science fairs?

[athomeontheprairie]

Last year our homeschool group tried to hold a science fair. To say it failed is a gross understatement. the lady who led it neglected to provide any instructions. she has since moved, and I will be putting on the science fair. if you have been part of science fair, can you tell me what type of direction you were given? what you would have liked to have known ahead of time? or things you would have changed?

 

Tia

[Arcadia]

My kids were given clear guidelines and expectations during the briefing for interested students and parents.  That was a Q&A session during the briefing.  What I would have like to know ahead of time was how much space each student would have to display their project.  We did get that information a few days before the science fair.

The guidelines they were given is similar to this one put up by Holt (publisher) http://go.hrw.com/resources/go_sc/hst/HSTGP221.PDF

[JanetC]

sciencebuddies.org has a good set of resources, under the teacher tab.  It breaks it down by grade level, so that you have different expectations at different ages.

 

My advice would be to decide what sort of science fair you want first -- competitive, with scores, or a non-competitive celebration of whatever each family did for science each year?  We did non-competitive homeschool fairs for a couple of years before starting to compete, and it made a great first start. 

 

Depending on what science fair opportunities exist in your area, one type or the other may better fill a "niche" in terms of what opportunities are missing for homeschooled kids.

 

--Janet

[MerryAtHope]

I love our science fair! We get extensive instruction about what to do, what's required for different age groups--even a timeline that could keep any family on track for doing a project over time (versus cramming it in the week before the fair!). The organizer does hands-on workshops for families ahead of time (for a reasonable cost), has sponsors and prizes (my daughter won a year's subscription to Supercharged Science one year!)--it's so well organized.

[Wabi Sabi]

Our homeschool group has an annual science fair and I've been the person to run it the past couple of years. They're fun and we haven't run into any problems at all.

 

That said, I provide little to no instructions to families participating in the fair. There just isn't a need. Our fairs are non-competitive. Children can chose to do a project or demonstration on whatever topic they'd like. It's up to the individual families to decide how they'd like to display their project. Typically most kids make a display using one of those large tri-fold boards but even that isn't an absolute requirement.

 

The day of the science fair children set up their displays, and there is time for everyone to walk around to look at all of the projects. Then we go around the group and those who want to give an oral presentation are welcome to do so, and those who aren't comfortable speaking in front of the group can pass. Either way is fine.

 

Some kids do a more traditional science fair project. Other children simply make a presentation on a science topic that interests them. I think our homeschool group would absolutely revolt if we started telling them exactly what format to use, extensive instructions, directions or requirements. ;-)

[Ellie]

I organized one many years ago, with Jane Hoffman, the original Backyard Scientist, as the judge. Our biggest problem was that several of the parents were really weirded out about putting their children's names on their entries. I don't know what they expected...hostile school officials raiding the homeschool science fair and taking down names to put on arrest warrants? IDK. And this was in California, which has never, ever done that sort of thing (not that any other states have, either, only that there was no reason at all for that kind of behavior. Sheesh.)

 

Anyway, this was before the Internet, so I couldn't send people to their computers to research. I think we just followed basic guidelines for science fairs, probably from books we found in the library. It was all good. :-)

 

One thing I would recommend is charging a small participation fee per family and requiring people to sign up by a deadline.

[Occasionally]

If it helps, here's a link to our local homeschool science fair's website. I thought it was well done last year (the first we participated.) The big 2 kids are really looking forward to it again. Good luck!

[athomeontheprairie]

Our homeschool group has an annual science fair and I've been the person to run it the past couple of years. They're fun and we haven't run into any problems at all.

 

That said, I provide little to no instructions to families participating in the fair. There just isn't a need. Our fairs are non-competitive. Children can chose to do a project or demonstration on whatever topic they'd like. It's up to the individual families to decide how they'd like to display their project. Typically most kids make a display using one of those large tri-fold boards but even that isn't an absolute requirement.

 

The day of the science fair children set up their displays, and there is time for everyone to walk around to look at all of the projects. Then we go around the group and those who want to give an oral presentation are welcome to do so, and those who aren't comfortable speaking in front of the group can pass. Either way is fine.

 

Some kids do a more traditional science fair project. Other children simply make a presentation on a science topic that interests them. I think our homeschool group would absolutely revolt if we started telling them exactly what format to use, extensive instructions, directions or requirements. ;-)

we had NO instruction last year. Nothing beyond " here isthe date of the science fair, set up is at 9"

Is this all the instruction you give your group? Maybe our group just isn't interested...?

[athomeontheprairie]

thanks everyone I'll look at your links tonight! we have a new group this year and I'm really excited to see more involvement. I don't want to see it treated like a joke and a waste of time.so thanks for the help and advice!