"The danger with the information revolution is that we will overestimate the short term implications, and underestimate the long term impact."-Bill Gates

River Valley Middle School Science Fair

A GrassRoots Project Project Involving Students, Teachers and Schools across New Brunswick

River Valley Middle School hosted a School Science Fair for grades 6 through 8. Students prepared and submitted Science projects which tied into the Science curriculum outlines for evaluation and information transfer.
Students promoted the event through use of Technology and Language Arts in both official languages. Students investigated middle school grade specific science and design projects that best achieved their desired outcomes.
The main activities were science and technology based experiments that were displayed for viewing at the school by local area students, teachers and parents.

Winners of the school science fair moved the district 8 science fair for the next level of competition. Winners from this competition moved to the provincial science fair.

M. Marmen

Why have a science fair?

Educators understand that most people learn best through personal experience. As human beings, we explore, inquire, discover, and understand more and more about the world around us. Students need to be given opportunities to ask questions, design investigations and make meaning out of the data collected. In order for these skills to be developed, the focus of science education needs to shift from having students "watching it being done" to actually "doing science".
An event such as a Science Fair is a great medium to have all students pursue "their own" investigations to answer "their own" questions. Here at River Valley, we experienced such an event this past year. Around 225 students displaying over 145 exhibits proudly shared what they discovered. We have included some information on our school's web site to help teachers in preparing their students to experience a "Science Fair."

Mr. Vincent

How do I prepare students for a science fair?

1) Selecting a topic

The first and most important step is to get students to ask questions about what intrigues them. Something that bugs them...that they want to understand. Teachers can give the following examples of some students' process to develop a topic.
· A father and his son were getting ready to go on a fishing trip. They wondered about what kind of batteries would last the longest. They designed an experiment using five different brands of batteries based on the assumption that the most expensive one would be the best. After testing the life of each battery, they discovered their hypothesis to be correct.
· A 13-year-old girl wondered if ice cream was responsible for headaches when eaten too fast. She conducted an investigation with an experimental and a control group. One group ate 30ml of ice cream as fast as possible. The other group had the same quantity to eat over a certain period of time, having to leave some in the bowl.

The purpose is to awaken the students to the fact that a "Science Fair" project does not have to very complex and elaborated. We can find ideas all around us, if we stop and take the time to observe. Students need time to ponder for a few days. After a few days of reflection, students need to formulate questions that lead to an investigation. There is a difference between a question that leads to an investigation and one that leads to a library research. Here are some examples:

2) Research the topic

Once students have identified a "question" they want to answer, the next step is to learn as much as possible on the subject. Teachers may give research time at the library or on the Internet. The object is to be prepared to form an intelligent testable hypothesis.

3) Design an investigation

This step allows students to focus their attention on the details of the investigation. They formulate an hypothesis that can be easily verified with an experiment. The plan needs to include the following:
· Materials needed
· Variables involved
· Detailed procedure
· Data collection plan

Teachers may use the handout to help students narrow their thoughts down to the necessary information. Each plan needs to be approved by the teacher. At first, students will need assistance to develop their experimental design.

4) Conduct the investigation

This phase where students actually do the experiment, can happen at home. During the experiment, students can take pictures, record data and keep detailed notes of observations.

5) Analyze results

When the experiment is over, students compare the results with their hypothesis and form a conclusion. They need to establish if their hypothesis was confirmed or not. At this point students may have found new questions to be answered and suggest new variables, different materials or procedure for another investigation.

6) Write the report

Writing a report about all that was done, how it was done and what was discovered, is an important aspect of a Science Fair Project. Scientists need to communicate their investigations clearly to allow others to conduct the same investigation and arrive at the same conclusions.

7) Making a display

The display says it all about the project. It needs to be neat and organized onto a self-standing background that can be put on a table. It should be self-explanatory and take no more than 5 minutes for an audience to understand from beginning to end.

Bibliography and Resources