Winning Social Studies Fair Projects

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WinningSocial Studies Fair Projects

• By
• Ms. Sue Harley
• McLendon Elementary School Media Specialist

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Winning SocialStudies Projects
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What Makes a Great Social Studies Project?
Choose a subject that really interests you.
Putting what you want to know about your subject
in the form of a question can help you focus on
what you want to know about your subject. What
is some-thing significant that you would enjoy
learning about?
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The world is full of Interesting Things to Learn
About
How did African Americans live in the time of
Slavery?
What was it like to travel on the Oregon Trail?
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Do you ever wonder how flight is possible?
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What impact did the ideas of Gandhi have on
Martin Luther King Jr. and the civil rights
movement?
What was the significance of the Tuskegee Air Men
in World War II?
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How Will You Learn About Your Subject in a Way
That Will Answer Your Question?
This is where your media center, your local
library and a home computer can help.
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What If You Dont Yet Have a Computer with
Internet Access?
Your media center has Internet computers that you
can use. Media specialists, media clerks and
librarians at public libraries are trained to
help you search the Internet forinformation.
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What Made These Projects from the 2000 Social
Studies Fair Winners?

• Creativity
• Subject Matter
• Neatness
• Color Choices
• Readability

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What is the Appalachian Trail? Interesting and
colorful background with tree The title is done
on a banner instead of cut out letters Type boxes
all have a dark border Color photographs
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What is the Appalachian Trail?Same project at
the bottom. Notice the clever foot prints and the
map of the trail with actual photos from the
trail.
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How Did Bloody Sunday Impact the Civil Rights
Movement? The headline is built on top of the
board and the letters have a white
outline. People at the bottom and the blue board
they stand on add color. The black background
makes a powerful statement.
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Capital Punishment Is It Justice?Very effective
red blood at the top and handcuffs on each side
set a grave tone. Protesters at the bottom, the
drawing of the electric chair, syringe for lethal
injections and pictures of people that have been
executed make a powerful statement.
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What Are The Positive Effects of Eating
Carrots?Really beautiful complementary color
combination of blue and orange. Nice colorful
border, boxes are outlined and live vegetables
growing in decorative cans make this unusual
subject fun to look at.
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What is the History of the Great Wall of China?A
wonderful 3 dimensional effect. Its hard to see
where the drawing of the great wall on the board
stops and the part built onto the front of the
board begins.
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What Can We Do to Prevent Teen Car Accidents?
Dramatic top piece with bright shiny letters.
Picture of the governor with his view point,
graphs and a 3D driving test at the bottom
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What Was the Three-Fifths Compromise? Nice top
piece adds space. Lots of pictures of the time
period and a document on a scroll 3 dimensional
black figures with featureless white cotton faces
at the bottom make one curious about the question.
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What is the Coalition of Black Women and how does
it Impact The Black Womens Vote? Nice use of
color against a black board. Red file folders and
yellow paper make it interesting to look at.
Lots of cut out figures and activity at the
bottom, with confetti on top of two standing
displays.
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Why is George Washington Considered the Father of
Our Country? The design has a patriotic theme
with the red white and blue colors and the flags
as a border. Color picture of George Washington
and clever use of a dollar bill with his picture
on it. Again, boxes with information are on a red
background to make them stand out. At the bottom
is a little figure cutting down a cherry tree, a
popular story about the first president of the
United States of America.
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How did the Death and Rebirth of John Barleycorn
Affect Society?A very creative project. A large
whiskey bottle at the top asks the question. At
the bottom a tombstone and casket with the word
whiskey on it. Graph on the board gives a
time-line and below we can peek into a speakeasy.
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How and Why Did the Ancient Egyptians Make
Mummies? The drawing at the top of this board and
the colors used make this an exciting
presentation. More color pictures, the larger one
showing the actual embalming process add interest.
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The Negro LeaguesGreat photographs and an actual
3 dimensional stadium in front make a strong
presentation. Neatness really shows in how
straight all the photos are.
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How has the Culture of New Orleans
Developed?Beautiful center panel featuring a
Mardi Gras mask and confetti. There are more
Mardi Gras items at the bottom. Side panels are
very neat, black borders make white boxes stand
out.
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Why Did the Egyptians Build the Pyramids?Nice
color combination of blue and yellow with a
little red in the border. A very impressive 3
dimensional pyramid.
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What is the Culture of Vietnam? Wonderful choice
of type face for the headline, it looks Asian.
Good color pictures and maps and good contrast. 3
dimensional Vietnamese village at bottom.