Do you know that there are different types of School Science Fair Projects?
Well, there are 5…..
There are five basic types of school science fair projects that can come home in a packet as a long term assignment, often around 4th grade. It is important to pay close attention to the directions and understand what type of project has been assigned. You child may have all kinds of ideas of what they want to do, but the teacher also has their own idea, and they are the ones that count.
Here are the five basic types of school science fair projects
- An Investigative science fair project: These are the most common as they ask your child to so an experiment. You are investigating the answer to a question or to prove or disprove a prediction. You collect data over time and draw conclusions directly from the data.
- A Research science fair project: This will be a written report based on research you did on a scientific topic. This can be a stand alone project, or a requirement as part of one of the other types of projects.
- A Demonstration science fair project: You stand in front of the class and are able to quickly demonstrate a scientific principle to the class. These are usually done in smaller fairs, like a grade level or class only science fair. Chemical reactions make great demonstrations
- A Collection science fair project: You will be asked to gather samples of objects that can be displayed to help explain a science topic. These can be simple for younger students like leaves and rocks, or more sophisticated like examples of simple machines.
- A Model science fair project: This is where you literally build a models, or a three dimensional representation of concept in science. Solar system, DNA, cells, atoms are common models.
It is common as you get older to combine types of projects into one assignment. So it is even more important to pay attention to the requirements the teacher sends home for any school science fair project. You might have to collect samples of items and write a report on the principle. You can do an investigatory project, and demonstrate one element of it at the science fair.
If you do the wrong type of project, your grade will be affected. No matter how great a job you did, you will not be able to get a decent grade if you did not take the time to understand which type of school science fair projects were assigned.
With this link, Parents can get a free Non-Scientist Parent Guide to download to your computer to find out more background to what to expect from school science fair project assignments.
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