The Standards-Based Science Fair:

An Introduction

District Elementary Science Fair,Saturday, February 2, 2013

Kennesaw Mountain High SchoolHeld in conjunction with the Middle and High School Science Fairs

Murdock School Science FairThursday, January 10th, 2013 6:30-7:30pm

Projects shouldHave application turned in the

Science Lab by Wednesday, December 19th 2012

Must be dropped of on Thursday, January 10th 2013 by 3:00pm

Support results with dataFollow scientific methodAnswer question(s)

Scientific MethodDefine the questionForm a hypothesisPerform the experiment and collect

dataAnalyze data Interpret data and communicate

conclusions

Project IdealStudents come up with

their own question based on their own interests

Students design an investigation to answer their question.

Project Ideal (cont.)Best Practices…Student initiated and completedExperiment-basedData-driven results documented and

analyzedNot ideal…Models (Volcano, Robot, etc.)Research only projects

Project Ideal (cont.)Examples

Do coffee grounds affect the growth of plants?

Which type of surface can an insect walk on best?

Which sunscreen blocks sunlight the best?

What food do mealworms like best?How long does it take a candle to go

out?

The biggest problem…is choosing a problem!

Most challenging aspect of science is choosing a problem to solve

“The formulation of a problem is often more essential than its solution.”

--Albert Einstein

Scientific Challenge

Project ResultsQuantitative data includes

numbers and/or units of measureMeasurements: height, weight,

voltage, time, distance, quantityData presentation: graph, matrix,

table, etc.Comparative data key to

validating conclusions

Project DisplayDisplay

BoardPicturesProcedureData

The School Science Fair

The School Science Fair