Science Fair Resources: The Sequel

Science Fair 2015
I like Science Fair: judging, coaching, seeing the final projects, the whole process.  I am the exception.  The reason I promote Science Fair is that it embodies so many of the skills valued by employers and espoused by Common Core standards: public speaking, technical writing, research skills, working as a team, completing a project!  I think every student should do this once.  Here are some steps to getting started.
1.  Start by looking at the local science fair guidelines. Here are the Berkeley County, WV  High School Guidelines and Middle School Guidelines.
2.  Most regional science fair expos follow the Intel rules and use their forms.
3. Once you are familiar with the rules chose a project; try starting with Science Buddies.  Their web site has great suggestions.  Students often ask if using a published idea is cheating.  In science, any experiment must be replicable; so, using a science project idea is fine.  Just don't copy a research paper and be sure to cite the project in your bibliography or work cited page.
4. Once you have an idea, write the hypothesis, which should contain both the null hypothesis and the alternate hypothesis.  Null and Alternative Hypotheses set up the data for statistical analysis.
5. Next is the experiment.  What are you testing?  What are the independent and dependent variables?  Identify the controlled or confounding variable. This you-tube video reviews Types of Variables.
6. The student should design and implement his or her experiment with a minimum of three trials.  It is important to keep good records, take pictures, write notes, date experiments, and jot down sources for the experiment.  Include pictures of the equipment, the student doing the experiment, and results, whenever possible.  This is a good way to document the project.
7.  The research paper can be daunting.  Research paper outline and Research paper sample may help.
8.  Once the experiment has been completed and analyzed, the report written, it is time to assemble the Project Display Board.  Here are some Headers or Headings.  Be sure to add photos and avoid pictures of faces, which may or may not be allowed.  Come up with a colorful title and interesting question.
9.  Usually, an abstract or brief summary of the project should be included with the forms and research paper.  A copy of the abstract may be placed on the display board.
10.  Judging at the Science Fair is easy if the student has done all of this work! When I judge Science Fair projects, I ask kids to tell me about their projects.  The student should think about why he or she selected this project.  Does it have implications for society, like a project on texting?  Did anything surprising happen?  What obstacles were encountered?  What would you do differently next time?  Students may memorize a speech; but, the best presentations are delivered by students invested in their projects.