Science Fair Grades K3

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Science Fair
March 5th and 6th 2007
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What is a Science Fair Anyway???
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How does entering benefit my child?

• Creates an opportunity for children to learn
  about science
• Provides practice organizing and planning for a
  long term project
• Allows exploration of topics that they choose
• Promotes problem solving and critical thinking
• Develops research and presentation skills

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K-3 Project Information
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Types of Projects

• Collection
• Must be science related items such as rocks,
  shells, leaves etc
• Coin, stamp, doll collections are considered
  hobbies- great for collecting, but not for the
  Science Fair
• No store bought collections, students should be
  actually collecting the items!
• Display
• Models of a science related topic such as moon
  phases, human eye, power plant etc
• Diorama of a habitat or food chain.
• Projects in these categories should be well
  organized and labeled to illustrate scientific
  information. Some written material is needed to
  explain the project.

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Collections What they are NOT
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So what makes a good collection?
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Display
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More Project Types

• Demonstrations
• Investigations performed by the student to
  illustrate scientific concepts such as how a
  flashlight works.
• Display might include charts, posters and a
  written explanation about the scientific concept
  that was demonstrated.
• Engineering and Design (Invention)
• Students design and build a model of something.
• Must be made from scratch by the student- no
  store bought models please!
• Examples include bridges, flying objects,
  electromagnets etc

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Engineering and Design

• Bridges
• Airplanes
• Roller coaster

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Even More Project Types

• Experimentation
• Students design and conduct an experiment to
  answer a question.
• Should follow the scientific method.

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Experimentation

• Solve a problem based on a question
• What shape boat holds the most before sinking?
• To what objects will a magnet stick?
• How does weight change the distance an airplane
  will travel?

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4-5 Project Information
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Focus on Problem Solving

• Benefits to students
• Opportunity to conduct scientific research
• Promotes the scientific method
• Emphasizes critical thinking skills
• Provides a purpose for communicating scientific
  information
• Allows students to pursue their interests

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Types of Projects

• All projects entered in grades four and five
  must be problem solving projects. This is to
  promote the use of a controlled experiment.There
  are 6 categories in which projects may be
  entered
• Life Sciences
• Physical Sciences
• Earth Space Sciences
• Engineering
• Mathematics and Computer Sciences
• Behavioral and Social Sciences

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• Life Sciences
• Include plant, animal, environmental, and health
  projects.
• No projects that harm living organisms are
  allowed.
• Example How does light impact plant growth?
• Physical Sciences
• Include chemistry and physics projects.
• Topics such as plastics, energy sources, soil
  chemistry and electricity may be addressed.
• As a safety precaution, electricity projects may
  only use batteries as their fuel source.
• Earth Space Sciences
• Include projects about geology, oceanography,
  meteorology and astronomy.

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• Engineering
• Projects that directly apply scientific
  principles to practical uses.
• May involve technology, mechanics, aviation,
  electricity, sound, automotive
• Mathematics Computer Science
• Includes projects with statistics, probability,
  computer hardware, computer software, and
  simulations
• Behavioral Social Science
• Projects about human and animal behavior,
  learning and perception

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You also might think about

• A real life application- How does the information
  you learned about the amount of air in a ball
  relate to air pressure in a tire?

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Warm-Up Time!