Our local newspaper is part of a consortium to promote literacy through journalism. I learned more about that when I read an article by 11-year-old Alan Cheng. Cheng writes engagingly about the annual egg drop competition at his middle school. Fifth-grade teacher Mark Olbin challenges his students to engineer a delivery system that will protect an egg dropped from a 100-foot-tall fire-engine ladder. Students cannot use a parachute, box, or soft toy. These fifth-graders protected their eggs in some ingenious ways, including a straw fort and a device that descended like a helicopter. I love the way Olbin has created a vehicle for learning that is eagerly anticipated, and I love seeing an 11-year-old with a byline under his belt.

Activities of this sort address the critical and creative thinking as well as the collaborative learning skill standards being advocated by the 21st-century skills project now embraced by fourteen states. Science is a great vehicle for delivering these skills. I know that during the years I taught science, my students always looked forward to the special projects we regularly did along with the annual science fair. It is also why we have provided resources in our Science A-Z website for doing science-fair projects and other project-based learning.