An engaging science fair project display board can make all the difference between passing and excelling at science fair. An attractive board that clearly communicates your results of research is essential.
Students can utilize tri-fold poster boards available from most retailers to display projects, displays and photos. Furthermore, stands designed specifically for board displays can also be purchased to keep everything looking its best.
Layout
An organized science fair project board helps judges better comprehend an experiment’s results and conclusions. Depending on the competition and teacher requirements, you may be required to abide by specific layout guidelines for your board. In any event, however, it should have an eye-catching title and include information regarding purpose, question, hypothesis materials and procedure as well as charts or graphs to assist audiences in understanding data presented to them.
Color can help make a science fair project board stand out, as people respond better to images than text.
Browse online samples to gain inspiration for creating an effective science fair presentation. Study their layouts and pay close attention to proportions such as title size and photo placement. Attractive presentations typically have enough white space between text sections so as not to overwhelm viewers with too much text at one time.
Materials
An effective science fair project board provides an efficient means of organizing information and communicating your experiment to others. A typical board should include information such as your title, abstract, hypothesis, variables and background research. If your experiment includes dangerous materials or processes, ensure photographs of both are included as well as precautionary measures taken.
Materials used on a science fair display board vary depending on the nature of your experiment. For instance, if your test examines how fertilizer affects plants, pictures would likely be necessary as would graphs or visual aids that help show what was observed.
When using paper, opt for matte instead of glossy to avoid glare and glue sticks or rubber cement is ideal for attaching papers to boards. Color construction paper can add visual interest while borders may help draw judges’ attention – just don’t overcrowd your board; judges may penalize projects which are more visually distracting than informative!
Visual AIDS
Students can enhance their projects with photographs, diagrams, charts and graphs that convey information visually. While these visual aids might not always be necessary, they often add value that can win extra points with judges.
ArtSkills’ gallery of science fair project display boards offers an excellent source of visual components inspiration. These tri-fold displays often fold away for convenient transport and feature central sections with fold-in wings to facilitate transport.
As part of their project, science fair participants often need to present and answer questions from an impartial third-party judge. Therefore, it’s essential that your board clearly communicates your question, hypothesis, experiment and results of your project. This is particularly essential as presentations at these fairs often require participants to present and answer questions directly from them.
Consider also that completed informed consent/assent forms for human participants should not be displayed publicly at science fairs; rather they must only be made available upon request from judges or science fair officials (for example a finalist being judged or awarded a prize). Eva Amsen examined this topic in her recent paper discussing both the advantages and disadvantages of science fairs as well as ways more European schools might participate or even create their own science fair.
Text
A board should contain all information essential for an experiment or project, including scientific material used in developing an idea/project (literature), the steps taken during execution of experiment, results as well as any charts or graphs to present data visually.
Pictures and diagrams can be an effective way of representing non-numerical data or offering explanations that explain results. When it comes to science fair displays boards, text should be easy for visitors to read from across a room – making this step crucial for success.
Make section headings stand out by using stenciled letters or large repositionable letters, and be sure they can be seen from across the room by using at least 16 point font with large font size (preferably larger ). An online design program for science fair display boards provides an efficient and quick solution for producing an organized display board.