Science Fair Information

Yay!

Thank you for participating in this year’s science fair!

Your support and encouragement of your student(s) excitement for wondering about the world and seeking answers to questions will provide so many valuable benefits!

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What does the science fair look like?

There are 2 major parts to the science fair

Family Night-

• Families are encouraged to come in after school hours to tour all of the presentations.
• Presentations (usually tri fold boards) are set up on tables by grade level.
• Sometimes people bring additional items from the experiment to display. (No items for people to take please)

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Class Touring-

• Classes have assigned times to walk around the fair to view, discuss, and celebrate the Green Acres scientists
• Judging- will take place the morning of March 21st without students present

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Grade Level Bands

Expectations were built to reflect the level of thinking and investigation appropriate for the age/grade

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K-2 Observational Inquiry

• Students should wonder/pose questions about things they see in their lives. What do they wonder about?
• Students develop a way to observe or find the answers to questions- these shouldn’t be research type answers but answers that can be determined from making careful observations or possibly conducting a small experiment if needed

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K-2 Steps with an Example

1. Ask a question
2. Make a hypothesis
3. Test your hypothesis
4. Record what you find
5. Make a conclusion

1. Do all apples have the same number of seeds?
2. Yes, I think they all have 5 seeds
3. We went to the store and bought 5 apples that were all different types. I cut them up
4. I took pictures of what I found, and recorded the numbers on a chart
5. No, all the apples had different amounts of seeds for example…

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3-5 Investigational Inquiry

• Students should wonder/pose questions about experiences, or things they’ve begun to notice about the world and how it works.. What do they wonder about?
• Students develop a way to observe or find the answers to questions- these shouldn’t be research type answers but answers that can be determined by conducting a fair test experiment.

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3-5 Steps with an Example

• Ask a question
• Make a hypothesis
• Design an experiment paying attention to variables
• Conduct the experiment
• Record what you find
• Make a conclusion

• Do puddles evaporate faster on different surfaces?
• I think puddles evaporate faster on the road than on sidewalks.
• I wrote down the steps and made sure just to change the location of the puddles- I am keeping the amt of water, temperature, sunlight, etc the same
• I conducted my experiment
• I took pictures, recorded the time to evaporate, and made a data table
• I wrote a conclusion of what I figured out based on my data

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Please Remember!

• Perfection is not expected
• Encourage the wondering, observing, and investigating in everyday life
• Costs should be kept to a minimum
• Rubrics were included in the packet to guide you through what would be good to include
• This is a beneficial process, your child is learning so many executive functioning skills (planning, organization, etc) from this process… It’s worth it!!
• These are independent projects- not collaborative between classmates

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Internet Projects

• Pinterest and other search engines are full of “science projects.” Not all fit the theme and process of this type of science fair. Some can be made to fit, others cannot.
• Creating a model of the solar system is great fun, but doesn’t fit the expectation of asking questions and making observations to answer those questions
• Growing crystals could work if you asked the question: Which grows the best crystals: sugar, salt, borax, or baking soda

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THANKS!

Any questions?

You can find me at

• vicino.allison@northhavenschools.org
• Green Acres STEM Teacher

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