Simple, Effective, Award Winning Science Fair Projects
Being able to come up with award winning science projects isn’t the point of getting involved in your school’s science fair, but really, what kid does not want to have a winning project?
Lets look at four tips to help improve your chances of earning one of those awards:
The student must be interested in the a topic
It doesn’t matter if it is food, animals, weather or race cars, they have to pick a project that allows their enthusiasm to shine through. The judges can absolutely tell when someone has put their heart and soul into their work. So you have to use the things they like as the starting point. Guess what? They will learn something too!
Be sure to Follow the Science Fair Guidelines.
Be sure the project is the right kind for your particular science fair. Most require an experiment , which is called an investigation project. This means you must follow the scientific method. Things will not turn out on the award winning side if you bring a collection or a demonstration project when investigation was the requirement.
Along those lines, double check and make sure you have included all of the required elements listed in the guidelines for the science fair. May-be you will need a log or a journal. The judges generally will look for the materials list as well as the outline of the steps you took in doing the project. Possibly a chart and/or a graph showing the results are necessary. (necessary or not, charts and graphs impress the judges!) It is just a matter of checking the directions, and making sure you have dotted all the i’s and crossed all the t’s.
The Display Must Be Attractive
Your poster display board will come across best if it is easy to read, colorful and well organized. Formatting can make all the difference. Use bold fonts, bullet points, and borders around each page and any pictures. Use glue instead of tape, and make sure your cutting is even. This is not the place for cutsie shapes, designs and embellishments. Science fair needs to be neat and professional!
Get The Display to Stand Out From the Rest.
- A catchy title will attract the attention of judges.
Biodegradability of toilet paper = ” A Straight Flush “.
- Color-theme Coordination is an eye catcher
Which fruit had the most vitamin C = great big pictures of fruit and pages glued to coordinated mounting paper.
- Include something that makes your project stand out from the rest
Toy cars in your experiment= bring in the cars and the race track
Sometime the teacher sends home a list of topic ideas that they can choose from. Sometimes you are on your own, (within the general guidelines) Often you will be looking for quick and easy science fair projects to do when you have a short turn around.
Here is a resource I found and frankly wish I had known about when my own kids were in school!
You get five projects, with research links, spreadsheets and step-by-step instructions written in kid language. In some cases there will be sample writing templates….. Each project included has been kid tested and teacher approved, definitely worth taking a look at.
24 hour, weekend or middle school award winning science fair projects:
Middle School Science Fair Projects
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Use these links to other pages on this site for more tips, thoughts, suggestions
One Day Science Fair Projects
Weekend Science Fair Projects
Middle School Projects
Demonstration Projects
FREE Non-Scientific Parent’s Guide to a Science Project
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The Legal Stuff: I am a teacher, and like all teachers, I am always on the lookout for materials to help other parents and teachers make their jobs easier. When I find an online product, that means I am working as a partner with the owner and will receive a commission from any sales that result from clicks on the links of this page.
