As the school year begins the Honors Class NEEDS to begin thinking about Science Fair Projects for this year! A well formulated science fair project takes time and typically we present the projects at our local fair in January/February. This only gives the students from August until December to create a project worthy of advancement and consideration for the Science & Engineering Fair at Southern Utah University.
NOW...I know choosing a science fair project can be daunting!
The first piece of advice I can give students AND parents is start with a subject that the STUDENT LIKES :)
If your student is interested in the outdoors find an appropriate topic under this field...THEN, start to ask yourselves questions about the topic. Questions can begin as simple as, "What if I..." or "What if this were different?" or "I wonder about how this effects this". Science is about questions and looking for evidence to support a conclusion. When your student begins to ask the questions, the project will naturally come next.
Science Fair Letter and Information
What a science fair project is NOT...
~ designed to create angst between you and your student
~ designed to clean you out of your 401K
~ some LAST MINUTE choice you found on the internet from a website called, "101 science fair projects"
~ to create, complete and build a project for your student.
A science fair project SHOULD...
~ bring your student closer to the world of science
~ use budget constraints to find answers/evidence to support conclusions about questions.
In REAL LIFE, scientists are regulated and bound by funding, budgets and time constraints...BUT they still manage to do good science and find evidence that can support or reject answers to questions.
~ allow your student to wonder about their world and the processes within.
This is what jump starts a great science fair project.
~ be an opportunity for YOUR STUDENT to explore, formulate, create and build a project that THEY can discuss and showcase to the community.
Websites to begin looking at science fair projects:
http://www.sciencebuddies.org/science-fair-projects/project_ideas.shtml
http://www.all-science-fair-projects.com/
http://www.sciencefair-projects.org/
http://www.education.com/science-fair/
NOW...I know choosing a science fair project can be daunting!
The first piece of advice I can give students AND parents is start with a subject that the STUDENT LIKES :)
If your student is interested in the outdoors find an appropriate topic under this field...THEN, start to ask yourselves questions about the topic. Questions can begin as simple as, "What if I..." or "What if this were different?" or "I wonder about how this effects this". Science is about questions and looking for evidence to support a conclusion. When your student begins to ask the questions, the project will naturally come next.
Science Fair Letter and Information
What a science fair project is NOT...
~ designed to create angst between you and your student
~ designed to clean you out of your 401K
~ some LAST MINUTE choice you found on the internet from a website called, "101 science fair projects"
~ to create, complete and build a project for your student.
A science fair project SHOULD...
~ bring your student closer to the world of science
~ use budget constraints to find answers/evidence to support conclusions about questions.
In REAL LIFE, scientists are regulated and bound by funding, budgets and time constraints...BUT they still manage to do good science and find evidence that can support or reject answers to questions.
~ allow your student to wonder about their world and the processes within.
This is what jump starts a great science fair project.
~ be an opportunity for YOUR STUDENT to explore, formulate, create and build a project that THEY can discuss and showcase to the community.
Websites to begin looking at science fair projects:
http://www.sciencebuddies.org/science-fair-projects/project_ideas.shtml
http://www.all-science-fair-projects.com/
http://www.sciencefair-projects.org/
http://www.education.com/science-fair/