? “Students should learn they need to be able to have patience, stamina to see their projects to completion, and identify their research ideas,” says Gilbert, “they need to learn how to use the scientific method and creative thinking to solve problems – that’s basically what the Science Fair’s all about.”
To conclude, Gilbert says, “The best thing about this experience is that it provides students with an opportunity to demonstrate their expertise in an area, and to have an opportunity to explore science while having fun doing it. At [the Fair], students convey to judges what they learned about their topic – it’s a student to student conversation, the student talking to professionals. I believe that’s a very empowering thing.
Next year’s Los Angeles County Science Fair will be held on March 21-23.
