This is the first blog entry for Science Fair Girl. I’ll still be including tidbits, project ideas, and interesting articles through the Facebook page and Twitter, but sometimes a topic needs more detail than 140 characters! I’m going to start with weekly blogs on different topics, and we’ll see where we go from there. If you have any ideas or requests for future blog topics, share them on the Facebook page, or email them to me.
For the maiden entry, I’ve chosen to discuss my top 10 for why some science fair projects don’t succeed.
10. Spelling Errors
You would think in a world of Spell Check we wouldn’t have this issue. Many of us have become dependent on Spell Check and don’t take the time to actually proof what they are writing! Even if you proof your own writing, often since you know what you MEANT to say, you don’t read what you actually said. Spelling errors make you look like you don’t care about this project, and if you don’t care, why am I going to give you a prize? Spelling errors are also very distracting for a judge; I’m going to remember the error and not what you were actually trying to say. Always have someone else proof any writing you produce for your project – reports, posters, etc.
9. Lack of Pizzazz
How many projects do you think each judge looks at besides yours? A lot. You need to set yours apart in a good way. Have a hook; put some personality into your poster and presentation. You don’t want to be another consumer product testing project with a white poster board with black font. Think of your project as a product; you need to sell your product to the judges and show them that you deserve the prize. Come up with a catchy title, use attractive colors, and add some of your own personality. For one of my projects I had flags sticking out of the top of my project header; you could find my project from any corner of the hall. I’ve seen holiday lights on posters, extra large headers, running slide shows, and videos of the testing. Just make sure you don’t cross the tacky line, so this is another place where a second opinion can be very useful. This is a COMPETITION, so compete for the judge’s memory. 8. Lack of Interest
This topic is two-fold. First lack of interest in the fair itself – students who are only participating because they have to. If you are reading this blog, this most likely doesn’t apply to you (or you are a parent and are trying to help your child succeed, in which case pay attention to the second half of this note and number 6!). The other place for lack of interest is in the topic you choose. It is so important to be interested in your topic so you will actually want to work on your project and will enjoy talking about it to the judges. There is a whole chapter in my workbook on topic selection – it is THAT important. This goes back to “pizzazz”; if you are interested, it will show and it will be memorable. This project is going to be part of your life for at least 6 months, do yourself a favor and make the topic interesting!
7. Too Big a Bite
A lot of participants, especially first time participants, bite off more project than they can chew. This could be a larger than life experiment and testing apparatus, a too advanced scientific concept, or a very open ended topic. Don’t try to cure cancer! I know that a few international winners who have made headlines recently have made advances in cancer research as their project but, although they are very gifted students who should be commended, they are not your average student. Do not think that because these students are doing this you need to set the bar equally high. There is nothing wrong about a small, well-defined project. Look at my entries: all of them were amusement park ride related projects that tested one thing. Also don’t go too far outside your grade level. These projects are a great opportunity to explore a topic you haven’t studied in school yet, but that doesn’t mean you should be trying to teach yourself astrophysics in 6th grade or even 9th grade! You must also make sure it is a topic that you can adequately test in the time allotted. You have from August to December or February to plan, build, test, analyze, and report on your project. You can’t study the lifecycle of a pot bellied pig in a few months; you can study the lifecycle of a fruit fly. This is a great topic to bring up with your teacher to make sure the scope of your project (what you plan to accomplish) is the proper size. You can have the best project idea in the world, but if it’s impossible to study in the length of your project, you can’t win.
6. Too Much Parental Control
First off, parental input is a wonderful thing. I’m definitely not advocating for parents to dump their children in the science fair ocean to see if they can swim. This point is about the science fair equivalent to PAGENT MOMS. If you’ve ever been to a school fair you know who I mean – that project that’s bigger than life, with the $1000 Tesla coil shooting off pretty sparks and the fully laminated, professionally printed poster, but when you talk to the student he can’t tell you what a Tesla coil is. As a past judge I can tell you that these projects are my biggest pet peeve; I almost feel like these parents are questioning my intelligence! My friends and family who judge at local fairs feel the same way. Support your children, but don’t do the project for them. This is a great learning opportunity – as trite as that sounds – let them take advantage of it. I could write hundreds of pages on this topic; I’m actually in the process of writing a book with my parents to show the project from a parent’s perspective with the child’s response. Most parents are able to find that line between helpful and controlling, but many still don’t know when to pull back and allow their child to fail or succeed on his/her own. Remember, this is a STUDENT science fair, not a parent fair.
5. Poorly Designed Experiment
At the end of the day, this is a SCIENCE fair; you need to have the science to back up all your pizzazz. If your experiment isn’t properly designed, then you might not be testing what you think you are. If you have too many variables in your experiment or your analysis is subjective, it could cost you the prize. Also, if you have an invention project but don’t test your invention or compare it to similar products, you can’t defend your project. Again, this is a competition; you need to prove to the judge your project is the best by presenting the best possible information possible. Ask your teacher or subject expert for help on this. Show them your design and ask if they can make any suggestions. A middle school or high school student isn’t expected to be able to create the absolutely perfect design, but you want to put time and research into your project to stand apart. You will be asked to defend your experiment design, so make sure it’s solid!
4. Not Enough Substance
Your project needs to have some meat to it. Either it needs to touch on a real life issue or event or it needs to incorporate a scientific principal. Baking soda volcanoes do not fit in this category, sorry! Consumer report project comparing different brands of something are pretty difficult to defend as well. You see them everywhere at middle school fairs. They are simple, introduce the scientific method to a young student, encourage data recording and data analysis, but always leave me feeling “so what?” There is a way to make consumer report projects competitive (see reason number 1), but they easily fall under the not enough substance category. You need to show the judges why your project has meaning.
3. Disastrous Poster
A lot of times you are judged on just your poster board. If there is a tie to be broken, a sponsor special prize to be given, or a judge makes a preliminary lap before listening to speeches, someone will make a split second decision about your project from your poster. Is your poster sending the right message? I was talking to a friend who had just judged our old high school’s science fair, and the first thing he mentioned was how disappointing the posters were. He specifically mentioned lack of matting, lack of color, crooked pasting, and missing information. This was a fair for a high school which only accepts the top fifty students of the state, and the most memorable thing to this judge was the poster. After complaining about the poster, he did enthuse about some of the truly innovative ideas he’d seen, but don’t you want your innovative idea to be the first thing someone remembers? Take the time to set the right tone with your poster, and you will be thankful for that extra hour of work.
2. Poor Communication
You will need to explain your project to the judges. This means public speaking, which is not everyone’s favorite task. I had it easy; I was a huge theater geek and I saw science fairs as another opportunity to be “on stage,” but I know quite a few students who find it intimidating to speak publicly or to unknown adults. Practice makes perfect. Write out your speech or at the very least bullets to ensure that you don’t miss anything you want to talk about. First practice in front of your mirror, then to your parents who already know what your project is about, and then to siblings/neighbors/extended family who aren’t as familiar with your project. This way you know that you are explaining your topic clearly, and when the day of the fair comes you are so used to talking about your project you won’t be nervous. Visual aids are a great way to get your point across and improve communication. Remember, if you don’t tell the judge why your project is amazing, he’s not going to know.
1. Ignoring the WHY
My number one reason for why a project will fail is forgetting the WHY factor. It’s great to perform a test and be able to say that brand X works the best or a square beam makes the best beam, but if you can’t explain to the judges WHY this is the case, then you’ve only done half your job. I can’t press enough, this is a SCIENCE FAIR, you need to investigate the science behind your project and make sure your results reasonable. Too often the VERIFY and VALIDATE portions of the experiment process are overlooked. You need to verify that you tested what you meant to test, and you need to validate that your experimental results are expected. This could mean finding a theoretical equation and comparing the theoretical value to your experimental value. Often, you will need to perform a mini exploration after your main experiment to understand the why. I can tell you that this is so overlooked that the judges will be incredibly impressed and this extra step will help you set the bar high for your competitors.
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