Tag - science fair 911

Science Fair 911 – What If My Results Are Wrong?

By Blog Editor Susan Wells

We take a lot of calls during science fair season and throughout the year from students and their parents for help on projects. One question we receive more than most is a concern when the results of the project didn’t support the hypothesis or have the intended outcome.

Let’s start with the hypothesis. What is a hypothesis?

After you do research on your topic and choose your independent variables, you make an educated guess as to what you think the outcome of the experiment will be. A hypothesis is usually an “I think” statement.

For example, if your project involves testing surfaces in your home for the source of the most bacteria, you will come up with a hypothesis that one will contain the most bacteria.

A sample hypothesis for this experiment could be – “I am testing the bacteria levels on the home phone, the TV remote, bathroom sink faucet and door handle. I think the door handle will have the most bacteria. ”

Conduct your experiment and test the bacteria levels
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Science Fair 911 – Tips for Students

By Blog Editor Susan Wells 

Whether you are required to participate in your school’s science fair or if you are trying to decide whether or not to volunteer to participate, the hardest part of getting started is finding a project.

I have organized my school’s science fair for several years now, and I have found that once the project is picked, the kids are excited and off to the races.

If you are having a hard time finding a project, please read our post about How to Choose a Topic and Project Ideas.

Once you have your topic, it is time to get working on the nitty gritty of the project. The best place to start is with enthusiasm and lots of energy. Find your motivation and dig in. Hopefully you have chosen a topic that you are interested in and excited about. If not, go back and brainstorm.

Our science fair is strictly voluntary and I am always excited and proud of those students who choose to take time out of their busy activity schedules and homework assignments to put together a science project. I love seeing a light in their eyes when
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Science Fair 911 – Tips for Parents

By Guest Blogger Debbie Leibold 

“It’s science fair time!”  Those words cause many parents to panic and ask questions like, “How are we going to have time for this?”  ”What experiment should my child do?”  ”I have no science background–how am I going to help?”  ”Where do we begin?”

Don’t panic… help is on the way.  Completing a science fair project is not as difficult as you might think and, believe it or not, it can even be really fun!  Here at Steve Spangler Science we’ve created an entire science fair section on our website to help students, parents, and teachers through the science fair process.  We take you through the process step-by-step, starting with the challenge of choosing a topic and ending with suggestions for the display board and presentation tips.  We discuss the scientific method in detail and guide you through the requirements of any good science fair project.  We also have a science fair experiment library for you to browse and some excellent sample science fair projects.

Our hope is that you will find the resources
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Science Fair 911 – Demonstrations vs. Experiments

By Blog Editor Susan Wells

When I was growing up, my school did not do a science fair. I had never been to a science fair until my oldest was in kindergarten. All I knew was it had something to do with baking soda volcanoes.

Fast forward several years, and I now organize the science fair and encourage kids to get involved. Through Steve Spangler Science, I also help parents, teachers and students with their projects. Science fair and volcanoes may go hand in hand, but the ever popular demonstration is not actually a science fair project.

A science fair project asks a “what if” question, which leads to a variable and eventually finding an answer or at the very least, a big discovery. A science demonstration, like our volcano, is used to illustrate a science concept.

Another extremely popular demonstration is quickly taking over the volcano as a classic science fair project – dropping Mentos into Diet Coke. This is also a demonstration.

But can you take a demonstration and turn it into a science fair project? Absolutely. All you need to do is C3 it. The three C’s stand for Change,
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Parents – Don’t Fear the Science Fair

It’s that time of year again. Snow is melting, temperatures are starting to rise a bit and your child has to work on a science fair project.

The dreaded science fair project.

The goal of the science fair is to teach the scientific method and give students insight into how to theorize, set up, perform and draw conclusions from an experiment. But it’s so much more than just boring science steps. It gets kids excited about independent learning, reaching, researching and discovering. This isn’t something you read about in a text book, it’s something you create, build and find your own answers. Creativity also helps in building a science fair project board – they are works of art!

Students also learn public speaking skills during the fair when presenting their project and discussing it with fair visitors.

And through all of this hard work, speaking, creating, testing and concluding, the kids build self-confidence and pride in their work. My favorite part of the science fair is walking around and seeing the pride and joy on all of the kids’ faces. Now, how can that be dreaded?

A friend of mine told me that
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