MISSISSIPPI STATE – About 4,000 fourth-graders and their teachers from across the state will be at Mississippi State University in late October for the annual Wood Magic Science Fair.

The goal of the Oct. 19-23 fair is to introduce students to the benefits of forestry, forest products and wildlife to the state. The Wood Magic Science Fair is sponsored by MSU’s College of Forest Resources and the Department of Forest Products. It is held at MSU’s forest products complex.

The students move through 12 stations in the science fair as they see demonstrations, get hands-on experience and learn interesting facts about wood, forest products, forestry and wildlife. Highlights of the fair include viewing a portable sawmill in action, making of oriented strand board, termite tricks, furniture testing, and demonstrations of wood strength and paper making.

Students also will have the opportunity to examine wildlife skulls, antlers and horns to better understand an animal’s distinctive biological features and lifestyles.

The Wood Magic Science Fair was first held in 1994. Last year, some of the teachers who brought their students had been through the fair as fourth-graders, and MSU has several students who came through the science fair while in elementary school.

For more information on the Wood Magic Science Fair, contact David Jones at (662) 325-8454 or pdjones@cfr.msstate.edu.