Interest in the traditional science fair has been declining in one of the schools.  There is the age-old problem of who exactly DID the science fair exhibit that has contributed to the lack of interest to many of the students.  The middle school teacher contacted the 4-H program to see how we could collaborate.  Having served as a science fair judge for years, it has been my observation that one area that was lacking was the youth's ability to present their project. To combine the goals of improved communication skills and exploring the science core, the science fair became the Science Learning Fair.  In this event, the 62 7th graders were paired to work on one of 31 science standards, to design a model with which to demonstrate the standard, make a poster, and prepare an oral presentation.  The first audience was the 150 5th and 6th graders in the school.  Each of the younger students were given a passport to complete to ensure that they adequately visited at least 5 of the presentations and learned the concept offered.  The 7th graders really enjoyed this experience.  They were excited that the younger students were asking questions and listening to their presentation.  The teacher reported that some of the students that showed no interest in science in the classroom, really took this experience to heart and did a wonderful job in 'showing and telling' their project.  Two 7th grade boys told me that they didn't think it would be but it was actually fun to teach others.   The principal asked that the Learning Fair be conducted again for the Open House after school where the parents are invited to get the students' report cards.  There were over 50 people that came through the Learning Fair that night... that's about a 500% increase in parental participation from the science fair.  One boy had a hard time seeing himself doing this, though. He actually cried when he was told of this project.  He didn't come to school the day of the 5th/6th grade event. As it turned out, his partner disappeared the evening of Open House and this left him alone to present. He asked if he had to do it anyway and I asked him to give it his best shot as this was a grade...  I asked him to present it to me first and get "warmed up". After a few tweaks, he repeated it for another student.  Later that evening I observed him "recruiting" parents to his table so he could show them his presentation.  "How would you like to know something about gravity?  Well, follow me!"   He even had them participating in the hands-on presentation. Parents might have not learned anything new that evening, but several youth did.  That's why this job is "fun".