Science fair

Science fair is an opportunity for students to apply the scientific method to conduct independent research. The results of each student's research is presented in a school wide science fair--or sponsored local science fair-- where the student's efforts are displayed and where students are interviewed to determine scientific merit. Students who have been judged to have used the scientific method properly and who have demonstrated thoroughness in their studies and effort are awarded prizes and are advanced to compete in regional, state, national and international science fairs. Preparation for a science fair should begin early in the fall semester with the selection of a topic which will lead to a problem that the student will wish to research. The student should explore various sources of information in order to gain a thorough understanding of the topic that he or she has chosen. Besides traditional sources such as library books, the student should research current periodicals, journals, Internet sources and interview professionals who are working within the same field of study. The student should learn “what research has already been done and what has been concluded regarding [the student's] question and also something about the procedures and rules of evidence in [the student's] particular field” (Manning-Schwartz, 1997). In other words, a complete study of the topic so that the student can design an intelligent and meaningful experiment. The research--or literature review--should account for at least half of the student's effort on the project; incomplete research on the selected topic is the most common grounds for science fair judges to disqualify projects for advancement. The next task for the student is to form a hypothesis which tentatively answers his/her problem. Students should begin the experimental portion of their projects no later than the beginning of the spring semester so that they can be prepared to compete in local science fairs which usually begin in late March. The hypothesis should be testable in such a way that the student can design an experiment which will support or reject it. Once the student designs the experiment, data are collected and analyzed according to their procedure which will be presented in a written report. As recommended by Tant (1992), the most universally used format includes: