High school science fair projects give students an opportunity to discover and explore their interests while also investigating scientific queries. Students can craft projects as simple or intricate as desired.
Discover how much catalase there is in your favorite laundry detergent with this eighth grade project or build a Newton’s Cradle to demonstrate friction’s effects.
Proposal
Science fairs provide students with a fantastic opportunity to go beyond what is covered in textbooks and explore topics of their interest in depth. A key element of a successful project is choosing an experimentable question relevant to local communities; this will capture judges’ interest while showing creativity from students.
Step two in creating an experiment proposal involves providing background research, outlining how the hypothesis will be tested and outlining how results will be utilized. Many websites provide step by step information for creating proposals.
Students using this information should create an informative description of their proposed experiment, with a schedule for conducting it outside school hours if entering competitions that require such work.
Experiment
Students taking part in hands-on science fair projects need to design and construct contraptions that perform specific tasks, tapping into their creativity while at the same time learning engineering concepts. This might involve trying to recreate one of Da Vinci’s flying machines or create their own optical illusion.
Students undertaking experiments must take careful note and follow the scientific method during their investigations, along with providing clear descriptions of their findings and what they learned from it.
There are various sites online that provide numerous science fair project ideas, including All Science Fair Projects and Science Fair Central. Both offer step-by-step information for projects, investigations and presentations with helpful links for parents, teachers and students alike. Students should select one that piques their interest as this increases the odds of their succeeding and being more invested in the process.
Presentation
Students presenting their work at the fair will need to be able to summarize and present the results of their experiment clearly, which means reviewing their lab notebook for documentation purposes as well as considering which aspects will make up an engaging display board display.
Science projects enable creativity to flourish as students explore questions they have about the world around them. From whether video games damage our brains to whether plants need sun light – exploring answers to such queries can be fun and fulfilling!
Participating in a science fair helps develop essential social, communication, and time management skills in students. Students will need to work collaboratively, both among themselves as well as with adults helping them, to develop an outstanding project which stands out against its competition. They should purchase display boards early so there is plenty of space for photos, texts, graphs etc.
Judges
Judges at science fairs tend to be volunteers with extensive science experience, such as former science teachers or scientists. Before making their decision on your project, these judges may interview you for several minutes prior to either accepting it into competition phase or disqualifying it completely. When conducting these interviews, judges aim to gain an in-depth knowledge of both your experiment and results during this discussion phase.
Judges are looking for evidence of your thought process and logic when designing experiments and products. If any problems arise that require modifications, be sure to explain how and why.
Neatness matters when it comes to posters and presentation packs, reflecting good organization and professionalism. While it’s okay to ask friends, parents, or teachers for assistance when creating your presentation, be wary not to rely too heavily on other people’s ideas and work as this could constitute plagiarism – an offense at many fairs.