By now you should be thinking about what topic to choose for your project. The topic you choose to explore can make or break your chances of a winning project. Here are some simple dos and don’ts to help you get started.
DO be interested in your topic. I’ve said it before, and I will say it again; it is vital you are interested in the topic you are exploring. This will make the task of completing your project more enjoyable, help you answer questions about your project, and make the judging process easier. What is something you’ve always wanted to learn about, but never covered in school? This is a great opportunity to explore those unanswered questions!
DON’T choose a topic just because you think it sounds important or impressive. How are you going to convince others that your project is worthy of a prize if your only answer is “it sounds good”? Also, if an idea sounds important to you, chances are someone already thought of it, it’s a controversial issue, or there is already a strong opinion on the subject which may affect the judging. By all means, if you want to do a project on which roof design is most hurricane resistant because you heard about the damage from Hurricane Katrina or even the recent Irene, go ahead, but make sure you have at least a spark of personal interest in hurricanes or architecture or you will be bored.
DO choose a topic you can properly test in a few months. If you have big ideas, you can break your idea into more sizable pieces. Break the testing into phases, or identify all the testing you would like to do but attempt only a subset. For example, with the hurricane roof example, there are many types of roof designs and many different categories of hurricanes. Specify that you will be testing hipped, gabled, and pagoda roofs in category 1 and 2 hurricane winds. By properly specifying the scope of your project you can save yourself a headache or negative judgment. It is better to identify the best way to test a hypothesis with all of the variables and options, and then choose a smaller group to test, than to not finish your project because you attempted too much.
DON’T choose a topic because it sounds super easy. If it sounds easy to you, it’s going to sound easy to the judges. Uncomplicated and easy are different though. You can have a project that can be tested with a simply designed experiment, and you can have a super easy experiment. Testing decomposition by burying different items and digging them up X weeks later to inspect is a super easy project, but it probably won’t win you favor with the judges. Testing decomposition of the same item in different soil compositions, measuring the soil temperature over time, and comparing the initial and final mass of the item is a simple but well thought out project.
If you really get stuck on a topic, just pay attention to the world around you for a day or too. How many times do ask yourself “Why?” or “How?” in a day? Remember, topic ideas are all around you if you keep your eyes (and your mind) open.
Until next time.
The Science Fair Girl
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