John Delavera, local science fair winner for the District 58 school wide science fair, recently won first prize with his unique twist on a solar system science fair project.
"I took an idea that I found elsewhere, and then I added my interests," he said. "Everyone has a model of our solar system, but nobody else modeled a different solar system. A different star, you know, instead of the sun. It was easy."
Delavera credits his mother with the inspiration to try something new. She bought a book full of ideas on science fair projects for him, and he picked the one he liked best and ran with it.
For more information about the best sources to find good project ideas, visit this website about different science fair projects.
Wednesday, October 24, 2007
Friday, October 12, 2007
The Parts of a science fair project
There are three basic parts to a science fair project.
The first is the experiment and the data that you must collect, or the model that you build. Some science fair project guides come with their own spreadsheets, which is very helpful for collecting data, while others will tell you all about building a model for the science fair project.
The second step is to create a project board for the display, These can be purchased very cheaply from Office Depot or a similar store, and can be decorated with photos or construction paper cutouts and drawings. Again, some science fair project guides come with some excellent photos and printouts you can use copyright-free.
Step three is to write a paper. Grade level will determine how in-depth the paper needs to be, but every science fair paper has an introduction, called an abstract, a body, listing the materials and the methods, and a conclusion which wraps up the findings. For more information about writing a science fair abstract, check out that link.
The first is the experiment and the data that you must collect, or the model that you build. Some science fair project guides come with their own spreadsheets, which is very helpful for collecting data, while others will tell you all about building a model for the science fair project.
The second step is to create a project board for the display, These can be purchased very cheaply from Office Depot or a similar store, and can be decorated with photos or construction paper cutouts and drawings. Again, some science fair project guides come with some excellent photos and printouts you can use copyright-free.
Step three is to write a paper. Grade level will determine how in-depth the paper needs to be, but every science fair paper has an introduction, called an abstract, a body, listing the materials and the methods, and a conclusion which wraps up the findings. For more information about writing a science fair abstract, check out that link.
Science Fair Projects on Squidoo
Here is another good resource for information about unique science fair projects. This science fair project blog is also very good.
Science Fair Projects
When it comes to science fair projects, too many students make the mistake of picking a tried-and-true project that has been done a million times before. You know the kind I'm talking about. There's the Tornado Science Fair Project or the Volcano Science Fair Project or even the popular Popcorn Science Fair Project. Nowadays people are even getting tired of seeing the solar system science fair projects.
Not only are these projects boring, but they're also very difficult and costly for supplies. Why bother with that?
As a long time science fair participant, I can tell you that just seeing a big pile of sand and a board that says "volcanoes" just makes me sick. This has been done a jillion times, and everyone knows what's going to happen.
Pick something different. Please. Here's how you do it:
Start off by visiting this Science Fair Project page and buying one of the guides. These guides contain dozens of excellent and underutilized projects that are cheap, easy and sure to be unique. Yes, you have to pay for them, but you know what? Nobody else will do it, and that gives you a huge advantage, and the projects in there are so cheap for supplies that you'll be saving money in the long run anyways. Unique, quality experiments for all ages are in there, and judges will eat that up.
Not only are these projects boring, but they're also very difficult and costly for supplies. Why bother with that?
As a long time science fair participant, I can tell you that just seeing a big pile of sand and a board that says "volcanoes" just makes me sick. This has been done a jillion times, and everyone knows what's going to happen.
Pick something different. Please. Here's how you do it:
Start off by visiting this Science Fair Project page and buying one of the guides. These guides contain dozens of excellent and underutilized projects that are cheap, easy and sure to be unique. Yes, you have to pay for them, but you know what? Nobody else will do it, and that gives you a huge advantage, and the projects in there are so cheap for supplies that you'll be saving money in the long run anyways. Unique, quality experiments for all ages are in there, and judges will eat that up.
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