The Science Fair Page

This page will provide as much information as possible about the Science Fair.

The Time Table | Frequently Asked Questions | Student Links | Parent Links | Topic Links

View the directions for the project here.

The Time Table:

The following is the recommendation for the time table you should follow. It is not the only way to do the project, but will hopefully help you get a general idea.

Week of:	Working on:
January 6	Plan your idea. Determine what topic you will study, and exactly what your experiment will be. Be sure that your experiment has something you can test by changing a variable to acheive different results. A good experiment should have four or five variables OR be a very challenging experiement with two variables. Gather research for two things: your research paper and your background information for your project. Take GREAT notes of everything, as you will use this information throughout your project. Be sure to keep a bibliography of every resource you use. Copy the title, author, publisher, publishing city and copyright date. Toward the end of the week you might begin writing the hypothesis for your experiment.
January 12	Continue gathering research for your research paper and the background information for your project. Write the hypothesis for your experiment. Set your experiment up and begin testing it. Be sure to have a control group (a group that shows what is "normal") and an experimental group (a group that you test the different things on). Take EXTREMELY DETAILED, SCIENTIFIC notes during your experiment. You cannot estimate and assume things. Everything must be measured carefully, and completed in a scientific way. Be sure to set everything that is not being tested up in the exact same way. This means if you're testing plant growth with different foods added, you must set the experiment up with the exact same amount and type of dirt, water them with the same amount of water at the same time, expose them to the same amount of sunlight, etc. If you don't control these things, your experiment won't really be measuring what you intend to measure. You will be working on your research paper in class. Have your materials in school.
January 19 or 26	Continue gathering research for your research paper and the background information for your project. You should be extremely close to finishing your research. Continue conducting your experiment, taking great care to do it scientifically and accurately. Write your procedures for your science report. List the materials and directions. Begin typing your final copies of your problem, hypothesis, and procedures. Remember, you DO NOT CHANGE your hypothesis for any reason. Type exactly what you wrote (except for editing grammar and punctuation). Even if you are completely wrong, DON'T CHANGE your answer. Your conclusions are where you'll say the correct answer. Begin planning your backboard display. You will be working on your research paper in class. Have your materials in school.
February 2 or 9	Finish your experiment. Write your conclusions, using GREAT DETAIL to explain things. Use the important information you copied to prove your points. Make any graphs, charts, etc. that you will use to show the data on your display. Finalize the plans for your backboard display. Begin typing your final conclusions. You will be working on your research paper in class. Have your materials in school.
February 16	Finish typing your conclusions. Begin attaching the information to your display board. PLAN carefully BEFORE you glue anything. Remember to look at the Science Page to see hints of creating a nice display. You will be working on your research paper in class. Have your materials in school. Begin typing the final copy of your research paper after we have peer edited it in class.
February 23	Finish typing the final copy of your research paper. Finish attaching the information to your display. Make sure your notebook is organized. Make sure you have two copies of your research paper and science report to hand in, along with all your prewriting.
March 3	It is due tomorrow. Make sure you go through the checklist one more time and take everything to school. You should not be doing much with the project tonight, other than a few finishing touches. Is your name CLEARLY VISIBLE on the FRONT of your project so people know who completed that awesome project?

Frequently Asked Questions:

New questions will be posted as they are asked.

Can I use that experiment I found in a book? Well...you can, but it is HIGHLY discouraged. Most of those projects are overused, and rather boring and simple. I expect you to take that project and develop your own experiment. It may be similar, but I expect something different. Avoid experiments that come from books with titles such as, "175 Great Science Fair Projects." They are not very good.
Do we have to come to the night fair? Yes. Consider this a concert or an athletic game. You attend those...you need to attend the fair also. I realize that some people will have conflicts. Those people will see me, with a note from their parents. You are expected to be there.
What should we wear to the night fair? You should dress up for this event. It is a big one, and having you all looking nice will make it even more special.
What does the write-up for the experiment look like? It should look like the experiments we completed earlier in the year. Use your report guideline sheet in your science section to help you.
Why are the directions for the research paper so confusing? They are as "general" as I could make them so they fit everyone's project. Read each paragraph's description carefully, and you should figure out how your project fits. Ask for help if needed, and we will conference in class.
Do we add our opinions in the research paper? NO...this is a factual paper. Stick to the proven research.
When should we start our experiment? As soon as possible, especially if you are working with plants. Make sure you give yourself enough time to complete the experiment (like allowing the plants to grow) and then complete the write-up. Starting early also gives you time to redo it if something goes terribly wrong.
I am not a "neat" person, what can I do? Type your information and glue it to your display. Use rulers and other tools to help you. You can put colored paper behind information glued on your boards to add some creativity to your project.
Can we use graphs? Yes...but make sure you use the appropriate type. Refer to the graph sheet in your math section.
What is the purpose of the research paper? The research paper will serve as the "textbook" for your topic. It should give the reader a general understanding of your topic so the project is more understandable.
Can we use animals? Yes you can. You may not bring live animals to the fair, but you can use them for your project. You will need to take pictures of the animals, and the experiments you performed on them (safely). Do not conduct any experiements that MIGHT harm an animal.
My experiement didn't work, so what do I do now? You need to evaluate what went wrong. Some of the information from the failed experiment might still be useful. You will probably have to conduct the experiement again, fixing the things that went wrong.
I want to study plants, but I don't know how animals relate to that? You don't have to do a major part with animals. Tie the plants into the environment with animals just a little bit. It doesn't need to be a big thing.
I really want to study how plants grow. Can I? I will not tell you that you cannot do a certain project. I will strongly discourage you from doing the common projects that we've talked about in class, but it is your choice. PLEASE find an original idea that you think NO ONE would ever think of..

Links (I have taken a quick look at each of these sites. The information appeared to be useful. However, I have not verified all the information on these sites as completely accurate and useful. Please use your discretion and skip information that doesn't apply to you. If you find any problems, and better sites, please pass them along.)

For the Students:

The Discovery Channel's Science Fair Studio has a variety of information that can help you.
The self-proclaimed "Ultimate Science Fair Resource" looks pretty useful. There is a list of possible topics, and hints for everything from the project to the display board. I would recommend looking carefully at this entire site.
Get a variety of information, and links to many sites with information about the Scientific Method, projects, research and more.
View some sample projects. These should be used as guides and seeds for your own project. You should not take one of these ideas and use the exact idea.
Get some help with your research.
This site has many ideas for possible projects. Remember to pick a good one. You need to take the basic idea and create your own project.

For the Parents (PLEASE remember that this is your child's project. You should NOT be doing the work. Guide them. Support them. Transport them. Motivate them. Do not substitute your work for them. If YOU are feeling stressed, you might be doing too much.):

What exactly should you do? Here is a short list of your responsibilities.
Some ideas of how you might get involved with your child's project are listed here.

Topic Links: Links will be added as I find them. If you find a link that is very useful, please pass it along so it can help others too. Thank you.

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