Science Fair!
- Why do we have to do this???
- I found a book/website with lots of ready-made projects. Is that ok?
- What resources are available?
Why do we have to do this???
The science fair process gives students a real-life chance to think like
scientists. During the project, they:
a) wonder about something around them, b) formulate a question
from what they observe, c) research and hypothesize an answer, d) design and
execute a plan to test that answer, and d) evaluate the results.
Even for students who have no interest in scientific careers, the process
models a logical way to think about issues or problems in any facet of life.
I found a book/website with lots of ready-made projects. Is that ok?
Maybe. While performing the experiment and making an attractive board tend to
get most of the attention, science fair should also be exercise for the mind.
Working directly from a science fair recipe removes much of that chance to
think. Also, children are usually much more enthusiastic about following
through with an experiment if it's about a topic that they're genuinely
curious about.
If students really want to do an experiments they’ve has found somewhere,
they must carefully think through every facet of the project to make sure that
it meets our standards.
There are many published science fair projects out there that are not
actually experiments; they’re demonstrations, because nothing is being tested.
A classic example of this is the volcano model. Various chemicals are poured
into the cone and the volcano “erupts”. That’s lots of fun (and lots of work
to make the little mountain), but nothing is being tested. It's just a
model.
Some published experiments do not control variables well enough. For example,
take an experiment testing the effectiveness of different fertilizers. Every
single thing about the setup (type of plant, size of pot, type and amount of
soil, amount of water, temperature, sunlight, etc.) must be exactly the same
for all plants except for the type of fertilizer used. Not all pre-made
experiments take all of these variables into account, so your child will have
to realize this and figure out a way to make is work.
What resources are available?
The school district has set up a helpful online science fair guide for
parents at http://science.mysdhc.org/elemscience/Handbooks.
You can find several important science fair forms and guides on the
"Documents & PowerPoints" page of this website.
Please let me know if you have specific questions. Even better, let your
child ask me. I seldomly just answer students questions about this; we'll talk
it through and hopefully they will discover the answer for themselves. (If
not, we'll keep working until we get there.)