Science fair project boards allow students to present their experiments to judges at science fairs. Students can use their imagination and creativity to make the board visually appealing and captivating.
An effective science fair project display board should feature several standard elements. These may include the title, research question, hypothesis and results for your project.
Layout
Science fair projects should typically be presented on a trifold display board. As a general guideline, the left panel of your science fair project should outline your Problem and Question while the middle panel houses Procedure and Materials before finally concluding with Results and Conclusion on its right panel. You may also wish to add visual items such as charts or pictures as visual aids on this trifold board display board.
Your science fair project board should feature information that is clearly legible and easy to read, from headings and subheadings to key words that stand out using bold text or color contrast. Font size must also be large enough so people can read from at least three feet away.
Enhance each section of your science fair project using easy-to-use tools that let you adjust font sizes and colors, or add clip art. iClicknPrint provides multiple expertly-designed science fair templates to get you started with this task.
Text
Project boards provide an effective means of organizing information and communicating it to others. These boards typically take the form of three-sided corrugated displays which present all aspects of an experiment such as its problem, purpose and hypothesis (or prediction), background research, experimental set up procedure results conclusions and reference lists.
Titles should always be prominently placed at the top of a board and should be visible from several feet away. Information should then be organized into sections with meaningful names like Introduction, Literature, Hypothesis, Resources, Experimentation Results and Conclusions with graphs charts or images as appropriate within these subsections.
If there are specific rules for the science fair, such as size or material restrictions for posters and materials used, it’s essential that these be adhered to. Furthermore, some science fairs require copies of both your official abstract and compliance checklist forms be brought along as exhibits.
Visuals
Employing images and diagrams to visually represent non-numerical data and suggest models that explain results is an integral component of any science fair project. Visuals should generally be placed near the top portion of your board for maximum impact; you could frame or otherwise emphasize them to make their presence known.
It is vital not to let visuals overpower text. Text must be easily legible and written in larger font than typical printed texts, which scientists commonly employ. Bold fonts may make text hard for people at a distance to read.
As part of your board presentation, it is advisable to include a list of materials and equipment used in your experiment in the methods section, along with any scientific literature that was consulted in sources with appropriate citations. Finally, your findings should be presented using charts or graphs which clearly communicate them in results section of board presentation.
Presentation
Students face the daunting task of presenting their findings clearly to an audience after spending hours conducting tests, gathering data and analyzing results – this typically takes the form of a science fair project board presentation.
This tri-fold poster provides the background research, hypothesis and experimental design of an experiment as well as any associated data analysis and conclusions drawn from that experiment.
Based on your school or science fair guidelines, boards may have size restrictions; for instance, only 36″x 48″ posters might be allowed. In such cases, it would be prudent to purchase some additional boards beforehand.
Keep in mind when hanging posters that they require a sturdy base to rest upon, such as cardboard “folders”. One option would be using two large flat sheets of recycled box cardboard that measure exactly as large as your poster and then attaching them with duct tape for support.