Science Fair: Update

All Science Classes

So far, most of the kids have their hypotheses and are researching their projects.  Now is the time to gear up and get moving on the experiments!  The first step is to see if your child is using an idea from a web site, such as sciencebuddies.com; if so, check there for materials and procedures.  If the child has a more original idea, try a web search for materials and procedures.  Often, there are two or three common methods; encourage your child to do some preliminary experiments to see which method produces the best results.  Be sure to take photos as documentation!  Keep a log or field notebook.  However, photos with time and date stamps or videos can comprise an electronic notebook.  In fact, the student may want to create an electronic folder for science fair files.  I encourage kids to use their cell phones to text themselves reminders, notes, and photos.  My kids create slideshow presentations and add slides with references and photos to keep the information together.  It makes things much easier to edit and print for their displays.  The kids can bring laptops and tablets to the Science Fair should they need to consult their notes.  One last tip is to download reference material as pdf files on their computers or tablets.  This way the child will have that reference to work with off line, especially when Internet access is an issue or the wifi is spotty.  The student can consult the references in their electronic file at the Science Fair, too.