Onion: Fifth Grade Science Paper Doesn’t Stand Up to Peer Review

From the Onion:

DECATUR, IL—A three-member panel of 10-year-old Michael Nogroski’s fellow classmates at Nathaniel Macon Elementary School unanimously agreed Tuesday that his 327-word essay “Otters” did not meet the requirements for peer approval.

Enlarge Image PaperFifth-grade panel members express disapproval of Nogroski’s paper (below).

Nogroski presented his results before the entire fifth-grade science community Monday, in partial fulfillment of his seventh-period research project. According to the review panel, which convened in the lunchroom Tuesday, “Otters” was fundamentally flawed by Nogroski’s failure to identify a significant research gap.

“When Mike said, ‘Otters,’ I almost puked,” said 11-year-old peer examiner Lacey Swain, taking the lettuce out of her sandwich. “Why would you want to spend a whole page talking about otters?”

“It’s probably only the dumbest topic in the history of the entire world,” 10-year-old Duane LaMott added.

Members of the three-person panel had many concerns about Nogroski’s work, foremost among them their belief that the fifth-grader did not substantiate his thesis. Two panel members even suggested that Nogroski’s thesis was erroneous.

“Otters are not interesting!” 10-year-old peer examiner Jonathan Glass said.

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