the network for middle school math and science teachers

science fair ideas

I am new to my district and they are looking to revamp how it is run.......we want to make the students really get into it and have a great time while learning.

Any suggestions of what works well in your district?

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Permalink Reply by Karolee Smiley on March 19, 2010 at 1:08am

So, how are the Science Fairs coming?

My school fair is next week so my students have been busily taking butcher paper and covering cardboard boxes and used display boards for their projects. Activities like science fairs may function differently as times change. With a 20% unemployment rate here and rising homelessness, I see less "parent produced" projects and more "home-made" work.

They aren't very fancy, but I know there was hard work put into it.

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Permalink Reply by Mary Henton on February 25, 2011 at 2:39pm

It's been awhile since there was discussion about science fairs. I just read "Science Fairs Failing"? in ETC (Education, Technology, and Change). The author responds to a recent article in the New York Times (“It May Be a Sputnik Moment, but Science Fairs Are Lagging,”* 4 Feb. 2011).

What surfaced as I read the ETC article was, "How and why did science fairs begin, anyway? Maybe we've outgrown them because we no longer have that need." I honestly don't know the history of science fairs. But if they were developed as a way to give students practical, hands-on experience with scientific method, then I would hope that we have outgrown science fairs.

But then, just because we can teach science differently and with more hands-on, meaningful, deep experience, doesn't mean that we do it. MSP2 members, excepted!