Friday, January 20, 2012

Life Science Science Fair Project - Education - Science

One of the challenges faced by students who want to participate in the school science fair is how to choose a topic. There are not many aspects of life that do not have to do with science in some form or fashion. Even the topic of fashion is related to the chemistry field in the production of makeup and clothing! Perhaps the first step is to make a list of the things students are interested in. These can be activities or hobbies or objects around them in their every day life. The next step would be to evaluate this list using the eyes of science. For example, if a sporting event in one the list this would fall into a biology category or a physics category. If the list included art of music, then the relationship would again be biology in the characteristics of human senses or the applied science of what makes musical notes sound different according to their individual wavelengths. Once the list is evaluated have the student decide if they should pursue a physical science o r life science science fair project. Many of the items on the list will fall into one category of the other.

This process of determining if a student wants to pursue a physical science or life science science fair project will help them narrow the field of topics. By encouraging them to make the list and evaluate it, you have already invested them in the decision. This is a much better strategy that having the teacher choose, or worse yet assign, the topics. One student may have no interest in sports and another may have no interest in plant life. This way they are already interested in the physical science of life science science fair project before the work even begins.

Once the students have chosen between the large categories of a physical science or life science science fair project, the next step may involve a couple of student and teacher meetings. The teacher should be able to guide and suggest ways of perceiving their chosen topic that will inspire ideas for the student. Again, it is important to let the student make the bigger decisions with the teacher acting only as a guide. This way they will be interested in the project from beginning to end.


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