How involved should the parent be in the child's science fair?

[Merry]

Well, the homeschool science fair is in two weeks. We are doing a fairly simple project but boy, it's a lot more complicated than I expected. I never participated in one myself and this is my ds's and my first time doing one.

 

So....I am finding that I am doing all the planning for my ds. He is eleven years old but he is overwhelmed so I am having to sort of take over the project in order to get it moving along.

 

I have no idea what how much help I am supposed to give and how much initiative the child is supposed to show. He wanted to do this which is why we signed up but so far he has only been doing what I am telling him to do. For instance, I tell him where to go to look for information on the project and I tell him which notes to write down. Today we are going to be discussing the gathering of the materials and the recording of the procedure and I am dreading this because I know I will be having to do practically all the discussion and telling him what to write down and so on.

 

My ds seems to kind of enjoy it but he doesn't own the project because he's not ready for it.

 

I feel stuck because he does want to do this and he wants to be at the science fair but at the same time, I need to know what my part as the teacher is and the part my kid as the student is.

 

Help!

 

Emily

[Dmmetler]

I let my DD direct her project, but provided the extra hands when she needed them. I did download an e-book from scholastic which provided an outline to walk her through the write up, though-so she had blanks to fill in and wasn't starting from scratch. That helped a lot.

 

And I kept my hands off the display beyond helping her set up the software to print her information. Which meant that she ended up with a project that looked like a 7 yr old had put it together-which I thought was fine, until we got to the fair and it was obvious that most parents DIDN'T keep hands off (either that or these kids all have futures in graphic design or marketing). She was still proud of what she did, though.

[Trillian]

We've just started. I've been kind of surprised by how much I haven't had to push DS along. I have had to tell him it's time to work on it - and be there to bounce ideas off of - but he's told me in no uncertain terms that it has to be his ideas and his project. I'm actually glad to see him taking charge of it. I have set him a schedule and imagine I'll need to keep him on track, there's some programs he hasn't used before he'll need help with at the end (and everything will need editing).

[Merry]

Oh, really? Wow, your children sound amazing! Well, I think what I'll do is go ahead w/ the plans I had for today but let him take the initiative this time and see what happens. I will show him what needs to be done and the steps he should follow and then back off. Help him when and if he asks for it. The e-book sounds interesting. What's the title?

[Trillian]

LOL, thanks. It should have emphasized how surprised I was a little bit more. I think helping him when he asks for it and making a schedule so he doesn't fall behind and get overwhelmed at the end would both be reasonable. I think it's a great time to learn how to break a large project into small deadlines. It also will let you (and me :-) ) know if things go south before too much time goes by.

 

Good luck!

[Arcadia]

It is his first science fair project. Regardless of age just guide him along. There are generic guidelines for students to follow on the internet. Like how to formulate the hypothesis, how to plan and conduct the experiments and how to do the display board for the fair.

[mims]

I'm curious if homeschool moms are a little worse about doing everything for the kids on these types of projects. Several years ago my son was so irritated that quite a few of the kids that did better than him had not really done much of it themselves. It was so frustrating to him that he had worked hours and got beat by a bunch of mothers.

[Merry]

Mims, your son's frustration is exactly what I'm concerned about.

[Dmmetler]

The Science Fair Success Guide.

 

http://www.amazon.com/Science-Success-Guide-Patricia-Janes/dp/0439895189/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1362760392&sr=8-1&keywords=Science+Fair+success+guide

 

I got it as a $1 e-book. It's actually designed for teachers to use in teaching kids how to do science fair presentations. The printable forms were definitely worth the $1-and maybe the $12 amazon wants, because I've used them as an outline, not just for science projects, but for other projects as well.

[Arcadia]

Some guides for you that are easy for your son to read and follow as well.

 

http://www.tfsd.k12.id.us/pe/sciencefairguide12.pdf

http://massscifair.org/documents/student_guide.pdf

[Dmmetler]

No, homeschooled moms aren't worse, as far as I can see. I sit out in the waiting room at Dance and hear the moms talk about doing their child's project (and it seems like there's some sort of project every couple of weeks)-or sometimes, sit there and DO their child's project.

 

The big difference, I see, is that usually homeschoolers aren't doing projects unless either the kid or parent WANTS to do one, so I think there's a little more chance of it being child-directed. For the PS kids, mostly it's "You need to create a diorama showing an animal in it's natural habitat"-whether or not the child is at all interested in that sort of project. Homeschool moms without crafty kids are usually going to find another way of reaching the same goal.

[Faithr]

I have participated in many science fairs and was even a judge at one. I got very disenchanted at the level of the parental involvement. To me it is akin to cheating and yet if you have a pretty backboard and really nifty presentation, you tend to win even if it turns out it is way over the kids' head and the parents did most of it. It was disillusioning. So we stopped participating.

[duckens]

We are not at science fair age, but we are working on dd6's poster for 4H communications contest. At this -- Clover Kids --level, everyone gets a green "participation" ribbon. There are no blue, red, or white ribbons.

 

I think that you need to use your best judgment of how much to participate based on:

1) Your child's age

 

2) Has your child ever done this before, or even seen a science fair before

 

3) What are you hoping your child will get out of this project? Points for a college admissions form? To learn about the scientific process? To demonstrate a component of science or answer a specific question of science? To communicate? If you are worried about competing with other moms, have a discussion with your son about what the true goals are, and that you are proud of him as long as he works hard.

 

Here's how it has worked in our situation:

 

Dd6 chose the topic: Snow Leopards.

 

Mom sent in the paperwork for 4H and requested books from the library. We read the books together.

 

Dd6 dictated 4-5 "captions" to Mom. Mom wrote them on scrap paper.

 

Mom set up Google on the internet and typed in "Snow Leopard Photo." Dd6 chose several photos, and learned how to cut and paste photos from the internet into Powerpoint.

 

Dd6 learned how to manipulate the photos within Powerpoint to the correct size. She added a text box, too, and moved photos from one slide to another.

 

Mom bought special photo paper from the store, and prepped the computer for quality and which slides. Dd6 pressed the print button. Dd6 cut the photos out.

 

Dd learned what a mat was. Together we discussed good color choices based on the colors in the photos. She measured her pictures, added 1", and learned how to cut out her mats using Mom's fancy cutter for scrapbooking. She learned about rubber cement as an adhesive.

 

Mom pulled out her Cricut machine, and dd6 learned how to add a cartridge, put paper on the cricut mat, enter the mat into the machine, and program the machine to cut letters for a title. Mom wrote out "SNOW LEOPARDS", and dd6 entered the letters. Mom helped with pointing out the button for capital letters. We repeated the process using the "Shadow" button in a compatible color of dd6's choice.

 

Dd6 used rubber cement to put the cricut letters together with their shadow letters. Two letters were put together backwards (also a learning experience!), so Mom pulled out the cricut again, and dd6 cut out replacement letters.

 

Mom cut white cardstock to the right size and drew light lines on it. Dd6 has been using her best writing using a pencil to copy captions from what Mom wrote on the scrap paper. Mom will direct dd6 to trim the captions. Dd6 will cut mats for the captions as she did for the photo.

 

Mom will find references for the photos we used and print them out to add to the poster. At this age, I don't expect dd6 to understand the full importance of the references required for our poster. We will discuss it.

 

Dd6 will cut, paste, and print a 4H emblem for the poster (required).

 

Dd6 will assemble and glue the poster.

 

For us, snow leopards are the secondary goal. The true goal is for dd6 to learn a little about the internet, Powerpoint, Cricut, color choices/mat cutting, references, and assembling a poster. Understanding that many small steps that make a big project (for us) is also a good goal. Next year, I don't expect dd6 to know how to do all of these things independently, but I hope that she will say, "Hey, I remember that from last year!"

[Nscribe]

When Dd was in elementary we quit calling it the science fair and just called it "Parentcon".

[Arcadia]

When Dd was in elementary we quit calling it the science fair and just called it "Parentcon".

I have participated in many science fairs and was even a judge at one. I got very disenchanted at the level of the parental involvement. To me it is akin to cheating and yet if you have a pretty backboard and really nifty presentation, you tend to win even if it turns out it is way over the kids' head and the parents did most of it.

Growing up I was once in a public school science fair. My parents didn't help me. They never helped me with school work. They didn't believe in helping. I think I did a decent job, but I did a very simple project. Clearly many of the kids at the fair had help though.

 

For my boys virtual academy as well as our school district, any help given by parents has to be acknowledged on the display board and in the report. For example if the parent help to plot the graph for a kindergarten child, the graph would have a note on it stating that the parent help. This is to help ensure fair judging. Also children can choose a science fair project that need parental help and not be cheating.

[freesia]

We no longer do science fairs. They are too devastating for me (and dh finds them boring.)

 

Intrinsically I believe the work (even the display board) should be my child's. I help with organizational and procedural support.

 

My kids projects are complete and they own them.

 

However, we don't have the money to spend on beautiful borders, etc to spruce things up to the level others do.

 

We don't have the money to spend on fancy science equipment to have a wowza experiment. Neither do dh nor I have a PhD in Science. (We live in an area with a lot of science PhDs.

 

I comfort myself that one of the judges came over and commended ds for how his project was so clearly HIS project. So. . . in order to win, was I suppose to DO the project?

[freesia]

Even though I may have the money I often consider whether or not the bling is worth the money. KWIM? The idea is that kids learn stuff, but they can do that without flashy stuff can't they?

 

A lot of those things sound great in theory, but turn out to be pretty useless unfortunately.

 

Sorry OP, not trying to derail the thread!

Yes, they shouldn't matter but, ime they do end up mattering. All things being equal and all, right?

[freesia]

Oh, and I really didn't mean to be complaining about the finances of it all. I just meant that I see that as a way that parents get involved too much--providing "flash."

[shanvan]

We no longer participate in science fairs, but when we did I always followed the rule of I could show Ds where/how to find information or help him schedule the work to be done. I also could teach him a lesson about something related to his project, but when applying all of this to the project, he had to do it himself. He used a side by side bar graph one year and I taught him a lesson about how to do them as part of his math. Then I taught him how to do one on the computer, but the actual graph used on his board was done by him and him alone.

 

As far as helping him schedule his work, at the time my Ds was not capable of doing that on his own, but he was learning how to think about it by discussing it with me and participating in the scheduling. I didn't see any of this as cheating, just good teaching practices. I can also remember teaching him about percents b/c he wanted to figure percents for his results. Again, he had a lesson, and then he had to use his own data to figure the percents himself.

 

It's very hard for me to imagine that parents actually do the work themselves. Though now that i think of it I remember walking around talking to kids and asking some of them about their graphs. I remember that b/c Ds had some trouble with one aspect of his graph on the computer. He and I never figured out how to fix it, so he modified it on his own with markers (I think) and you couldn't even tell the difference. Anyway, one kid had a similar graph and it was completely done on the computer. I thought i could learn something, so I asked her how she did it and she replied she had no idea b/c her dad did it! It annoyed me b/c of all the hours i spent instructing Ds and the hours he spent making the graph while I watched him struggle and knew I could have had it done very quickly.

[lewelma]

I have done 6 science fair projects with my older and 4 with my younger, and we are about to start up again this year. I also organize the local homeschoolers science fair, and my older has attended and won the regional science fair. These are the guidelines that I give myself:

 

You need to act as a teacher, not as a parent -- that is think about what a teacher in a classroom with 25 kids would/could do. Imagine what material would have to be taught, how much organizing the teacher would do, and how much personalized attention each student would get. All this depends completely upon the age of the student. The classroom situation that I imagine is where a teacher uses the science fair as a type of unit study and incorporates scientific method, research skills, writing, math, layout, and presentation skills. The class would work on their project for about 2 hours per day for about a month. The teacher would lecture to the class about how to do things, but would also walk around the room and give personalized suggestions as the students worked independently.

 

Here is how this translates into my homeschool environment:

1) You are allowed to teach your student about the scientific method, about making effective tables, about layout, about how to design and give a good presentation, about how to use the computer graphing package, etc

2) You are allowed to give your student general guidelines like your poster must be tidy so you must use a ruler. Or you need to add some glitz like glitter or colors. Or the paragraphs on the poster cannot be more than 3 sentences long, etc

3) You are allowed to give personalized suggestions. So you can teach them about controls, have them go think about it, and then discuss their ideas and make suggestions for improvement. This is how student learn. It is no different than doing multiple revisions of an essay with teacher comments guiding each change. When they are designing a table for their data, let them try a few ways on their own, but then meet with them to discuss their ideas and make suggestions. If they don't know how to make a certain type of graph, this falls under "you are allowed to teach your student new material." So you show them how to do one on different data, but make them do their own.

4) You are allowed to set a schedule for them. Teachers would definitely do this. You must have xxx done by this date, and yyy done by this date. "Today, in class, children, we will be working on xxx. You have 1 hour to accomplish yyy."

 

What you are NOT allowed to do:

1) You are not allowed to design their experiment completely for them and hand it to them on a silver platter. You must make them THINK to learn. And then you can make suggestions in a reiterative process.

2) You are not allowed to collect the data for your student.

3) You are not allowed to write up their analysis and discussion, although you can type it while they dictate if this is required.

4) You are not allowed to make any parts of the poster. This must be completely their work. You can guide them and make suggestions, but the ultimate decisions are theirs.

 

What you should always TRY to do:

1) Try to make them spend some time figuring things out on their own. Like 15-30 minutes for each issue that arises.

2) Try to step back and see how much they can do before you step in with suggestions.

 

If you have not seen it already, I wrote up our science fair process last year here: http://forums.welltr...nquiry/��.��And I wrote about my own self-doubts about what is considered too much helping, which you might find useful.

 

Also, just an FYI, we do not judge the kids at our homeschoolers' science fair. This way there is no reason for the parents to over help. We do run the older kids through a judging process, but there is not a winner. We just require them to talk to the "judge" and explain their work (good practice). And then our "judge" writes up comments about what is really good and what could be changed to make it better. However, there are judges and winners at the regional fair, and quite a bit of $$$! My ds won $700.

 

HTH,

 

Ruth in NZ

[lillybell]

We are doing the science fair next month and this is our first as well. I have 8 science fair books on ideas and guidelines so I handed them the books, told them that this week they need to brainstorm and come up with an idea. I, too, do not want to help them too much, just guide them. My youngest has done some lab ESP write ups on Mr Qs science so that is going to be a big help and they have seen some demonstrations of what a project board should contain. I told them to let me know what materials they will need and what they need for their project boards. Aside from that, I think, I will sit back and see what they can do on their own. My youngest loves to do lapbooks and has become a sort of expert on them so I am curious to see how she will handle her project board. I don't think I will get fancy things for the boards unless they can make them with the computer and printer on cardstock. We will see how it goes this year. At the very least, they will get a good learning experience on conducting experiments and organizing the data, a win will just be gravy. Just having them finishing the projects, will make me a proud Mom.

[Merry]

I have done 6 science fair projects with my older and 4 with my younger, and we are about to start up again this year. I also organize the local homeschoolers science fair, and my older has attended and won the regional science fair. These are the guidelines that I give myself:

 

You need to act as a teacher, not as a parent -- that is think about what a teacher in a classroom with 25 kids would/could do. Imagine what material would have to be taught, how much organizing the teacher would do, and how much personalized attention each student would get. All this depends completely upon the age of the student. The classroom situation that I imagine is where a teacher uses the science fair as a type of unit study and incorporates scientific method, research skills, writing, math, layout, and presentation skills. The class would work on their project for about 2 hours per day for about a month. The teacher would lecture to the class about how to do things, but would also walk around the room and give personalized suggestions as the students worked independently.

 

Here is how this translates into my homeschool environment:

1) You are allowed to teach your student about the scientific method, about making effective tables, about layout, about how to design and give a good presentation, about how to use the computer graphing package, etc

2) You are allowed to give your student general guidelines like your poster must be tidy so you must use a ruler. Or you need to add some glitz like glitter or colors. Or the paragraphs on the poster cannot be more than 3 sentences long, etc

3) You are allowed to give personalized suggestions. So you can teach them about controls, have them go think about it, and then discuss their ideas and make suggestions for improvement. This is how student learn. It is no different than doing multiple revisions of an essay with teacher comments guiding each change. When they are designing a table for their data, let them try a few ways on their own, but then meet with them to discuss their ideas and make suggestions. If they don't know how to make a certain type of graph, this falls under "you are allowed to teach your student new material." So you show them how to do one on different data, but make them do their own.

4) You are allowed to set a schedule for them. Teachers would definitely do this. You must have xxx done by this date, and yyy done by this date. "Today, in class, children, we will be working on xxx. You have 1 hour to accomplish yyy."

 

What you are NOT allowed to do:

1) You are not allowed to design their experiment completely for them and hand it to them on a silver platter. You must make them THINK to learn. And then you can make suggestions in a reiterative process.

2) You are not allowed to collect the data for your student.

3) You are not allowed to write up their analysis and discussion, although you can type it while they dictate if this is required.

4) You are not allowed to make any parts of the poster. This must be completely their work. You can guide them and make suggestions, but the ultimate decisions are theirs.

 

What you should always TRY to do:

1) Try to make them spend some time figuring things out on their own. Like 15-30 minutes for each issue that arises.

2) Try to step back and see how much they can do before you step in with suggestions.

 

If you have not seen it already, I wrote up our science fair process last year here: http://forums.welltr...nquiry/��.��And I wrote about my own self-doubts about what is considered too much helping, which you might find useful.

 

Also, just an FYI, we do not judge the kids at our homeschoolers' science fair. This way there is no reason for the parents to over help. We do run the older kids through a judging process, but there is not a winner. We just require them to talk to the "judge" and explain their work (good practice). And then our "judge" writes up comments about what is really good and what could be changed to make it better. However, there are judges and winners at the regional fair, and quite a bit of $$$! My ds won $700.

 

HTH,

 

Ruth in NZ

[Merry]

Ruth,

 

This information on what a teacher does in the classroom is most helpful. I had been confused as I am both the teacher and parent so I had been feeling paralyzed and caught in the middle between the two roles.

 

Now I am feeling more comfortable about teaching the process and demonstrating what my ds needs to do and helping him revise his work but having him do most of the thinking and working himself. Your analogy of helping him with essay writing is a good one. I get it.

 

Thanks.

 

Emily

[Free]

I think it's fine that you are helping him to that extent. At the very least he is getting a sense for the process. It probably just is too much for him if he needs that much help though. I can imagine the same thing happening to my 11 year old. He has big plans, but he often doesn't realize what it will take to see them through.

 

I agree with this. Since this is his first time, I think it is okay, probably even important that you hand hold him through the process. The important thing is that he is enjoying the process. He will be more ready the next time. Once this fair is done, you can probably continue to do science projects at home once in a while which would be less stressful for you as well provide the practice for your ds.

[duckens]

Maybe the question is "How are science fairs judged?"

 

A nice poster is great, but what about having judges ask kids questions like:

 

1) Tell me about your project.

--Could child do this?

--Could child outline scientific process?

2) What made you think of this project?

3) Why did you choose to do it in this way?

 

The child will either understand all of the ins and outs of their project (if they did it) or they won't (if parents did it).

 

Disclaimer: The better communicators will do better in this scenario. That would be a disadvantage for thoughtful, introverted children like my daughter, but it should mostly weed out the ones who did the work vs. the ones who didn't.

 

-------------------------------------------------

At what point should parents not help kids?

 

Does taking your kid to Walmart and paying for their cardboard and construction paper consist of "helping"?

 

Does helping them set goals of reading background info consist of "helping"? (Honey, have you started reading those books from the library yet?)

 

How about picking a project? (Honey, I know you wanted to take something to the science fair. Any ideas what you want to do? Ya wanna look through this book on science fair projects?)

 

These things would have been "helping" in the household in which I grew up. Guess how many science fairs I participated in as a child? 0

[claluck]

I hate science fair projects. I always want my kids to make their own and did the first few years with my older two. However when the science fair came along seeing projects that were obviously done by the parents was uber frustrating. And then to see them win. It was all about how pretty the board was sometimes. This year I refused to do it (plus I am way pregnant) and told my DH I am not staying up til midnight the night before hunched over a board with over tired kids trying to paste pictures on. I told him it was on him if he wanted the kids to do it. My homeschooled 4th and 5th graders did not participate, but my 6 year old kindergarteners (ps) did. In the end DH typed up all their stuff and wrote all the stuff out for them. (They are only in kindergarten). It did not look like kindergarteners did it. They did do alot of it themselves just not the putting together of the presentation. I know they used to do interviews of the kids which I thought was a good idea to make sure they knew what happened. At any rate all my friends say the same thing, it is extremely obvious how many parents do the project for their kids.

 

If this is his first science fair he will likely need to be walked through the whole thing. I would encourage him to put as much as possible in his own words, draw his own pictures if he can, write his own data etc. Yes you will have to guide it a ton, but that is okay. I think the important part is the idea that he learns the process.

 

Christina

[Alice]

We just participated in a science fair this weekend. Overall, it was a good experience. I like Ruth’s post above, it’s pretty much what I did along the way. I sat down with both boys and we talked about possible ideas for projects. I tried to use a lot of open ended questions to guide them in thinking about what to do. For example, I talked about the idea of variables and wanting to have as few things change as possible. Then I had my 1st grader brainstorm a list of things that might change in his project (he counted birds that fed at different birdseeds to see if some attracted more/different birds). He came up with a good list, then we talked about how to try and keep the changes to a mininum. (count at the same time each day, not count on rainy days, etc).

 

For the actual posters I felt fine typing for them as neither can type. My 4th grader can write but hates to do so and I felt like that would make something really fun (science) into something he really hated. I had them dictate to me what they wanted to say and I typed it as they said it, without editing to make it sound better. Their posters were not especially fancy. There were things I would have added or changed and I told them “If it was me, I might do. ______, do you want to do that or are you ok with it the way it is.†If they didn’t want to change it we didn’t.

 

It is a hard line as the teacher/parent. You have to guide and TEACH but you have to also step back and not do it for them.

 

I also judged at the science fair we were part of. They did award prizes. I asked each child why they picked their topic. I felt like that was one way of seeing if it was something they were interested in or just an assignment. It was fairly easy to tell which kids really got their project and which ones did something cool with a parent but didn’t really understand what they had done. I told my kids ahead of time that I didn’t really care about the “place" but that I had signed them up to be judged so that they would have the experience of talking to a stranger about their project. That and doing the project made the experience very worthwhile. We also had a good time looking at all the other projects. There were some that were really amazing.

[PeterPan]

This has probably already been said, but when it's the dc's first time doing a particular type of writing or project, it's likely the teacher/mentor is going to have to provide quite a bit of structure. I would consider it perfectly normal that for the first few books in his research you sit down and show him this is the index, this is the toc, what are you trying to find, let's think about where to start, how do I look them up, now I'm there what do I write... Your goal is to teach him how. The *conclusions* he draws from the research should be his own, but in teaching him how you're going to have to walk him through the process. Hopefully as he does it a bit, he'll catch on.

 

Odds are you're not doing too much. He has to be taught how to do the skills.

[Stellalarella]

When I read the title for the post, my first thought was about our personal experience of 6 years of doing science fair at our local public school. In between three kids, we produced 11 projects. My second thought was about lewelma and how she does science fair with her dc. It was great to see you post, Ruth, because I see you as pretty much the gold standard on this topic. You do an amazing thing with your children.

 

We encouraged our kids to do as much work as they could on their own, but really, I have to say that in my experience, the ability to organize information for a big presentation is beyond the capacity of children--and our school had science fair for K-5!!! We did 11 projects!!! And I am absolutely convinced that this is a CRAZY AMOUNT OF STRESS for children. I left that lovely public magnet school thinking that I would rather be tied to the stake than do one more science fair project. Is there a woman and children screaming emoticon that I could insert here??? Talk to any mom standing at the back of the room during the Science Fair Awards and they would tell you that the main thing they discovered during science fair month was that science fair = crying. And yet, somehow the thrill of seeing of Johnny's board up in the hallway exudes some sort of warm, happy calming pheromone and we think it will be even more fun next year. Nuts. Nuts I tell you.

 

In much calmer terms, I would simply say that a project of this magnitude is developmentally inappropriate for children below middle school.

[lewelma]

And I am absolutely convinced that this is a CRAZY AMOUNT OF STRESS for children...[snip]....science fair = crying.

 

This is really sad. I am so sorry! :crying:

 

And this is absolutely the reason that we do NOT judge at our homeschoolers science fair. The goal is to get kids excited about science. We have a range of projects and levels and effort, but one thing is true for all students -- they are proud of what they have done.

 

In much calmer terms, I would simply say that a project of this magnitude is developmentally inappropriate for children below middle school.

 

Yes. Below middle school it is just a unit study that the parents organize and lead.

 

Here, you must be 11+ to go to the regional science fair, and only there do you encounter judging.

 

Ruth in NZ

[Stellalarella]

Ruth, I so admire you as the voice of reason in student science fair projects. I think your idea about not having judging on the little ones' project is very wise.

 

When I started reading your posts last year on science, I got so much hope about how to do science with my own kiddos.

[bluemongoose]

The last time we did a science fair (just within our homeschool group) it probably did look like I did a lot of the work. My DD was behind in fine motor skills. DD presented her lapbook (which she dictated and I wrote in) a diagram made of legos...did this herself, a poster that we typed together and printed pictures and she glued them on. I say it looked like I did it because it was very neatly done, she was 6yo, and she talks much older. Though the writing sounded like something an older child would say and it was either in my hand or typed, it really was her work.

 

All that to say, sometimes (not always) the work may look like a parent did it for them, but they didnt.

[FairProspects]

What do you do about delayed fine motor skills? Ds can type very well due to being dysgraphic and moving to typing early, so he has no problem typing all his info, but cutting out borders and such for the pictures could be a real issue. What do I do there?

[Arcadia]

What do you do about delayed fine motor skills? Ds can type very well due to being dysgraphic and moving to typing early, so he has no problem typing all his info, but cutting out borders and such for the pictures could be a real issue. What do I do there?

 

 

We just state the things parents help with in the report. It is in the report guidelines. But typing and cutting help by parents does not need to be stated. More of how parents help in the actual doing of the experiment. Like boiling the eggs for my younger boy last year because he is short for his age.

 

Both my boys have some fine motor skills issues. In B&M school the teachers are already aware of that.

[justasque]

I have judged several science fairs. A judge worth their salt will see right through a project that the parent did. That's what the interview is for. My advice is to keep the topic simple, and base it on something your child is curious about. That way, they are more likely to *own* the project, and be able to understand what they are doing.

 

Last year, a child I know did a simple project that didn't involve extracting DNA, understanding an obscure branch of science, or using any special equipment. They swept the regional science fair awards, because they had done a careful, thoughtful, through job of the fairly simple question they investigated, and they understood the topic and the science well enough to be very articulate about it.

 

If you have access to the scoring rubric, it provides a good, objective guide to what the judges should be looking for. As an example, if there are items such as "uses metric units", then suggest to your child that they either use metric units or explain (verbally and in writing) why you didn't. If it says "does at least three trials", then suggest to your child that they do at least three trials. And so on.

[EKS]

This is why I prefer to start do these types of projects in a noncompetitive setting. Our homeschool "school" had an annual project fair where homeschooled kids could get together one evening and display their projects. Usually they would put together some sort of project board to tell the story of their projects. But it wasn't a contest so there was no worry about a kid getting an award when the parent had "too much" input.

 

My son began participating in this event when he was 7. That year, he picked the topic, did all the writing, chose the pictures to be printed from the internet and drew a picture himself as well, and and placed the preglued items on the board. I typed what he wrote, printed everything, used the paper cutter to get everything the right size, made colored backing for everything, and wielded the glue stick.

 

At age 8, he took on the typing but chose to have me stick everything on. I showed him my tricks for making things straight.

 

At age 9, he also took his own photographs and stuck some things on with my help.

 

At age 10, he was able to stick everything on himself, using the tricks that I taught him. The major thing remaining for him to take on was using the paper cutter. His project this year does not involve a project board, but if it did, he is now able to use the paper cutter safely and so would be able to take that on.

 

I think it is appropriate to provide this sort of scaffolding for children. In doing so, we help them learn what excellence is and provide a path to get there. My son was proud of each of his projects, and because they looked nice, he found pleasure in gazing at them for months after each project fair and was proud to have the boards displayed in our entryway for others to see. Because he was given the assistance he needed when he needed it (with an eye toward future independence), he is now able to create professional looking work when he wants to.

 

ETA: This doesn't address the whole science experiment thing that a science fair brings up. But, if it were a noncompetitive setting, I would provide scaffolding for that as well. And I would avoid real competitions until my child was able to do the work mostly on his own.

[Soror]

I find this curious I only really remember doing projects in High School and I did it all completely on my own and won our own school fair at that :). We don't have anything like that locally that I am aware of though. It seems that a lot of kid's projects turn into parents projects though. I've noticed in Cub Scouts that the parents make the derby cars, all the way down to the specialty paint job, and I guess decorate their cakes for our banquet as well. This year 2 Tiger Scouts won the awards for decorated cakes. I'm pretty sure 1st graders couldn't decorate cakes with such skill. It really irks me. I'm glad to read that there are at least some parents that don't attach their kid's name to their work.

[justasque]

...It seems that a lot of kid's projects turn into parents projects though. I've noticed in Cub Scouts that the parents make the derby cars, all the way down to the specialty paint job, and I guess decorate their cakes for our banquet as well. This year 2 Tiger Scouts won the awards for decorated cakes. I'm pretty sure 1st graders couldn't decorate cakes with such skill. It really irks me. ...

 

 

Oh, the cub scout cake contest. All those lovely mom-decorated cakes. Fortunately when we did it there was a "most popular with the boys" category. Our cake was boy-made. It was chocolate. The top had been churned up with a fork - a giant crumbly mess made of it. It was topped with a whole bunch of random LEGO guys, many plunged waist-deep in the cake. It did not look like the other cakes - far from it. But it told the story of an epic battle, between two armies of LEGO guys. Or so my son told the other scouts, who apparently had an eye for battle cakes. And much to the horror of the other mothers, who had made such perfect cakes for their sons, the boys voted my son's cake Most Popular, hands-down. Sometimes, competition is oh, so sweet.

[Soror]

LOL, that is awesome!