I held a science fair the day before spring break of the 2016-2017 year. Here are my thoughts on the endeavor.
Curriculum
LOVED the formatting and the way the assignments flowed together. I would change a few things:
Question: (white) require a diagram of the setup and the question on the lines.
Research: (white)I loved that there was an extension piece built in that I could easily take off for students who were falling behind.
Hypothesis: (yellow) I would put this as the back page of the question.
Variables: (yellow)I really liked that students were able to work with these terms. I would like to post these around the room... maybe make that part of the lesson... creating variable posters.
Materials and Procedures: (salmon) fit really well together. Maybe list out the numbers for students.
Data: (blue) Only make one-sided and open-ended for students to draw/record any information as it happens
Results: (gold) I liked giving students the space to draw a graph/model AND right in words what happened during their experiment.
Conclusion (purple): I liked the questions offered.
Abstract (white): I loved introducing this word to students and having them think of it as their speech, summarizing their work. I helped them write their speeches by showing them the speech I would give.
Miscellaneous
Next year folders need to be purchased ahead of time for students.
maybe organize by color for each class.
I liked the way students lined up in the hallway and came through to pick up the whole set of papers.
Make sure to have 50 extra copies of each page
Make students write their name on each page right away.
The timing was just about perfect. February 28 was the first deadline and the science fair was on March 24.
The dress rehearsal the day before the science fair was awesome because everyone was done and got to see the posters of those around them.
carrots don't grow fast
Having students leave their poster boards in stacks based on period and then sorting them into sixth period classes the night before the science fair is effective because it allows double checking of who is missing poster boards and speeches.
Kid responses:
the stands that I made for the poster boards did not work as well as I thought they would.
Stay on task and meet your deadlines
Speak up and stand tall when you say your speeches
bring parts of your project to show off
