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DOCUMENT RESUME

ED 291 564 SE 048 896

AUTHOR Watt, Shirley, Ed.; And OthersTITLE Science Fairs and Projects 7-12. A Collection of

Articles Reprinted from "Science and Children,""Science Scope," and "The Science Teacher."

INSTITUTION National Science Teachers Association, Washington,D.C.

REPORT NO ISBN-0-87355-072-2PUB DATE 88NOTE 71p.; For the collection for grades K-8, see SE 048

895. Some drawings and photographs may not reproducewell

AVAILABLE FROM National Science Teachers Association, 1742Connecticut Ave., NW, Washington, DC 20009($7.00),

PUB TYPE Guides Classroom Use Guides (For Teachers) (052)-- Guides Non-Classroom Use (055)

EMS PRICE MF01 Plus Postage. PC Not Available from EDRS.DESCRIPTORS Elementary Education; Exhibits; *Extracurricular

Activities; *Science Activities; Science Education;Science Experiments; *Science Fairs; ScienceInstruction; *Science Projects; *ScientificMethodology; *Secondary School Science

IDENTIFIERS *National Science Teachers Association

ABSTRACTThe National Science Teachers Association (NSTA) has

assembled this collection of reprints to assist teachers inorganizing a science fair, working with students and establishingequitable judging procedures. The NSTA position statement on sciencefairs is included. The 19 reprints in this volume are geared towardsecondary school students and are organized into 4 sections followingan introduction and general overview. Sections include: "PlanningAhead"; "The What, Why and How of Projects"; "A Fair Evaluation"; and"Beyond the Science Fair." Appendices include a project application,an information sheet, a project schedule, a scientific method recordsheet, a note for parents, a list of judging criteria and a judgingform. (CW)

************************************************************************ Reproductions supplied by EDRS are the best that can be made ** from the original document. *

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IMMIMINIMMINNI

SCIENCE FAIRS'it' AND PROJECTSvw --IGRADES 7-12 -.

t ij

HYPOTHESIS

U.S. DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATIONOttce of Educahonai Research and Improvement

EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES INFORMATION

This

CENTER (ERIC)

This document has been reproduced aseceived from the person or organtzahon

ortgmating rtO KnOr changes bane been made to improve

reproduction oualtly

Points of view or opin.onsstatedinthtsdocu-ment do not necessarily represent otficaiOERI position or policy

coNC3'5

ofg)

"PERMISSION TO REPRODUCE THISMATERIAL IN MICROFICHE ONLYHAS EN GRANTED B

National Science Teachers Association

2

TO THE EDUCATIONAL RESOURCESINFORMATION CENTER (ERIC)."

SCIENCE FAIRSAND PROJECTS

7-12

A Collection of Articles Reprinted From

Science and ChildrenScience Scope

The Science Teacher

NATIONAL SCIENCE TEACHERS ASSOCIATION

First Edition-1984Second Edition-1985

Copyright © 1988 by the National Science Teachers Association,1742 Connecticut Avenue, N.W., Washington, D.C., 20009.All rights reserved.

ISBN 0-87355-072-24

Science fairs have become some-what of an American tradition.For a brief time each year those

familiar poster displays appear in class-rooms and school gymnasiums acrossthe nation, affording young scientiststhe opportunity to share their interestswith parent., relatives, and neighbors.Erupting volcanoes, styrofoam planets,seashell collections, stop smoking post-ers, and gerbils in mazes stand next toexperiments with plants and solar en-ergy They have become part of thetradition. For many students the sciencefair will be the culmination of hard workand persistent investigation, it maymean the beginning of a life-long fasci-nation with science.

For me the fascination has continued.My student science project helped meto understand scientific methods andthe joy one feels at the moment of dis-covery. As a teacher, I learned rightalong with my students in discovery

Introduction

after discovery. The rewards hate al-ways been there, and science projectsbecame integral to my teaching of criti-cal thinking and process skills.

Yet science projects and science fairsare not popular with everyone and withgood reason. The science fair traditionincludes unfair judging procedures,forced participation, and overzealousparental involvement. Poorly plannedscience fair activities have detractedfrom the science curriculum. Worst ofall, some students have been discour-aged by participating in science fairs.

So, what are the solutions? How cana teacher ensure a successful and reward.-ing science fair? Planning, of cots -.e, isessential. NSTA has assembled this col-lection of reprints from Science and Chil-dren and The Science Teacher to assist teach-ers in organizing a science fair, workingwith students, and establishing equita-ble judging procedures. Suggestions areoffered for involving young children as

NSTA Position Statement on Science FairsThe National Science Teachers Asso-

ciation recognizes that many kinds oflearning experiences, both in and be-yond the classroom and laboratory, cancontribute significantly to the educationof students of science.

With respect to science fair activities,the Association takes the position thatparticipation should be guided by thefollowing principles. (1) student partici-pation in science fairs should be volun-tary, (2) emphasis should be placed onthe learning experience rather than on

competition, (3) participation in sciencefairs should not be made the basis for acourse grade, (4) science fair activitiesshould supplement other educationalexperiences and not jeopardize them;(5) the emphasis should be on scientificcontent and method, (6) the scientificpart of the project must be the work ofthe student, (7) teacher Involvement inscience fairs should be based uponteacher interest rather than on externalpressures or administrative directives,and (8) if a science fair is to be under-

5

well as high school students in projectsappropriate to each. An open iettcr helpsparents guide their children in selectingand carrying out investigations.

Keep in mind as you read throughthese articles that not all authors agreeon the methods fur organizing a sciencefair. Ultimately, you will have to decidewhai you hope to achieve, who willparticipate, how the fair will be organ-ized, and how projects should be judged(if at all). Be assured that a successfulfair requires much effort, but the re-wards are everlasting. Wouldn't it begreat to discover that one project thisyear has sparked a student's life-longfascination with science;

Barry A. VanDemanEducational Services

CoordinatorChicago Museum of Science

and Industry

taken, such an assignment should be areplacement for one of the teacher'scurrent responsibilities, and not an addi-tional duty.

The National Science Teachers Asso-ciation's Position Statement on ScienceFairs was approved by the NSTA Boardof Directors in 1968. This position state-ment Is intended as a guide, and duesnot reflect the whole range of interestof our members.

Table of ContentsINTRODUCTION 3

THE NUTS AND BOLTS OF SCIENCE FAIRS 7Barry A. VanDeman, Philip C. Pan itt, Science and Children, October 1Q85

PLANNING AHEAD

MISSION POSSIBLE: THE SCIENCE FAIRBarbara Tohm, The Science Teacher, December 1985

PLANNING A FAIR WITH FLAIRBrian E. Hansen, Science and Children, February 1983

THE LIBRARY CAN HELPMarge Hagerty, Science and Children, NovemberiOecember 1982

MASTERING THE SCIENCE FAIRRuth Bomba ugh, Science Scope, October 1987

THE WHAT, WHY, AND HOW OF PROJECTS

HOW TO CREATE PROBLEMSJuliana Texley, The Science Teacher, September 1984

DO MOUTHWASHES REALLY KILL BACTERIA?Thomas R. Corner, The Science Teacher, September 1984

SURVIVING A SCIENCE PROJECTMartin D. Teachworth, The Science Teacher, February 1Q87

10

12

15

16

20

24

30

A FAIR EVALUATION

DOES YOUR SCIENCE FAIR DO WHAT IT SHOULD?Eugene L. Chiappetta, Barbara K. Foots, The Science Teacher, November 1984

INJECTING OBJECTIVITY INTO SCIENCE FAIR JUDGINGHarvey Goodman, The Science Teacher, February 1981

IN THE BALANCEL.J. Bellipanni, D.R. Cotten, J.M. Kirkwood, Science and Children, February 1984

MAKE YOUR SCIENCE FAIR FAIRERB.J. Laguex, Howard I. Amols, The Science Teacher, February 1986

BEYOND THE SCIENCE FAIR

BIOLOGY, CHEMISTRY, AND PHYSICS ARE TEAM SPORTSCharles W. Kellogg, The Science Teacher, November 1984

SCIENCE OLYMPIADJuliana Tex ley, The Science Teacher, November 1984

READY, SET, JETS!David J. Rowson, The Science Teacher, December 1985

BREAKFAST OF CHAMPIONSMarian McLeod, The Science Teacher, December 1985

COMPETITIONS SAMPLERThe Science Teacher, December 1985

MEET ME AT THE FAIRWilliam G. Lamb, Peter Brown, Science and Children, November 1984

CONSUMER FAIR: A CURE FOR THE SCIENCE FAIR BLUESDonald J. Nelson, Science Scope, April 1986

34

37

38

40

46

48

50

52

52

55

59

APPENDIX 61

7

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4

ti ov o fPL GROVO

I 'ALT

' FFECT OF

OISTUR r.

PUNT,

1-1

STUDY

H K

The Nuts and Boltsof Science Fairs

Barry A. VanDemanPhilip C. Parfitt

The date for the science fairhas been set The auditoriumhas been booked. And you arethe head of this project. Now

what happens? Momentary panic, forone thing, but, when you recover fromthat, the questions take over. Who'sgoing to answer them?

In fact, there are many sources ofhelp, and the articles collected in thisvolume will point you toward some ofthem.

l.Is there mor:: than one kindof science fair project?Almost any science topic can be the

I .sis for a science fair project. And thepossible approaches are also numerous.models, collections, demonstrations,hobbies, and experiments are displayedeach year at science fairs across thenation. Any of these approaches canhelp a student learn certain science con-tent and science skills. What type ortypes you encourage (or allow) at yourfair will depend on your suence goals.

2. How can I help my studentsselect science fair topics?Perhaps the most difficult part of doinga science project is selecting o topic and,if necessary, formulating the questionto be answered. Take some time to workwith students early in the year. Intro-

duce them to possible topicsand givethem practice in asking useful questions.Juliana Texley (page 20) and MartinTeachwurth (page 30) share thoughtfulapproaches to helping students selectand design topics for investigation.

3.By what criteria should pro-jects be judged?That depends on the nature of the pro-ject. Each project should be judged bycriteria specific to itself. Models, forinstance, should not be judged by thecriteria used to judge experiments.Several articles offer sound advice. SeeBellipanni, Cotten, and Kirkwood, (page38), Harvey Goodman (page 37), EugeneChiappetta and Barbara Foots (page 34).

NATIONAL SCIENCE TEACHERS ASSOCIATION 7

4. Should students be requiredto do science projects?In general, students should not be re-quired to do projects if competition andawards are part of the fair. Science pro-jects should encourage students to ex-plore areas of science they are inter-ested in. Forcing them, at the same time,to compete with classmates can turnoff the very interest in suenLe that thefair is designed to encourage. When thefair is not competitive, projects mightbe a regular class assignment, used toteach science skills while allowing forstudent preferences.

5. Should students receiveawards for projects?This is up to you. Some teachers offercertificates of partiLipation to all studentexhibitors. Others give first, seLond, andthird place ribbons or certificates. Stillothers award trophies to outstandingprojects. We recommend that everystudent receive an award or acknowl-edgement of participation.

6. In what ways can the librar-ian help my students?Librarians can offer lots of help if theyare familiar with your standards forresearching projects and writing reports.Several months before you send stu-dents out to do research, talk with theschool librarian and the public librarian.Explain your science fair goals and sug-gest types of resources that will helpyour students do their proi.:Lts. MargeHagerty (page 15) offers suggestions toprepare librarians for the science fairseason.

7. How can parents avoid offer-ing too much helpor too little?This is a common question and a big

problem to which there is no easy solu-tion. Sonic parents, in their desire tohave their children do well in the com-petition, complete much of the projectthemselves. However, parents can playa more acceptable role if they limit theirparticipation to guidance and support.Be sure to let parents know how theycan assist by meeting with them orsending a letter home. See the appen-dix for a suggested letter to parents.

& Students sometimes have ahard time using measurementsaccurately. How can I help them?Unless they have specific direction, stu-dents often express measurements inqualitat, e terms. Fun example, they willsay the plant got "biggel." EnLourageyour students to make quantitative ob-servationsthat is, to use numbers inmeasurements whenever possible. En-courage them, too, to use the metricsystem in making their measurementsall scientists do.

9. Can my students participatein state and national compe-titions?Many states offer both regional andstate science expositions. Other compe-titions, scholarship programs, talentsearches, and awards are also availablelocally and nationally. The "Beyond theScience Fair" section includes informa-tion on a suenLe super bowl and theNational SuenLe Oly mpiad, in additionlo a competitions sampler.

1.0. How should I plan myscience fair?Planning a science fair requires muchtime and effort. Take bum: adi ILL: fromthose who have experience

8 NATIONAL SCIENCE TEACHERS ASSOCIATION

fairs. See Brian E. Hanson (page 12),Barbara Tohm (page 10), RuthBombaugh (page 14).

Barry A. l'anDeman c 61:national sennces coordina-tor at the Museum of mute and industry, Chnago.

Pronlint 01 till C#101(11 for Elonentary Stunt('bitanotional, nag, C. PariAlt i. tdittation 41NN141/1411 alt 411114.1111/4 of &It 1144 44/141 1111111 ry. 11144/41S/aph

by Barry VanD0111111

Further Science Fair Resources

Aldridge, Bill G., and Johnston, Karen L.(1984). Trends and issues in science edu-cation. In R. W. Bybee, J. Carlsen, and A.J. McCormack, (Eds.), 1984 NSTA yearbook:Redesigning science and technology education(pp.31-44). Washington, DC: NSTA.

Lowy, William S. (1983). Winning with science.Sarasota, FL. Lowy Publishing House.

Rice, Jeannie Rae. (1983, January). A specialscience fair LD children learn what theycan do. S&C 20(4), 15-16.

Safety in the elementary classroom (1978) Wash-ington, DC: NSTA.

Safety in the secondary classroom. (1985). Wash-ington, DC: NSTA.

VanDeman, Barry A., and McDonald, Ed.(1980). Nuts and bolts science fair blue-print poster. Harwood Heights, IL: TheScience Man Press.

Youden, W. J. (1985). Expernner ration .nea-surement. Washington, DC; NSTA.

The following science trade books mightalso be useful to your students as they pre-pare their science fair projects.

Beller, Joel. (1982). So you want to do a scienceproject! New York: Arco Publishing.

Gutnik, Martin J. (1980). How to do a scienceprotect and report. New Nork. Franklin Watts.

Moorman, Thomas. (1975). How to mace yourst genie project stientifii. New York. Atheneum.

Smith, Norman F. (1982). How fast do youroysters grow? New York: Julian Messner.

Stepp, Ann. (1966). Setting up a science project.Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall.

VanDeman, Barry A., and McDonald, Ed.(1980). Nuts and bolts: A matter of fact guide toscience fair projects. Harwood Heights, IL:The Science Man Press.

Webster, David. (1974). How to do a silenceproject. New York. Franklin Watts.

Planning AheadA successful science fair takes plenty of time and energyand organizingskills. Long-term planning and continued work throughout the year willhelp you overcome one of the biggest obstaclesfinding time to take care ofall of the details that add up. Start with a science fair master schedule thatwill help you find the time to reserve the space, pick j'idges, line up parentvolunteers, prepare students, alert the media, and give it your all!

I0

Mission Possible:The Science Fair

by Barbara Torun

Mysterious music. Stage lights soft.Teacher enters, stage right. Turns ontape recorder: "tour assignment,should you choose to accept it, will beto organize and conduct a science fairat your school." Teacher removes pa.pers and photos from an envelope.-New may contact these support agentsat any time in your mission." Photosare of local scientists and art, mathe-matics, science, and graphics teachers."Good luck." Music down. Lights up.Teacher goes off on her mission, stageleft.

Planning a high school science fairstrikes some of us as a bit masochistic.But if you think of the effort as amajor campaign to increase studentskills and to have fun with science, thetask is worth the pain and time. Longrange planning is important, howe cu,because the details add up. tiere", howI've survived my mission.

Start your planning on the firstwork day of school. Teach the ;Lien-tifie method from day one. Duringthe stage for picking topics, allow timein your schedule for students chang-ing their minds a hundred times. Mapout at least 4 days in the library at theoutset. The first 2 days should be earlyin the year, the third about a monthbefore the fair, and the last right beforethe deadline. I keep alternate libraryassignments dealing with scientific re-

search ready for any students who tellme they have finished early or thatour school library does not have any-thing they need.

Check the date of the eoutity orregional fair before you set your owndeadlines. Allow a few weeks betweenyour school's fair and the county ofregional fair so students can polishtheir presentations or collect moreinformation.

Select one tentative date and at leastone alternate date before making anappointment with the principal andthe activities director. Schedule thefair at a time that won't conflict with,.., major sporting events of meetings that take the science teachers outof the building.

Check with the person in charge ofthe room you hope to use. Each yearthe amount of space we require grows.Find an area of your school that willbe flexible. We hold our science fair inthe [altar). Nou can always adjust for;met projects, but it's tough to makemore space in tight quarters.

Prepare and duplicate written rt.quirements and specifications. Co bythe county or regional science fair rulesand guidelines as much as possible, toavoid conflicts in cast students wantto gc, on in competition. Set firm deadlines and stick to them.

Distribute two copies of everythingyou prepare to every science teacher


in the school. This way each teacherhas a set to keep and a set to send forcopying. It is important for teachersto make lots of extra copies, since stu-dents V% ill be sure to lose theirs duringthe weeks before the fair.

The scientific methodStress the scientific method through-out the fall. Stitdents have a difficulttime working with experimental de-sign, setting up a control, identifyingindependent and dependent variables,and assembling the components of agood experiment. Allow room in yourlesson plans for many miniexperimentsin the laboratory not just exercisesbut also opportunities for students toplan their own procedures and to col-lect data themselves. Many lab exer-cises provide practice in technique only.N our students cv ill need more expe-rience in real decision making beforethey can conduct their own scienceexperiments.

Incite lowl scientists to your classto describe real research. Researchcenters and industry can often pro-vide speakers and films. Encouragestudents to write letters and to con-tact professionals themselves.

Science fairs teach students how to

11

think on their own, but coming upwith ideas is always difficult. Studentscan brainstorm and review the pre-vious years' fair entries for starters.Suggest they come up with a differ-ent way to do something that has al-ready been donethis challenge to"beat the system" often fires up apa-thetic adolescents. A small percentagewill never come up with a problem,perhaps because they refuse to think.When the deadline nears, I offer thesestudents a ready-made problem for a"C" grade; I offer the chance for a "B"if they make a significant improve-ment on my suggestion and an "A" ifthey make improvemer..s and an oralpresentation to the class

Time becomes the biggest obstacleto running a successful science fair.Planning time, teaching time, buildingtime, research time, display time andperhaps the hardest to find, gradingtime The grading must fit into theslot between the school fair and theregional fair But no matter how carefully I plan, time runs out too soon.

Ask for help from other depart-ments. The art department at ourschool provides posters and categorysigns Woodworking students makebackboards (Ordering materials inlarge quantities saves students money

1,10. A

and time.) The math departmentdraws maps of the library and worksout possible room arrangements depen-dent on the number of displays, andthe advanced science students set upand take down the fair. English teach-ers help us teach research skills, someet count the written portion of theproject for a grade.

Each year I learn something 'hatmakes the schedule a bit easier. I

schedule the fair during the final weekof Semester because the library isclosed to students then. We also havetime that week for science students,when they're not taking exams, toview the projects. When they visit.Students complete a worksheet so Iknow they've paid attention to thework. Admission tickets help us con-trol the number of students who enterthe fair area at one time. Be sure toprotect the projects from vandalismduring visiting time, the science dubmight volunteer for this duty.

Too many is not enough when itcomes to judges. Ask judges early fortheir help, and expect someone to can-cel out at the last minute. Send out aletter the week before the fair to re-mind the judges of their commitment,and ask their preference for time. Ieven call them on the eve of the fair

Robby Goodman. plod' tentna mschool &tone fair and In tht Dade CountySainte lair for 1tt. rroica. rh Efirib OJFusarium Oxysporum i.s. Lycopesici

Gardo, Phinis."

for a final reminder. Judges, who areoften scientists themselves, get excitedabout what students are doing andprovide great public relations whenthey return to the community.

New this year is our Science Board,made up of past winners at each gradelevel, which advises novices. I wouldlike to see clinic ostablished to helpstudents develop their ideas with theaid of others who have been therebefore. Each year is a growing expe-rience, and my goal is to have stu-dents organize the fair themselves withlittle help from me. In the meantime, Icontinue to %leo: the science fair as a"Mission Possible."

131111'11161 TAM 1.!* itthha at SouthDad, Satter High &hot, :$401 S.W. lelSi., HintleAud, FL 33030.


Planning a Fairwith a Flair

Brian E. Hansen

hough a successful science fair requires an enor-mous amount of time and energy, the payoffs areimpressive: students get excited, parents become

involved, and school-community relations are improved asthe community is invited to take part in making the fair asuccess. That, anyway, is what we found when Sugar landElementary School in Sterling, Virginia, held a fair lastspring. More than 40 student science projects were exhi-bited, along with classroom science work from each classand seven professional and commercial science displays.Over 400 children and adults attended the fair. Plannirg, ofcourse, was the key to its success.

First StepsSugar land's Science Fair Committee consisted of five

volunteersthree parents and two teacherswho had ex-pressed an interest in the school's science program. Thecommits' began holding monthly meetings in October,about five months before the March date set for the fair.Working backward from that date, they established a sched-ule that allowed them to complete preliminary planning inabout three months. (The two additional months wouldallow students time to work on their projects.) They beganwork by drafting the rules for the competition, the entryform, lists of suggested topics, and a cover letter. The rulesincluded the entry and project completion dates, size speci-

12 NATIONAL SCIENCE TEACHERS ASSOCIATION i 3

fications for the final display, and judging guidelines. Animportant part of the rules was a statement that distin-guished between a scientitic experiment and an encyclope-dia report and encouraged students to stay away from thelatter. The entry form asked that the student describe thehypothesis, methods, and equipment for the proposed proj-ect, and it also called for a parent's signature to indicatepermission for the student to participate in the fair. Sug-gested topics were drawn from the students' science texts,with one list for first, second, and third grades and a secondlist for third, fourth, and fifth grades. When all the entrieswere in, the committee checked to make sure the formswere complete and the proposed projects practical and safe.(No bombs or erupting volcanoes, please.) Several studentschose identical topics, but this caused no difficulty since thefinished projects proved to be remarkably different.

On with the ProjectsTo make sure that students (rather than parents) did the

projects, Sugar land's committee required that all work bedone at school. To make this possible, they arranged tokeep the cafeteria open after school two days a week forhalf an hour each day. A Science Fair Committee memberand parent and teacher volunteers supervised the studentsand took attendance to find out which students neededreminding to work on their projects. (No matter what thehypothesis, if a student abandons his or her plants in thestorage room for four weeks without water, they will die.)During the rest of the week the student projects werestored in an unused classroom. For the next science fair,the committee to add extra after-school work ses-sions during the crucial first and final weeks. It will alsooffer additional help for younger students. (One first gradercried when her project didn't work the way she thought itwas supposed to.)

Getting the Word OutThe committee member in charge of publicity really had

two jobs: he needed to stir up school enthusiasm, and heneeded to let the community know about the fair. Theschool menu and the parentlteacher newsletter were use-ful in publicizing the fair and its entry deadline amongstudents and their parents, The committee also arousedinterest in the fair by sponsoring a school-wide contest topick a cover design for the program. Extramural publicitywas provided by local newspapers, which were contactedboth when the fair was originally announced and again afew weeks before Fair Night, with information about thedate, time, and place and an invitation to send photog-rapher-reporters to cover the fair.

The Community ParticipatesSugar land encouraged community involvement in the

fair by inviting scientists and science-related businesses inthe area to set up displays of their work and products.

Brian E. Hansen is an associate professor of English at the Loudoun Campus ofNorthern Virginia Community College, Sterling, and he served as secretary ofthe Sugar land Elementary School Science Fair Committee in 1981-82. Photo-graph by Ruth Larsen, Loudoun Times-Mirror. Artwork by MarilynKaufman.

14

Science Fair Checklist

_ Recruit five to seven volunteers (teachers and parents) whohave good organizational skills and an interest in science toserve on the Science Fair Committee.

_ Set time and date of fair about five months after first com-mittee meeting. (Clear date with principal.)

_ Draft science fair rules (entry deadline, size limits for display,requirements for final report and log of observations, com-pletion deadline, judging guidelines). Emphasize requirementthat all work be done by students. Urge experiments ratherthan reports.

_ Design entry form (name, project title, hypothesis, method,materials, places for student and parent signatures).

_ Make up lists of suggested topics. Check with teachers,librarian, and science texts for ideas. Have separate lists forupper and lower grades.

Draft cover letter from principal introducing fair and ex-plaining rules and schedule of after-school work sessions.

Design final report form (student number; project title,grade, hypothesis, method, summary of observations, con-clusions). Don't leave space for student's name because proj-ects are to be judged anonymously.

_ Design judges' evaluation form (number and title of projectby grade, boxes for scores in each category).

_ Organize school-wide contest to select cover design forprogram.

_ Ask teachers to save their students' classroom science workto display.

Locate and reserve a vacant classroom where students canwork on and store their projects. Projects need to be lockedup between work sessions.

_ Schedule parent and teacher volunteers to supervise theafter-school work sessions.

Publicize (1)application deadline, (2)science fair night, and,after the fair has taken place, (3) the winners.

Find judges (high school and college science teachers, districtscience supervisors, professional scientists).

_ Find commercial exhibitors and professional science demon-strators.

_ Solicit prizes or contributions to buy prizes._ Order ribbons and certificates for participating students.(Some companies will print the event and school's name onthem.)

Arrange buffet for judges and demonstrators who maywork through dinner before the fair opens.

Plan and type the science fair program.

Plan arrangement of booths to allow plenty of room forspectators.

After the fair is over, send thank-you notes to parent andteacher volunteers, judges, and demonstrators.


PROS-

wportics IS

titiktERIALS

roctIOL

110fitIM

(Here was an additional area in which parents were animportant resource.) These contributions, which were a bigsuccess, included moon rocks and a model of the SpaceShuttle provided by the National Aeronautics and SpaceAdministration and the telephone company's laser equip-ment. Visitors could operate broadcast equipment from atelevision station or inspect a sound truck belonging to aradio station, examine home computers lent by a local bus-iness or a microscope and slides supplied by a medical labo-ratory technician.

JudgingEach class had a display of the science work that students

had done during the year. These displays allowed st 'lentsto take part in the fair in a noncompetitive way. It alsodrew additional parents on science fair night. Judging themore than 40 projects entered in competition was done bya nine-person panel selected by the Science Fair Committeeand composed of college science teachers, scientists, andscience supervisors in the school system. Parents of stu-dents in the school were not eligible to serve on the panel.The criteria used had been adapted from rilize of ScienceFairs International,* and they were weighted to rewardexpenmentation rather than mere neatness, as follows.

Creative abilityScientific thoughtThoroughnessNeatness

35352010

100

Each judge worked Independently to evaluate all the proj-ects for one or two grades, recording scores on a sheetlisting project titles but not student names; and each projectwas evaluated by three or four judges. First and so.ondprizes and honorable mentions in each grade were con-

'Write Science Service, National Science Fair International, 1719 N St.,N.W., Washington, DC 20036.


William Mills, courtesy of Montgomery Co. Public Schools, Md

ferred according to the total points awarded by judges, whobased their evaluation on a student's table display, includingthe equipment used, final report (hypothesis, method, sum-mary of observations, conclusions); log of observations:and, frequently, a posterboard explanation.

What About the Prizes?The prizes were donated by local merchants or purchased

with money from parentlteacher organization funds. (Thecommittee tried to interest national chain stores in con-tributing prizes by contacting both their local outlets andtheir headquarters but had no luck.) First- and second-place winners were presented with a certificate and anawardfor example, a globe, book, or scientific model.Those who ear- -d honorable mention received a certificateand a pamphlet about the space program. Each entrant gota blue ribbon.

Last-minute DetailsAfter lunch on the day of the fair, several volunteers and

the Science Fair Committee chairman arranged the tablesin the cafeteria. They grouped the tables for the competi-tive science projects by grade level in the center of the roomand the ones for the classroom science work and the profes-sional-commercial demonstrations around the walls. Rightafter school, students set up their science projects, andteachers brought in their classes science work. The judgesbegan evaluating the projects at 5 P.M. and the businessmen,technicians, and scientists setting up their displays at 5:30P.M.. By 7 P.M., with the judging and preparations complete,everyone got a chance to eat a buffet dinner of sandwiches,salads, coffee, and soft drinks provided by the parent/teacher organization. The fair began at 7:30 PM with aten-minute program consisting of thanks to the parentsand teachers who had worked on the fair and the present-ing of prizes and certificates to the winning students. Then,for the next hour and a half the Science Fair Committeegot their prizethey watched 400 students and parentsenjoy the fair.

15

Other Sourcesof Information

AIRPORTSIf your project deals with aeronautics, an air-

port is a logical place to locate information Air-ports often employ meteorologists that may helpwith projects dealing with the weatherANIMAL HOSPITALS

Often, veterinarians are willing to help withscience projects. If you request help, call severalweeks in advance for an appointment.

BOTANICAL GARDENSPlant specialists can be found at botanical

gardens Maybe your community has a GardenClub with members who know about plantsCOLLEGES AND UNIVERSITIES

Colleges and universities have more than onething to offer. Their libraries will probably offer awider selection of references than a local library.Scientists on the faculty may help you ,nd evenallow the use of their laboratory facilities

GOVERNMENT AGENCIESGovernment agencies are usually listed under

"Federal," "State," and "Munincipal" categories inthe telephone book.

The United States Government Printing Officeis also an excellent resource. Send a letter indica:ing what topic area you are interested in and theywill send a catalog of available books and pam-phlets. The address is U.S. G. P.O., Superintend-ent of Documents, Washington, D.C. 20402HOSPITALS

Many hospitals have an education depa. tmentyou can contact Perhaps your physician, dentist,or eye doctor can also give you help.

INDUSTRIESMajor industries often have specialists who may

be willing to help. Try locating them with thetelephone book or magazine advertisements.When writing to corporations, include "PublicRelations Department," in the addressing of theenvelope and letter.

NATURE CENTERSNaturalists at nature centers might be able to

give information if your project involves naturalenvironments and ecosystems The AudubonSociety can direct you to nature centers and ev r-onmental centers throughout the United States.TELEPHONE BOOKS

The Yellow Pages of a telephone book, will listnames, addresses, and general product intorma-tion When calling anyone, remember to be polite.Give your name and tell exactly why you arecalling.

ZOOSMost major cities have zoos, and most have

education departments or zoological societies thatmay be able to help They may be able to arrangea meeting with an animal keeper or zoologist Avisit to the zoo may also help you decide on atopic.

Reprinted with permission from Nuts and Bolts AMatter of Fact Gurdt to &mut Fair Pro;rts by Barry A.VanDeman and Ed McDonald, published by TheScience Man Press, Harwood Heights, IL 60656.

The Library Can Help

o the young scientist preparingfor a science fair, libraries offer a wealthof inspiration and information.

Here is a list of ways libraries canhelp with school science fairs; explorethem with your librarian and principal.

Update your collection of science titles. Askthe librarian to show you the scienceshelv-s or shelf list. Then suggest, bysubject or title, books and periodicalsneeded. Offer to help weed the collec-tion of obsolete material. Just an hourof your expertise could make a dif-ference.

Contribute to the library's vertical fileof clippings and pamphlets on sciencesubjects when you can. Suggest sub-jects for new files which could help stu-dents with science projects.

Does the library offer students helpwith scientific inquirywith makingprojects scientific? Consider acquiringsome good books and filmstrips on thescientific process.

Above all, be sure you know how tocheck out different media and equip-ment. Can you locate items by subject?Can your students?

Establish special circulation rules precedingthe science fair. To avoid chaos and allowample access to useful materials, askthe librarian to set special circulationrules for the weeks prior to the fair.Books dealing with physical science ex-periments might be reserved for two-day checkout, one per student. Or,arrange these books on a work table inthe library, not to be checked out at allbefore the fair.

Set special study schedules. Just beforethe science fair, the library might reservemore time for independent study or forentire classes to research projects undertheir teacher's guidance. Ask parents tohelp during these times.

Offer an in-service library session forteachers Before introducing the sciencefair to students, arrange a library ses-sion for teachers. The librarian ran re-view the range and location of sciencematerials, show pictures or slides of pastfair projects, and discuss library rulesand processes.

Introduce or review library and study skills.

Students will be motivated to learn theseskills when they need them to completeprojects. Just before the students begintheir research, review the use of thecard catalog and media listing, emphas-izing science reference book sections.Discuss the Dewey Decimal Systemespecially 500s and 600s (pure scienceand applied science).

Record projects in progress. The librar-ian can list in a prominent place all thescience projects in progress and thenames of students working on each.The recognition could induce reluctantstudents to participate. List projects bygeneral subject and Dewey Decimalnumbers, e.g., Projects on Magnetism 538.The list will indicate when to stop re-stricted checkouts and order additionalmaterials.

Correlate science and language arts. Asthe science fair approaches, the librar-ian can arrange presentations to stu-dents to include materials related toscience subjects. What better time forusing nature poetry and haiku forexample, than when students are work-ing on nature experiments?

The librarian might invite studentswho are participating in the science fairto write short science fiction stories.Such activities offer a break from work-ing on projects while building students'interest in science.

Offer science centers. Set up scienceinterest centers during the fair or before.Assign responsible students to help pre-pare these. Each center should presentan investigation for students to perform,provide materials necessary for the job,and suggest means for evaluatingresults.

Display winning works. Students learnmore from others' projects if they haveplenty of time to examine the experi-ments. So, after the fair, honor the win-ners by displaying their projects in thelibrary media center.

Marge Hagerty, LibrarianChinn Elementary School

Kansas City, Missouri

1 6 NATIONAL SCIENCE TEACHERS ASSOCIATION 15

MASTERINGthe

SCIENCE FAIRDo you feel overwhelmed by details at

the very thought of a science fair? Youdon't have to. Use this master scheduleas your checklist, and spread those tasksout over a year's time.

I've been perfecting this schedule forabout ten years, so I know it works. Ibegan to develop it because as a youngteacher I was a lot like my seventhgradestudentslong on energy andenthusiasm, but short on organizationalskills. The details became unmanageable.

Even a seemingly innocuous detail likearranging space for the fair can cause bigproblems if its not attended to farenough in advance. The first science fair Iorganized was elbowtoelbow with 180students packed into the cafeteria. Now Ireserve the gym a full year ahead of time.

I start by going over the basketballschedule with the athletic director tomake sure the gym is free, and myseventh graders aren't scheduled for anaway game on the night I want. Next Iexplain to the gym teacher that well needto set up on the day of the fair, and offerto trade spaces with her for that one day.Finally, when I've gained the cooperationof both the athletic director and thephysical education teacher, I go to theprincipal and make a building request inwriting. I also reserve the cafeteria as ahospitality area for the evening of the fair.This gives parents a place to be while thejudging is going on.

Preparations inside the classroom alsobegin a year in advance. Each spring, Ivisit the various sixthgrade classes to tellthem about the science fair. This givesthe students lots of time to start thinkingabout science projects. I bring some ofmy most successful seventh gradersalong to demonstrate their projects. Ishare our "brag book" of pictures,newspaper clippings, and other evidenceof the recognition my students have wonat district and state fairs. This introductionto the science fair stirs up enthusiasmand anticipation.

The next fall, I give the students

experiences with hands-on labwork. Theylearn the scientific method by performingcontrolled experiments. The studentspractice for the fair by writing up severalof their experiments as formalsummaries, including question,hypothesis, materials, procedures, resultsin a chart or graph form, and aconclusion.

Early fall is also the time to draft aschedule specifying the minimalrequirements for the science fair andsetting a due date for each requirement.The six requirements are: (1) perfor-mance of an experiment with datacollection, (2) a formal summary of theexperiment, (3) a research report withbibliography, (4) a visual backdrop, (5) anoral presentation, and (6) attendance onthe night of the fair.

Structure is vital to the success of thefair. The schedule of steps and due datesprovides the solid framework middleschool students need. A number of my"learning disabled" students have wonhigh honors at district fairs thanks to thestructure the tenweek student schedulegave them.

Communication between home andschool is another vital element toplanning a science fair. At the firstparent/teacher conference, I give parentsa copy of the schedule and a letter thatfills in the details. Parents are consistentlysupportive when they know what will beexpected of their children.

Students spend three of the total tenweeks deciding on a project. Choosingthe right project is the most essential stepof the whole process. I don't want anystudent to work on a project which is soundemanding he or she won't leam fromit, but I also don't want projects sodifficult that students are set up forfailure. Most seventh graders have neverhad to make choices of this kind before,so they need patient guidance.

To be fair to the students, judgingcriteria are based on the requirementsthey have been asked to meet. I give


copies of the judging sheets to studentswell in advance so they know how theirprojects will be rated. They will eam 45 ofthe 100 possible points just for meetingthe basic requirements. Knowing thismotivates them to keep on schedule. Theremaining 55 are quality points whichindicate how well they meet therequirements.

When science fair day finally arrives, Ican relax and enjoy myself. Ifs like awonderful party! Students are dressed upand on their best behavior. Thegymnasium has a holiday air. I make surethat I am free to greet the judges, who arelocal professional people. I put a highpremium on student/scientist interaction.I don't assign judges more than four tosix projects each. Students spend a classperiod after the fair writing personalthankyou notes. As a result, judges areeager to keep coming back year afteryear.

After the school fair, the studentsdesignated to go to the district fair gettogether to further improve their projects.Again, structure and communication areessential, so I arrange a time after schoolfor each student and a parent to meetwith me, read the judges' comments, anddraw up a contract for the tasks thestudent agrees to do as part of ourschool's science team. These tasksinclude preparing the oral presentationfor videotaping and practicing it in frontof the sixth.grade classes when I make myspring visits. This completes the yearlycycle which began the previous spring.

RUTH BOMBAUGHLangston Middle SchoolOberlin, Ohio

17

Master Schedule for Director of the FairDurinz the School Year Previous to the Fair

Preparation Outside the Classroom

Reserve the gymnasium for the whole day ofyour fair.(Talk to athletic director, gym teacher, principal.)

Reserve the cafeteria as a hospitality center for theevening of your fair.

Urge fellow teachers to assign your prospective stu-dents a research report.

Plan the format of your fair with the other teacherswho teach the same grade. Possible options include:1) An Interdisciplinary Science Fair: all students doa science project but the library research is a socialstudies assignment, the backdrop is an art assign-ment, the graphs are a math assignment, etc.2) An Academic Fair: all the teachers cooperate, andstudents may choose to do either a math, social stud-ies, science, or language arts project.3)A Science Fair only the science teacher oversees.

Before Students Start to Work on Their ScienceFair Projects

Preparation Inside the Classroom

Visit the science classes to tell all prospective studentsabout the science fair.

Schedule the current science team to give presenta-tions to the prospective students and display theirfinished products.

Help any interested students to design science fairprojects which they can work on during the summer.

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Prepare letter for parents which states requirementsthat students must meet.

Prepare week-by-week schedule for students tellingwhat they should be working on and what deadlinesthey should meet.

Prepare judging sheets.

Prepare award certificates and order ribbons.(Any student calligraphers ?)

Reserve public library and school library time forstudents to be shown reference materials. Arrange tohave reference materials in the classroom too.

Reserve space and time for awards assembly.


Stress hands-on lab experiences with data collectionin your science classes. This reinforces concepts andhelps students learn the scientific method in a con-crete manner.

Require students to write up their lab experiments inscience fair form. Make sure they have all the parts ofan experimental summaryquestion, hypothesis,materials, procedures, results in a chart or graphform, and a conclusion.

8NATIONAL SCIENCE TEACHERS ASSOCIATION 17

During Student Preparation of Science Fair


Contact resource people when they are needed forassistance.

Two to three weeks before the fair, line up your judges.(Personal contact by telephone works best.)

In the Ten Days Leading Up to the Falk


Give it your all!

Follow the week-by-week schedule, and anticipatestudents' need to learn new skills. Teach how to writebibliographies about a week before they're due.


Arrange hospitality. (Your school secretary, principaland/or fellow teachers may be willing to be hosts.Could the home economics students bake cookies?)

Make up the judging assignments and group sheets foreach judge.

Make up name tags for the judges.

Arrange to have a volunteer photographer.

Alert the media (newspapers, radio, local TV).

Set up the tables and a microphone the evening beforethe fair.

On the Actual Day of the Fair


Continue to follow the week-by-week schedule andDON'T PANIC. The Last-minute Lizzies will often dowonders when the time crunch is on!

Go over the judging sheets in class and have studentsfill out the tops: name, date, title, number of project.

During the School Day

Have students set up their projects during the classperiods.

Let other grades view the projects, with your studentsserving as hosts.

Remind students to dress well for the fair and to bepolite.

After the Fair

During the Fair in the Evening

Be sure you have delegated as much responsibility aspossible. This involves more people in the fair andleaves you free to trouble-shoot.

Greet your judges! (They are V.I.P.'s.)

Enjoy yourself !

Finishing Up Local Fair

Average the judges' scores.

Fill in names on award certificates and host awardsassembly.

Write articles for the newspapers.

Have students write thank-you notes to judges.

Preparation for District Fair

Draw together a science team of stut:ent volunteersand meet with each parent and student to draw up acontract of responsibilities.

Help each student follow through on his/her contract.

Videotape the science team.


The What, Why,and

How of ProjectsA science project should begin with curiosity and foster wonder. Thebest projects stretch students' investigative skills: questioning theworld, wondering how it works, and delighting in and coming tounderstand its mysteries. But most students have little or no expe-rience in the art of doing science. Use this section to help your stu-dents come up with project ideas. You can teach students how todesign and to carry out projects and to think like scientists.

20

How To CreateProblems

Coming up with a suitable research topic is tough.

Make it easier with this reliable approach.

by Juliana Texley

High schuolers have littleor no experience in theart of doing science. Themost critical part of re-searchgenerating a

problem that can be investigatedisfar beyond their reach without guid-ance and training. How often haveyou suggested elegant schemes forstudent investigation, only to be metwith "Can I play music to plants?"

Many of the winners of the West-inghouse Science Talent Search andother competitions work in tandemwith researchers; that fact alone dauntsmany of us who hope to guide ourstudents in the same direction. Butmost curricula can encompass researchskills and a framework for coming upwith project ideas and designs. Prob-lem generation does not have to beserendipitous. You can teach it, as youcan teach other process skills.

The second yearAt Richmond High School, we restruc-tured the second-year biology class toemphasize individual research. As wecovered topics in anatomy and botany,we wove an unbroken ihread of re-search methodology throughout theyear. In this school, the first-yearbiology program covered so much inso little time that it didn't allow forresearch. The second-year course wasthe ideal place to start learning how todo independent investigations.

During September each class beginswith "idea time." From a file of c'ip-pings and journals, I read hypothesesand abstracts that catch my eye. (Weoften use Science Briefs from TST.)For each topic, we discuss the studentresearch possibilities, using a modifi-cation of a system known to educa-tional researchers as Campbell andStanley designs [1). We were guidedby the following questions: "What isthe best way to investigate this topic?""What equipment (or subjects) wouldwe need?" and "What are the majorpotential sources of error (invalidity)?"Students never take long to catch on.

One-shot researchFigure 1 shows five experimental de-signs. T indicates one test or trial ofan experiment, and X is a treatment.Time passes from left to right. Thissimple system (not too different fromthe diagram of a football play, accord-ing to my class) applies to all types ofexperiments in the Campbell and Stan-ley system.

in Figure la, often dubbed the one-sl- ot pretest/posttest, one group orsubject was tested, exposed to a treat-ment, and then tested again. Althoughthis scheme is a poor one in the lifeand social sciences (it has no control,and observations on one organism can-not be generalized to others), it cansometimes be relatively meaningful inthe physical sciences. The following

20 NATIONAL SCIENCE TEACHERS ASSOCIATION 21.

In the days b.c. (before computer), suchdesigns were difficult for students toanalyze. It is hard to convince young

scientists that they can compound theirerrors by relying on the streams of

decimals on their VDTs and calculators.

projects fit the experimental design:How does blan:hing affect the

activity of enzymes m vegetables?How does adding a mordant affect

the action of a fabric dye?How does stress affect the

strength of a given plastic?How would adding a barrier of

foliage affect sound transmission?If you have a microcomputer, you

can measure the results of these typesof experiments relatively accurately byinterfacing laboratory equipment. Butthis design is very limited. You canquantify "one-shot" experiments, butusually only with a histogram. Whilehistograms are the most common wayto display data in most science fairs,

they are only a rudimentary tool. Thekey danger in an experiment of thisdesign is overconfidence. One trial isseldom enough to draw any sort ofconclusion in scienceand it seldomtakes students long to recognize thisfact with the help of diagrams.

Controlling the problemThe randomized control group designis the standard for student projectwork in biology. (See Figure lb.) Withit, students compare the pretest (orinitial condition) and the posttest (orfinal condition) with a control group.In its simplest form, this design pro-vides data for the Students f-test (to

Flgurel. Campbell and Stanley experimental designs. T one test or trial; X - a treatment

a) one-shot pretest/posttest1,

b) randomized control group

X 12

X 12

c) variable in a series

12

)( 12

Xb 12

d) observations over time

12

T1 T2

e) progressive change

T3 T. X Ty To 17

TI T2 13 14 X T5 To 17TI T2 T3 T. Ty To 17


determine the difference betweensample means) or for chi-square anal-ysis (for data in frequency form). Thedistinction between discrete and con-tinuous data (and between histogramsand line graphs) requires a great dealof class time. (In most math booksstudents are taught to make bothtypes of graphs, but they are nevertaught when to use each.) By con-trast, students can figure out thatthe reliability of a randomized con-trol group test depends on the num-ber of subjects in the experiment.

As my classes di ;cuss projects thatare suitable for this design, we care-fully define random and control. This isdifficult because many students do notknow how to isolate variables, and wehave to stop to sort out the confusion.

Here are some examples of random-ized control group experiments:

How does electromagnetic radia-tion affect the orientation and flightof honeybees?

How does calcium affect geotro-pism in plants?

How does noise (interference) af-fect short-term memory?

Varying variablesYou can strengthen designs such asthose above if you apply the variablein a series of strengths, durations, orforms. (See Figure lc.) Try some ofthese examples:

What is the relationship betweenthe concentration of fertilizer and thegrowth of plants?

What is the relationship betweenthe type of metal bowl and the stiff-ness of egg whites beaten within it?

How does the wavelength of light

Juliana Tex ley, the editor of The ScienceTeacher, formerly taught biology at Rich-mond High School, Richmond, Michigan. Atpresent, she heads the science departmelit atUniversity- Liggett School, 1045 Cook Rd.,Grosse Pointe, MI 48236.

23

affect seed germination?e How does relative humidity affect

plant growth or the se:s ratios of in-vertebrate offspring?

In the days b.c. (before computer),such designs were difficult for studentsto analyze. It is hard to convince youngscientists that they can compound theerrors of their observations by relyingon the streams of decimals pumpedout on their VDTs and calculators. Sowe pause again to take a practical lookat significant figures and why we needthem.

Today most micros can perform arelatively straightforward statisticaltechnique called analysis of variance.As the need arises in our discussion ofexperimental design, I explain the sig-nificance (but not the mathematics) ofeach statistical method, deliberatelyadding the terms statistically significantand one-toone correspondence so that stu-dents will not forget the meaning (ifnot the method) behind each tech-nique.

From beginning to endIn biology, obstr,ations over time areoften more valuable then single tests.The Campbell and Stanley design forthis type of experiment is shown inFigure id. Students might investigatechanges in the pH of egg white as anegg ages, changes in the reflex rate ofanimals as they age, or changes in theoxygen production by algae over time(biorhythms). When they inject a treat-ment into a time series, students oftenmust rely on a computer for curve fit-ting and extrapolation. This is espe-cially important when a student has apractice effect to take into account.For example, one of my students de-cided to test the question "Do videogames increase hand-eye coordina-tion?" But first, she had to determinethe expected improvement causzcl bypractice and then compare it to anysignificant experimental effect.

The final Campbell and Stanley de-sign allows you to compare progres-

11111=liler

The end product of most of this research is aformal paper and publication of an

abstract in our high school Journal ofScience, a booklet that serves not only asa source of pride but also as a reference

for next year's apprentice scientists.

sive changes in a subject over time toa control (See Figure le.) This setupmight represent such research as "Doneuroinhibitors affect metamorphosisin insects?" or "Can variations in thegrowth rings in fish scales (or trees)be correlated with specific environmental events?"

Now, it's my turnAs the class discusses each hypothesisor abstract and develops the appro-priate design for an experiment, I askstudents to think of potential sourcesof error and variations on the themeof the experiment. (Although we donot used text, many books on researchmethods look very thoroughly at dis-cussions of the sources of invalidityassociated with each design [1).)

After a week or so, students beginto bring in their own clippings andideas. We sometimes construct a "Tearand Share" bulletin board. Naturally,not all ideas fit into one or more of theCampbell and Stanley designs, so oftenwe improvise and devise our own sym-bols. Our collection is sometimesraided, but students usually settle onideas of their own.

After a month, students narrowdown their field of research and con-tact a researcher who can answer theirquestions. The majority receive gra-cious responses, reprints, and sageadvice. Some students move on to li-brary research, and by November each

student has a problem to concentrateon. Most problems are unique enoughto keep both student and teaches- in-trigued for a few months.

Knowing full well that the majorityof these teens are poor time manag-ers, I always break up the researchproject into small units (problem, bib-liography, procedue, materials collec-tion, and so on) and enforce firm dead-lines. Every year I have several well-intentioned procrastinators who misstheir mark, as well as some who aredetermined to find nothing of interest.

But, in retrospect, this system hasproved overwhelmingly successful.Many students carry their researchon to competition, but the coursestructure clearly deemphasizes this asa goal. The end product of most ofthis research is a formal paper andpublication of an abstract in our highschool journal of Science, a booklet thatserves not only as a source of pridebut also as a reference for next year'sapprentice scientists.

It takes more than motivation togenerate problems for research fromscientific literature. It takes experienceand a structured approach to a prob-lem, too. Persistence does pay off. Thecostless content coveredis far out-weighed by the rewards.

Reference1 Campbell, P. T., and J. C. Stanley. &retie:n:141and Quastexpennieraal Design for Research. Chicago:Rand McNally, 1966.

2 4 NATIONAL SCIENCE TEACHERS ASSOCIATION 23

Do Mouthwashes ReallyKill Bacteria?

by Thomas R. Corner

Mouthwashes and

disinfectants are good

subjects for science

fair projects. But students

must be careful to judge

effectiveness correctly.

As a science fair judge, I

have seen any projectsset up to test how wellvarious household or oth-er commercial products,

such as detergents and mouthwashes,fight bacteria. Students have a hardtime doing such research correctly.Generally, the young experimentersexpose bacteria to filter paper discstreated with the product and thenjudge the effectiveness of the substanceincorrectly by comparing the diame-ters of the zones of bacterial inhibition.

High school students seldom realizethat a larger inhibition zone may notreflect a greater susceptibility of a testbacterium to a particular arrive ingre-dient; instead, it may reflect only a dif-terent e in the diffusion coefficientskilts ofthe two active ingredients. The devel-opment of an inhibition zone is com-plex and depends upon a number offactors, many of which might be be-yond secondary school scientists.

Two other errors, which are moreserious, however, compromise the sucLess of the project. The first involvesthe choice of broth media rather thansolid media in Petri dishes, the secondis the use of irregularly shaped bits offilter paper. The second error 1, con-siderably more common. Using brothdefeats the whole idea of the test. tofix bacteria in space so that an inhibi-tion tone can, in fact, develop. (Thethermal agitation and bacterial motil-ity, if any, in broth prevents zonesfrom forming.) Irregularly shaped discsprompt irregular diffusion paths whichare impossible to measure.

Nevertheless, the experiment is trulyvaluable. So let me suggest a bettertechnique and, for advanced students,


two additional prot edures for int rodut-mg quantitative analysis into the ex-periment.

Impregnating filter paper dist:, t.ithan antimicrobial agent is a reliable wayto test the effectiveness of chemicalsagainst various bacteria 181. This tech -nique forms the basis of standard anti-blow. tests performed in most hospi-tal and commercial diagnostic labora-tories 141. In these tests, pure t ulture,of the suspected pa thogenit bacteriumare exposed to discs of a single pOICII-ty. Although different for each anti-biotic, the concentration on the disc Iscarefully chosen, based on results fromtests with different concentrations asWell as on correlations with other typesof analyses 141. Atter incubation, a re-searcher measures the diameters ofthe inhibition zones and comparesthem to a standard chart, packagedwith the discs, to determine whetherthe bacterium is fully resistant, fullysusceptible, or of intermediate suscep-tibility. Only an antibiotic to which

25

thy! pathogen is fully susceptible wouldor should be used therapeutically.

How wide the inhibitions?The diameter of the zone indicatingfull susceptibility varies markedly withboth the bacterium and the antibioticin question. 'Thus, an antibiotic towhich a partict6r bacterium is resis-tant may produce .1 iarger inhibitionzone than another antibiotic to whichthe same organism is susceptible. (SeeFigure 1.) For example, a zone diame-ter (4517 mm indicates resistance tonovobiocin in all bacteria tested, but azone diameter of ?...11 mm indicatessusceptibility to colistin in the samebacteria.

Similarly, for a given antibiotic, alarge zone may or may not indicatesusceptibility, depending on the bacte-rium being tested. For example, a zonediameter of?....14 mm indicates suscep-tibility of Escherichia coil, but resistanceof Staphylococcus aureus to ampicillin. In

fact, (or S. alum to be considered sus-ceptible to ampicillin, the zone diame-ter must reach at least 29 mm. There-fore, a student can neither comparethe effectiveness of different agentsagainst a single bacterium nor thedegree of susceptibility of differentorganisms to the same agent simplyby comparing the zone diameterswithout consulting reference tables.

I do not mean to say that you shoulddiscourage students, especially in lowergrades, from doing the investigation.Rather, point out the problems andthe necessary safety precautions, andencourage them to continue. They willgain not only useful bacteriological ex-perience but also some insight intothe merits of advertising claims.

At the outset of the experiment,students must decide which agents,organisms, growth media, and mate-rials to use. In choosing antibacterialsubstances, students are limited onlyby their experience and imagination.Some examples include mouthwashes,

26

household disinfectants, laundry deter-gents, toothpastes, and deodorants.Liquid products are easier to test butsolids can be used in solution, such as1 g dissolved in 100 mL of sterile dis-tilled water in a sterile contairer.

Keeping it clearIdeally, the products you want to testshould be sterile. You can determinewhether or not a product is sterile bypipetting several drops of it onto aplate of the growth medium you arepl.innatg to use in the experiment. Usea sterile pipette. Incubate the plate forat least one week at room tempera-ture (or 3 days at 37° C). Productsthat show contamination (a lesson initself) should be sterilized, preferablyby passing them through a moribrane-filter device (such as the No. 20 m ail -able from Nalge Co., 75 PanorzmaCreek Rd., Rochester, NY 14602). Ifthe product contains alcohol (somemouthwashes and disinfectants) and


High school students seldom realizethat a larger inhibition zone may not

reflect a greater susceptibilityof a test bacterium to a particular

active ingredient.

must be sterilized, you must use a filter.You can obtain pure cultures of non-

pathogenic bacteria from most supplyhouses or from the American TypeCulture Col ection (12301 ParklawnDr., Rockville, MD 20852; ask for Pre-ceptrol cultures). Escherichia coli is prob-ably the best choice because of its im-portant role in the development ofmolecular biology and its ability togrow in simple media over a wide tem-perature range. But Staphylococcus epi-

dermidis, Bacillus mcgaterium, Bacillus sub-tilis, and Bacillus cereus are easy to grow,too. A comparison between E. coif, agram-negative bacterium, and one ofthe other three, all gram-positive bac-teria, could make an interesting study.Bacteria of tht genusStreptococcus, whichconstitute the bulk of the oral micro-flora [91, are the ideal choice for test-ing mouthwash. But they do not growwell on readily available media andpresent real safety problems; l "th ofthese facts argue against their use.

Breeding your own culturesAlternatively, students can isolate andgrow their own pure cultures. House-hold dust, garden soil, and unwashedfingers are good sources of bacteria.Students can harvest organisms fromdust by inverting an open plate of

Thomas R. Corner is an assistant professor inthe Dept. of Microbiology and Public Health,Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI48824.

growth medium over a dust sourceunder a bed or desk or in the corner ofa roomand then tapping the plategently on the dusty surface. This willblow organisms onto the agar. Youwill find it best to sample soil by pre-paring a slurry (for example, 1 g inabout 100 mL of sterile distilled water).Allow the large debris to settle out,and then transfer a drop of the sus-pension to the plate of growth mediumand streak the drop. You can samplefinger bacteria simply by rubbing yourfingers over the surface of the agar.

Whatever the source of the bacte-ria, incubate the plate at room tem-perature or other suitable temperature(such as 37° C until you can see colo-nies. If blood agar is available, isolateoral flora with throat swabs, but thenuse Mueller-Hinton agar for testing.(In collecting oral flora with throatswabs, you always face the possibilitythat you have pathogenic bacteria,even from healthy throats, in yoursample. Therefore, swab only the sur-face of the tongue and teeth. Alwayscaution students to use proper micro-biological techniques at all times, andnever let inexperienced students usepathogenic cultures.)

Once colonies of bactc.:ia appear onthe disc, use a sterile device, such as abacteriological loop or needle, to trans-fer a single colony to fresh growthmedium. Streak the colony so thatafter incubation you will have isolatedcolonies for a second time. One ofthese colonies can then serve as aninoculum to maintain slants (prefer-


ably in screw cap tubes). Prepare theslants by filling test tubes about halffull with molten agar. Close the tubesand sterilize them. Then, while theagar is still hot, put the tubes at anangle of about 15°, and let the agarsolidify. Each week, transfer thegrowth on the slants to fresh slants tomaintain a source of inoculum for thetest plates.

Media for growingAny of the following growth mediaare suitable for the tests: nutrient agar(Difco Products, PO Box 1058, Detroit,MI 48232); tryptose blood agar base(no blood) (Difco); trypticase soy agar(BBL Microbiology Systems, PO Box243, Cockeysville, MD 21030); andMueller-Hinton agar (Difco and BBL).Most scientific supply houses carrythese products. For the bacteria I men-tioned earlier and for organisms iso-lated from natural sources, exceptthroats and oral cavities, nutrient agaris adequate. The others are richer innutrients. Standard antibiotic discassay systems use the very richMueller-Hinton agar. You can buy allof these media in powdered form forreconstitution with distilled water fol-lowed by sterilization. Some media maybe available (at higher cost) as pre-poured plates and slants. You can alsoget newer instant media. Prepouredblood agar plates (tryptose blood agarbase or trypticase soy agar plus 5 per-cent blood, usually from sheep) aresold commercially but sometimes maybe obtained from a nearby hospitaldiagnostic laboratory. For organismsthat are difficult to grow, you can addblood or serum to Mueller-Hintonagar.

The only other materials to whichyou should pay attention are the discs.Standard antibiotic assay discs are 6.4mm in diameter and made of highquality paper. Blank discs are commer-cially available (for example, No. 31039from BBL). However, students can usea standard notebook punch to make

2 7

Figure 1. Zone diameters for interpretation of antibiotic disc susceptibility tests'.

Amount on

Zone diameters° for

resistant susceptible

(less than or (more than orAntibiotic Bacteria disc (pg) equal to) equal to)

Ampicillin Escherichia coli 10 11 14Ampicillin Staphylococcus aureus 10 20 29Colistin all 10 8 11

Erythromycin all 15 13 18Novobiocin all 30 17 22Penicillin G Staphylococcus spp. 10` 20 29Penicillin G all others 10` 11 22Streptomycin all 10 11 15Sulfonamide° all 300 12 17Tetracycline all 30 14 19

'Data adapted from (11].°Zone diameters falling between the value', given indicate intermediate susceptibility.`This amount is given in units, not pg.°Strictly speaking, sulfonamides are nJt antibiotics.

Figure 2. Primary active principles in selected brand-name household products.

Product(Reference]

BleachClorox liquid°

MouthwashCepacol (1,3]Chloraseptic [3]Fluorigard (3]S.T. 37 (1]

Soap or detergentDial bar (6]Diaperene (6]Dreft°

ToothpasteCrest [1]Macleans [1]

Active Principle

sodium hypozhlonte

cetyl pyridinium chloridephenolsodium fluoridehexylresorcinol

trichlorocarbanilide`methyl benzalkonium chloridesodium dodecyl sulfate

stannous fluoridesodium monofluorophosphatee

MolecularWeight'

MolarConcentration

(approx.)

74.44 0.6717

357.99 0.001494.11 0.148842.00 0.0119

194.26 0.0051

315.59 0.0002d480.14 0.0012°288.38 0.0035°

156.70 0.0026°143.95 0.0005°

aObtained from (121.°Data from product label.`Hexachlorophene, listed as present (5], has been excluded.°Concentrations based on a solution of 1 g in 100 mL.`Sodium dodecyl sulfate is also present in this product (6].

Figure 3. Typical data for the action of household bleach (active ingredient sodiumhypochlorite) on Staphylococcus aureus.

Molar Zone Zone CorrectedConcentration° Diameter Radius Radius`

Dilutiona (M) In M (mm) (mm) (ro) rc2

5/100 0.03 -3.51 7 3.5 0.3 0.091/10 0.07 -2.66 9 4.5 1.3 1.69

15/100 0.10 -2.30 10 5.0 1.8 3.241/4 0.17 -1.77 11 5.5 2.3 5.29

'Dilutions were made in sterile distilled water.°Commercial liquid bleach is 5% sodium hypochlorite.`Zone radius- disc radius= corrected radius; in thiscase, the disc radius was 3.2 mm.

28

their own discs from high-quality fil-ter paper (such as Whatman No. 3).These discs, which will be about 7 mmin diameter, are perfectly suitable, butremember to sterilize them in an auto-clave or pressure cooker.

Doing itInoculate the agar plates from the stockculture slants. Transfer a small amountof solid growth from the slant to theplate with a sterile bacteriological loopor similar tool. Spread out the inocu-lum evenly over the surface with asterile swab. Moistening the swab withsterile distilled water makes the taskeasier. Be sure to cover the whole sur-face of the plate. The spread-out inoc-ulum should not be visible.

Sterilize a pair of forceps by dippingthem in ethanol. Allow the ethanol todrain off briefly. Then pass the for-ceps through a flame to ignite theresidual ethanol. Be sure to keep theforceps pointed down. When the flamegoes out, allow the forceps to cool fora few moments.

With the sterile forceps, pick up asterile disc, and dip it into the productor solution you want to test. Allowthe excess liquid to drain away, andthen transfer the disc to the surface ofthe inoculated plate. One plate canconveniently hold four test discs ar-ranged at 12, 3, 6, and 9 o'clock at 1 to2 cm from the periphery. Push thedisc down lightly with the forceps tomake it adhere to the agar.

Repeat the procedure for each addi-tional test disc. Place an untreated discin the center of the plate as a controlfor filter paper toxicity. Set up oneinoculated plate without a disc as acontrol for the growth of the organism.

Now incubate the plates at the sametemperature at which you grew thestock culture of the test bacterium.(Be sure to carry out all comparativetests at the same temperature.)

When you begin to see bacterialgrowth on the control plate, usuallyafter 24 to 48 hours, record the diame-


ters of the inhibition zones. If yourstudents have prepared duplicate (ormore) plates, as they should have, theywill gain some idea of the reproduc-ibility and variability of such tests.Always remember to teach your stu-dents how to use safe techniques toprevent contamination. You may haveto remind them about safety as theyconduct the experiment.

Advanced students witl- sufficientmath background can us,_ the filterpaper disc assay to determine the min-imum inhibitory concentration (MIC)of various products. MIC is the dosethat is just sufficient to inhibit thegrowth of a given microorganism. Stu-dents can use the filter paper disc assaysystem to compare the effectivenessof various products against a particu-lar bacterium [81.

But what about the moles?To do the exercise properly, you mustknow the molar concentrations of thechemicals you are testing; therefore,carry out these assays only on puresolutions of an agent. You cannot applythis procedure strictly to most com-mercial products, of course, since theyare mixed solutions of active and inac-tive ingredients. However, even withthese products, your students will findthe exercise instructive. Tell them toperform the calculations only for themajor active principle. Figure 2 con-tains data for some typical householdproducts. (In preparing this table, I

found references 1 and 3 most helpfulfor product concentrations and refer-ence 12 for molecular weights.)

The mathematical theory behind therelationship between the size of thezone of inhibition and the concentra-tion of the product on the paper disc isnot well developed because the testsystem cannot be analyzed in a straight-forward way. For practical purposes,however, you will find the followingapproximation satisfactory [4, 81. Therelationship between the critical con-centration (M') at which no zone will

Figure 4. The effect of household bleach (sodium hypochlorite) on Staphylococcus aureus.The line shown was fit by least squares regression using a Texas Instruments TI59 program-mable handheld calculator; but a visual "best-fir could have been used. The y-intercept (InM') is -3.39; therefore, the MIC (M') = 0.03M.

Figure 5. Hypothetical data for the comparison of two products for which the concentrationsof the active principles are unknown.

AProduct

B

Product Dilution In DDE° Zone Diameter rc 2 Zone Diameter rc2

undiluted 0.0 24 77.44 20 46.42

1/2 0.69 21 53.29 18 33.641/4 1.39 18 33.64 17 28.09

1/8 2.08 13 10.89 15 18.49

1/16 2.77 no zone 13 10.89

aNatural logarithm of the dilution decimal equivalent.

Summary

Product In (y-intercept) ey-intercept. Relative effective dilution

A 2.43 .09 1/11

B 3.57 .03 1/33

Conclusion: Product B is more effective than product A.40


form around a disc, that is, the MIC,and the initial concentration (Mo) ofthe solution on the disc is given by theformula

r 2In M'= In Mo

4Dtwhere M' and Mo are the concentra-tions discussed above (in molesIliter),ro is the distance from the edge of thedisc to the outer edge of the inhibitionzone around the disc (the correctedradius), D is the diffusion coefficient ofthe agent in the medium, and t is thetime diffusion was allowed to occur.

Although the diffusion coefficientsfor various agents in nutrient agar arenot readily available, you can deter-mine M' under conditions in whichyou hold D and t constant. Simply usesaturated discs on the same plate withdifferent known concentrations (differ-ent Mo) of the agent. Determine M'by plotting the various Mo valuesagainst the square of the appropriatecorrected radii. This is possible becausewhen you rearrange the equationabove, you will discover it is the equa-tion of a straight line, y = mx + b,where m is the slope and b is the y-intercept. Thus,

InMo=(4Dt)

rc2 in N4,

This relationship is linear as tong as Dand t are held constant for each valueof Mo. Although we are using thisequation here to determine M' valuesfor various products, you can alsoapproximate D, the diffusion coef-ficient, if you keep accurate timerecords.

But will it really kill germs?Now, test the undiluted agent againstthe chosen bacterium, and determinethe diameter of the inhibition zone, ifany. If there is no inhibition, try an-other agent or another bacterium. Alarge zone is better than a smaller onebecause you can dilute the productfurther before reaching a concentra-tion that will not produce a zone.

Prepare twofold dilutions (that is,

C

1:2, 1:4, 1:8, and so on) of the productin sterile distilled water for as manytests as you want to run. Usually fourdilutions will be sufficient; but if thezone for the undiluted product is large,you can test eight dilutions. Use thesame methods you did in the firstexperiment.

Comparing the resultsWhen inhibition zones develop, recordtheir size in a table similar to the oneshown in Figure 3, which shows ex-perimental data obtained when Staphy-lococcus aureus was exposed to house-hold bleach. Complete the required cal-culations to determine the critical in-hibitory concentration of your agentfor your organism by plotting thesquare of the corrected radius of the inhi-bition zone (total radius minus discradius) versus the natural log of theconcentration on the disc for each ofthe four cases. Extrapolate the line tothe y-axis to obtain the natural log ofthe critical concentration. (Figure 4 il-lustrates the results of Figure 3, withan MIC of 0.03 M.) Ideally, for com-parison, students should examine theaction of two agents on a single bacte-rium or the action of a single agent ontwo different organisms.

You can draw a quantitative com-parison of the effectiveness of twoagents even when you do not havethe appropriate concentration data (asis often the case with commercial prod-ucts). You can also find the relativeeffective dilution, the theoretical dilu-tion at which a zone just fails to form

= 0), for each product. Carry outthe tests exactly as described above,but substitute the decimal equivalentsof the dilution factors, for example, 1/2= 0.50, for the concentrations as illus-trated for the hypothetical case inFigure 5. The resulting y-interceptsare the natural logs of the decimalequivalents of the relative effectivedilutions. Taking the inverse of theantilogarithm of this number will yieldthe denominator of the dilution that

should be made to produce r,= 0. Thesmaller this number, the less effectivethe product, so a product with a rela-tive effective dilution of 1:11, as inFigure 5, is less effective than one witha relative effective dilution of 1:33.Although this is not the ideal way tomake comparisons of effectiveness,this method is quantitative, whereassimple measurement and comparisonof zone diameters is incorrect and maybe misleading.

These procedures for testing house-hold and other products ought to helpclear up your students' misconceptionsabout the relative effectiveness of theseagents against various bacteria. Know-ing the right way to obtain and inter-pret results accurately can be just thepolish your students need to come upwith some really sparkling independentresearch.

References1. American Pharmaceutical Association. Hand-

book of Nonprescription Drugs. 6th ed. Washing-ton, D.C.: American Pharmaceutical Asso-ciation, 1979.

2. Baker, C. E., Jr. Physicians Desk Reference. 34thed. Oradell, N.J.: Medical Economics Co.,1980.

3. Physicians Desk Reference for Nonpre-scription Drugs. 2nd ed. Oradell, N.J.: MedicalEconomics Co., 1981.

4. Barry, A. L. The Antimicrobic Disc SusceptibilityTest. Philadelphia, Pa.: Lea and Febiger, 1976.

5. Billups, N. F., and S. M. Billups. American DrugIndex 1981. Philadelphia: Lippincott, 1981.

6. Gosselin, R. E., et al. Clinical Toxicology of Com-mercial Products. 4th ed. Baltimore: Williamsand Wilkins, 1976.

7. Hugo, W. B., and A. D. Russell. Pharmaceuti-cal Microbiology. 2nd ed. Oxford, England:Blackwell Scientific Publications, 1980.

8. Reddy C. A., and T. R. Corner. LaboratoryManual for Veterinary and Nursing Microbiology.East Lansing, Mich.: Michigan State Uni-versity, 1982.

9. Rosebu ry, T. Microorganisms Indigenous to Man.New York: McGraw-Hill, 1962.

10. Smith, A. L. Principles of Microbiology. 9th ed.St. Louis: C. V. Mosby, 1981.

11. Subcommittee on Antimicrobial Testing.Performance Standards for Antimicrobial Disc Sus-ceptibility Tests. Approved Standard: ASM-Z. Vii-lanova, Pa.: National Committee for Clini-cal Laboratory Standards, 1975.

12. Windh olz, M. The Merck Index. 10th ed. Rah-way, N.J.: Merck, 1983.

30 NATIONAL SCIENCE TEACHERS ASSOCIATION 29

Survivinga Science Project

by Marttn D. Tatchworth

A comprehensive project

guide and a stringent

schedule discipline

these students

to achieve their

beg.

bile students else-where may do sci-ence projects, atSamuel GompersSecondary School,

our students do science projects! Gompersis a mathIsciencelcomputer magnetschool, so our students, while reflect-ing the cultural and racial mix of SanDiego, arrive interested and sometimestalented in those subjects. We respondby teaching them the scientific method,by exposing them to professionalscientists and scientific equipment, andby training them in the self-disciplineand communication skills they willneed to succeed. And we do it, to agreat extent, through our science proj-ect program.

The science department requires ascience project of all students enrolledin the 7th-grade science computer classand the 8th-grade physical/life scienceclass, as well as in 10th-grade physics.The 10th graders may start their proj-ects in the 10th grade and finish themin the 11th. We encourage 9th and12th graders to do a science project,too, but it's not required.

After teaching hundreds of studentshow to start and complete projects, Ithink I have learned something abouthow to help students succeed at them.Students of all abilities have someproblems in common: How to set upequipment and procedures, conduct aninvestigation, and report findings is abig one.

Many students, especially 7th and8th graders, have poor writing skillsand undeveloped scientific thinking


skills. These students need the mosthelp. At Gompers, their teachers uselectures and handouts to supplementthe standard format for science proj-ects that the science department hasagreed on (see Figure 1). Our stan-dard format for the students' writtenreport includes the components of acollege-level report.

Time for qualityOnce students learn how to set upprojects and to communicate findings,their projects get better, especially atthe 7th-grade level. When studentsunderstand the mechanics of a scienceproject, they have time to be morecreative, and the result is higher qual-ity projects.

Another major problem is schedul-ing work time, and at Gompers weaddress it very aggressively. Studentsare to work on their projects at homeor after school, not during class time.In class, teachers explain how to doparticular aspects of projects, as wellas cover the normal topics using labora-tories, lectures, and demonstrations.

Students are human, and it is humanto procrastinatebut our detailedschedule really helps. At the start ofeach school year, each student receivesthe schedule; the parents also receivea copy of the schedule and an explana-tory letter. The letter explains the

Martin D. Teachworth is a science teacher atSamuel Gompers Secondary School, 1005 4711,SI., San Diego, CA 92102.

31

I,*


importance of the project and theneed for their child to meet the sched-uled due dates. It also asks them tocheck daily on their child's progress.

If the student misses a due date, we

inform the parents with another let-ter home that also lists the next assign-ment and due date. If the letter isn'tsigned and returned, we contact theparents by phone. At first this process

Figure 1. Our science project guide.

The steps in the science project are listed below in the order ot appearance. Use this sheet asa checklist when completing the parts of your science project.

1. Identification page: Give project title, your name, your advisor's name.2. Title page: Give project title; no names.3. Table of contents: List in order each project part (abstract to time log). Give page

numbers for each project part.4. Abstract: State the problem/question. State the hypothesis. Summarize the procedure.

Summarize the conclusion.5. Introduction: State the problem/question. State the hypothesis.6. Variables: Identify the experimental variables. Explain how you will change the experi-

mental variables in each group tested. Identify the controlled variables. Explain how you willkeep each controlled variable constant in all groups tested.

7. Review of literature (research): Restate the problem/question as a topic paragraph.Introduce how or why you selected the project. Summarize what you learned about thetopic, question, and hypothesis of the project. (This should be the body of the paper.) Statewhat you think will occur during the experiment and why, according to your research. Aminimum of 9 references is required-3 books, 3 magazines, 2 encyclopedias, 1 personalcontact. (See your advisor for help.)

8. Equipment List in detail all the equipment and materials used in the experiment.Exactly describe the equipment and materials and quantities of materials you used.

9. Procedure: Number and list each step in the order performed during the experiment.Detail only one specific action in each step. (Any person should be able to read the proce-dure and exactly repeat your experiment.)

10. Results: Give raw data (data recorded during experiment), smooth data (data placed inlabeled charts or tables), and analyzed data (data interpreted in graphs, charts, and tables).

11. Conclusion: Restate the problem/question as a topic paragraph. State in a paragraphthe conclusion reached about the problem/question. (If there is more than one problem/question, then write one paragraph for each.) Refer to the analyzed data to explain how youreached each conclusion. (Each major point gets its own paragraph.) Refer to the researchto support your data and your conclusions when you refer to the analyzed data. In aparagraph, summarize all your conclusions and the major points you used to make theconclusions.

12. Suggested improvements: Explain how your project can be improved or expandedbeyond what was tested.

13. Application: In a topic paragraph, restate Your conclusion about the problem/question.List a possible application your conclusion or finding could have to real problems or situa-tions. Refer to problems or previously unknown areas of knowledge you discovered whileconducting the literature and experimental research.

14. Footnote page: Follow a standard footnote format to cite any footnotes to the researchor conclusion section of the project.

15. Bibliography: Follow a standard bibliography format to cite all references used.16. Acknowledgments: Follow a standard format to cite all the people who helped you

with the project.17. Time log/journaVrecord book: In a separate binder or folder, list all times, dates,

activities, and work conducted during the project (Sample entries include library work,developing your problem/question, locating and obtaining materials, constructing equip-ment or data charts, recording data, observations you made during testing, writing, and soon.)

"The whole is greater than the sum of its parts."


may. take a lot of time. But as thesemester progresses, students realizethat working at meeting their due datesis better than having their parentscontacted over and over.

Scheduling due dates helps studentspace themselves. They know exactlyhow much time is allotted for eachpart of the project, and at each steptheir teacher examines the project andmakes suggestions. This immediate

Students learn howto design and carry

out projectstothink like scientists.

feedback improves project quality as,from year to year and project to proj-ect, students learn how to design andcarry out projectsto think likescientists.

When the project is finally com-pleted, students get a tremendousfeeling of relief that an assignmentthat took 5 months is over. And theyfeel satisfied with completing a majorassignment, often their first. While ina sense the projects are cooperativeefforts among students, teachers, andparents, it is the students who learnhow to start and complete an appar-ently overwhelming assignment.

Many of our students enter and winawards at the school's science fair.Many have their projects selected bythe Greater San Diego Science and.Engineering Fair for competitionagainst students from San Diego andImperial Counties. Our students dowell in competition, and some havegone on to state and internationalscience fairs. Their winning is proofthat the great emphasis we place onscience projects is an investment thatpays dividends.

3 3

Fair EvaluationScience fairs should be valuable for everyone. If yours is not, whynot reevaluate it? Do the projects exhibit the goals of scienceteaching? Do the judges use consistent and objective criteria? Areall students "winners?" Science fairs should hot just be a time-worn tradition. They can be fun and challenging for all. Don't beafraid to evaluate or change the way you prepare for and judgeyour science fair.

:14

Does Your Science FairDo What It Should?

by Eugene L Chiappetta and Barbara K. Foots

It's time to reevaluate our

approach to these

familiar research

competitions.

Every year thousands ofstudentsbored, scared-to-death, excited, andconfidentassemble theirdisplays at science fairs

across the nation. But why? Do theylook forward to science fairs? Do ourdepartment chairpersons and districtcoordinators? Do we?

Science fairs can disappoint manystudents. After all, very few winprizes at the competitions. We our-selves often become frustrated whenfairs demand too much energy andtake away time we'd rather spend infront of our classrooms. Administra-tors feel overburdened when theyhave to organize facilities and solicitjudges. But science fairs should bevaluable for everyone. If yours is not,why not reevaluate it?

To be a success, a science fair mustencourage students to ask the rightquestionsthe whys and the hows.The following tips might be helpful:

Encourage students to conductscience investigations that demon-strate the ability to ask the rightquestions and to find answers.

Give students opportunities tocollect data over an extended periodof time and to analyze the data todetermine the effect (or lack of effect)of a variable or procedure.

Help students sharpen their in-quiry skills beyond what is possibleduring classtime.

Many projects entered in sciencefairs do not emphasize investigation.Science fairs are often an incrediblepotpourri of


models (volcanoes, animal organs,planetary systems, atoms) reproducedfrom pictures in printed materials

hobbies or pet show-and-tells(horses, cars, leaves, arrowheads) thatpresent information already available

laboratory demonstrations (distil-lation, electrolysis, erosion, humanpulse rates) that students have copiedfrom a manual

report-and-posters based on a re-view of books and magazine articles(birds, cats, trees, fossils, the universe)f

investigative projects that dependon critical thinking and science pro-cess skills ("What materials offer thebest insulation?" "What characteris-tics of an airfoil generate the greatestamount of lift?" "What factors arenecessary for a seed to germinate?").

Anti-emperialismAll of the projects listed above empha-size investigation, but to wildly vary-ing degrees. So how objectively andfairly can someone evaluate them?It's the old "apples and oranges" dilem-ma. You cannot apply the same set ofcriteria to such different projects.

Furthermore, we do the model build-ers a disservice if we don't encouragethem to go further than to reproducea concept or an idea. Why not sug-gest that students include models asone aspect of an investigative project?For example, after a review of the

literature to determine the differencesbetween normal and cancerous cellsin various tissues, a student mightbuild a series of models of both typesof cells.

This example, you might object, isnot really an investigation becausethe stu dent has not collected andanalyzed erapirical data. Not all in-vestigations, however, are empirical.Some of the most noted scientistsbased their theories on the researchfindings of othersEinstein was one.Recently, for example, we judged anoutstanding middle school fair proj-ect on steroids. The project was anin-depth study on numerous aspectsof steroids, including their use inathletics and cancer treatment. Al-though there was no empirical data,it was a great project.

Science fair projects should be anintegral part of course requirementsbecause they reinforce what students

How lvten are111.atQmicanySuperior toWomen

learn in a good science program. Be-cause fairs bnild inquiry skills, stu-dents are soon asking researchablequestions, gathering information, anddrawing their own conclusions. Sci-ence projects promote independentlearning, encouraging students to pur-sue their own interests.

The five criteriaThe criteria we use to judge sciencefairs need to address inquiry as wellas individual effort. The first crite-rion is creativity. Focus on the unic :

ness of the project. How worthwhileis the project, given the age, back-ground, and ability of the student?Interview the student to find outwhether he or she designed the proj-ect based on a personal interest orwhether the project was suggestedby a parent, teacher, or another adult.To what extent is the project an out-

PHYsioLoGy opHow WomenAre Superior

en

3 6

Mtnlyn Kaufman


Science fairs reinforce what students learnin a good science program. Because fairs

build inquiry skills, students are soonasking researchable questions, gathering

information, and drawing theirown conclusions.

growth of the student's sciencecourse?

How much scientific thought didthe student put into the project?Judges must determine the extent towhich a student has taken in handthe investigative tools of science: ob-servation, classification, inference,measurement, project design (controland variable), and others. Does theprocedure fit the problem? A projecton the effects of interferon cancertreatment would demand extensiveresearch and careful organization. Incontrast, a project on the effects oftemperature on seed germinationwould require a carefully controlledexperiment and the collection of ac-curate data over an extended periodof time.

How well does the student under-stand the project? She or he shouldhave read about the topic and be ableto discuss data, concepts, and theo-ries. The project should exemplifyhow a scientist conducts a researchstudy. Students must be able to pointout where in their investigations ideas

Eugene L. Chiapprita is an associate professor

of education in the Department of Curricu-lum and Instruction at the University ofHouston-University Park, Houston, TX77004. Barbara K. Foots is an assistantdirector in the General Instructional ServicesScience Department of the Houston Indepen-dent School District, 3830 Richmond Ave.,Houston, TX 77027.

are tentative and, in this way, realizethe limitations of the data that theyhave gathered. Students must learnto avoid using the term prove. Sciencesupports or refutes ideas, but it doesnot try to prove anything.

Consider the craft of a project. Stu-dents spend a great deal of time andeffort in presenting what they havedone. Give them credit for how wellthey display their workneatness,organization, and visual appeal. Sinceyoungsters often get help from theirparents and other adults, try to deter-mine how much others contributedso that you can reward a student forhis or her own effort.

Finally, how well can students ex-plain their investigation? Can theyclearly communicate the problem, pro-cedures, information gathered, andthe conclusion both orally and inwritten form? How clearly does theproject present the data and results?

The maximum number of pointsawarded in each of these five catego-ries should reflect the purpose of ascience fair. Generally, assess morepoints in the categories of creativity,scientific thought, and understandingthan in workmanship and clarity. Besure that judges and students knowthe criteria and the point system inadvance.

Even with the best criteria, otherproblems can crop up. Be ready. Com-petition can sometimes detract fromthe goals of science fairs. Often par-


ents get too involved because theywant their children to win. By givingtoo much guidance and direction, theyrob students of opportunities to de-velop their own creative abilities andto learn self-motivation. This alsoplaces students who do most of theirown work at a disadvantage. Someschool districts have even discontin-ued science fairs because parents wereoverinvolved in their children's sci-ence fair projects.

Plan it rightAt times, school district fairs also putundue pressure on science teachers.Frequently, we must devote too muchclass time to these events. We oftenfeel burdened with excessive paper-work and laboratory preparation inaddition to our regular course instruc-tion. Sometimes it seems that sciencefairs just add to the workload. Thekey to avoiding such problems is, ofcourse, planning. A science fair com-mittee of teachers and parents shouldestablish a timetable and judging cri-teria, handle publicity, select awards,and explain what students are ex-pected to do.

Establish early in the school yearthe purpose for the fair in your schooland district so that students and teach-ers realize that projects should reflectthe investigative aspect of science aswell as the influence of science andtechnology in society. Arrange forstudents to work on projects through-out the school year so that the sciencefair will be a natural extension ofyour science course and the district'sscience program.

Science fairs should not be just atime-worn tradition. They can be funand challenging for both students andteachers. But we must not be afraidto overhaul them, to make some realchanges in the way we prepare forthem and the way we judge them.These crazy-quilt displays of variedtalent and effort should be a high-light of the academic year.

37

INJEcriNG

OBJEarnTY 11e0saENcE FAIRJUDGINGUse of a standard evaluationform reflecting specific criteriamay help to clarify science fairgoals for both students andjudges.

Harvey Goodman

Many science fair evaluators have suf-fered at one time or another from thenagging feeling that judging is,at best,subjective and, at worst, borders onthe arbitrarya sad commentary inlight of the tremendous amount ofeffort that students put into theirprojects.

A major part of the problem un-doubtedly lies in the fact that we havenot well defined the goals of sciencefairs, nor evaluated how these coin-cide with the broader goals of scienceteaching. In a recent article in 1ST, forexample, author Norman F. Smithpointed out how few projects are in-vestigative, involving students in crit-ical thinking and science processes.'Most awards, he observes, still go totraditional "library research andposter" projects.

Another factor that may accountfor the subjectivity of the judging pro-cess is the lack of availability of objec-tive criteriacriteria so designed thata judge evaluating a project in a spe-cialty other than his own could arriveat a conclusion that is at least compar-ablewith thatof other members of thejudging team.

Traditionally, judges are asked toevaluate students' projects according

"Why Science Fairs Don't Exhibit the Coals ofScience Teaching," by Norman F. Smith, The &kneeThither 47:22; January 1980.

Harvey Goodman is an assistant principaland supervisor in the biology department atGrover Cleveland High School, 2127Nimrod St., Ridgewood, NY 11385.

to a scheme that looks something likethe following:Creativity (30 points)Logical Thought (25 points)Thoroughness (10 points)Skill (15 points)Clarity of Presentation (15 points)What is the likelihood that two judgesusing this scheme could arrive evenapproximately at the same point valuefor a project? How helpful are thesecriteria to a student planning a proj-ect? How is creativity to be eval-uated?

Usually, when one evaluates a proj-ect, one has (or should have) somecriteria of a different sort in mind.What one really is looking to see is, forexample: whether the project reallyreflects the problem statement;whether the hypothesis arose fromadequate background reading; wheth-er the procedures used were appro-priate for the problem; whether theobservations were accurately record-ed and appropriately displayed;whether the apparatus was appro-priate for the experiment; and wheth-er further research problems weresuggested by the project.

How can one get judges to focus onthese criteria (or whatever standardsare decided on)? I would suggest thatwe begin by drawing up standard eval-uation forms which reflect the valuesof each fair and which direct the eval-uator's attention to specific elementsof the project. The format might looksomething like the following:

Science Fair Project Evaluation Form

0 = Cannot make a judgment1 = Poor2 = Fair3 = Satisfactory4 = Good5 = Excellent

Rank each of the following based onthe rating system given above:The problem was clearly stated.

(Problem formulation.)Appreciable time was evidently spent

searching for and reading scientificarticles. (Background reading.)

Background reading was appropriateboth in quality and scope. (Back-s:vund reading.)

The hypothesis was stated clearly andreflected the background readings.(Hypothesis formation.)

The experimental design demon-

strated understanding of the scien-tific method. (Methodology.)

Apparatus and equipment were ap-propriately designed and/or used.(Materials.)

Observations were clearly summar-ized. (Observations.)

Interpretation of data conformed withobservations. (Observation.)

Tables, graphs, and illustrations wereused effectively in interpreting data.(Observation.)

Conclusions and summary remarkswere justified on the basis cf exper-imental data. (Conclusion.)

The experiment was repeated severaltimes to establish validityof results.(Validity.)

A log book was used to record experi-mental data, ideas, interpretations,and conclusions. (Record keeping.)

The bibliography contained a signifi-cant number of relevant and timelyreferences. (Background reading.)

Limits of accuracy of measurementswere stated. (Measurement.)

Work on the project suggested newproblems for future research. (Fu-ture research.)

Oral presentation was made in thetime allotted, with all phases of theproject discussed. (Interview.)

The researcher answered questionseffectively and accurately. (Inter-view.)

The oral presentation made good useof visual aids. (Interview.)

The student initiated his or her ownresearch project. (Initiative.)

The display board was effective inpresenting the project. (Displayboard.)

The maximum number of points thata candidate may obtain is 100 per-cent; awards may be granted inaccordance with the followingscores:60 - 69Honorable Mention70 - 79--Third Prize80 - 89Second Prize90 - 100First Prize

In the event that a judging team con-sists of two or more members, thefinal score is the team average.

If the goals of each science fair wereadequately described to judges, ifjudges were given evaluation formsreflecting specific criteria by whichprojects could be evaluated in a moreobjective way, we would all benefitstudents, teachers, and judges.


Lawrence J. BellipanniDonald R. Cotten

Jan Marion Kirkwood

ou have just hung up the tele-phone after a brief conver-sation with the science teacher

at a local junior high school, and some-where along the line you've "volun-teered" to be a judge for the school'sscience fair. Suddenly you are respon-sible for evaluating projects that stu-dents may have spent months workingon and for deciding which projects arebest. Making these decisions is no easytask, but if you keep a few points inmind, you can turn your judging dutiesinto a rewarding experience for bothyou and the students.

Regardless of the grade level you'reworking with, you should note thequality of the work the students havedone and determine how well theyunderstand their projects. The projectshould include research, experimenta-tion, and applicationnot simply librarywork. But as you apply these standards,always consider the grade level of thestudent whose project you're judgingand the general level of expectation forthat particular fair.

Here are some specific criteria to use:i. Creative ability. Has the student

shown intelligence and imaginationboth in asking the question and arriv-ing at the answer? Is the student origi-nal in deriving and applying data? Didhe or she build or invent any equip-ment to use in the project?

Remember, anyone can spend somemoney, but it takes a creative person todevise the equipment needed for a par-ticular project. Ask students where theygot their ideas. Creative students arealways coming up with new twists toold ideas; such ingenuity indicates thatyou're dealing with an interested youngscientist. Collections may show dili-gence, but they seldom show creativity.So don't be tempted into giving themhigh marks unless they have some truescientific merit.

2. Scientific thought. Is the problemstated clearly and unambiguously? Didthe student think through the problemand pursue his or her original question


Suddenly you are responsible for evaluatingprojects that students have spent months working onand for deciding which ones are best.

without wandering? Was the experi-mental procedure well defined and didthe student follow each step towardthe expected outcome?

Did the student arrive at the dataexperimentally (as opposed to copyingthem out of a book)? Are the data rele-vant to the stated problem? Is the solu-tion offered workable?

3. Thoroughness. A solid conclusion isbased on many experiments, not a sin-gle one. Does the project test the main

idea of the hypothesis? How completeare the data? How well did the stu-

dent think through each step ofthe experiment? How muchtime did he or she spend onthe project? There are fewloopholes in a project that

has been done thoroughly.Ask the student questionsabout the project to deter-mine how well he or sheunderstands the problem.

4. Skill. Since you don'tknow the sudents person-ally, you will need to have

some way of determininghow liks.ly it is that theydid the work themselves.

Ask them if they had anyhelp with their projects

(But use common sensehere. If the project requires

using an electric saw and thestudent is in third grade, it would

40

be permissibleindeed advisableforan adult to perform this task.) You canusually tell how much of t!-..e actualwork students have done by observingthem w.:ile they demonstrate or ex-plain the project.

5. Clarity. The project should be setup so that the judge can follow theprocedure and understand the data with-out getting confused. Students shouldhave written the data clearly, usingtheir own words, and they should beable to discuss any portion of the proj-ect. The main purpose of the project isto show that students can formulate,test, and present research.

Though these five criteria are basic,,the standards for judging particularscience fairs may vary, depending onthe grade level of the participantP rthe types of projects involved. Theteacher supervising the science fairshould make certain that each judgehas a judging sheet, indicating not onlythe criteria to be used but the pointsthat each item is worth. If you do notunderstand one of the criteria, ask theteacher or coordinating judge for clari-fication before judging begins. Yourresponsibility to the children is to be asfair and objective as possible, and thatcan happen only if all the judges use thesame criteria in the same way. Andremember: each child's project is veryim 'ant to that student. So whetherthe roject merits a blue ribbon or not,be. sure to provide proper encourage-ment so that students will continue toinvestigate their own i cas.

Lawrence J. Bellipann, is nu assistant projmorof Rime al:wagon al the Llnityrsity of SouthernMississippi (Hattiesburg); Donald R. Cotten isan associate professor of science education at the

same school; Jan Marion Kirkwood is a leacherin the Natchez (Mississippi) public schools.Artwork by Johanna Vogelsang.


Make Your ScienceFair Fairer

by B. J. Lagueux and Howard I. Amols

Mr. Weiss can't bear

to give a score lower

than 90; Mrs. Estevez

hasn't liked anything

since 1978. How can you

help the best project

win first prize?

Does the idea of choosingthe winners at your sci-ence fair make younervous? Do you con-stantly worry about being

fair to all the participants? Do yousecretly wonder if you and your fellowjudges are biased, and do you despairthat because of judging discrepanciesthe best projects will not win?

Fear no more! Eliminate the ambi-guity from those subjective evalua-tions with a computer program forjudging science fairs. No matter howquantitative science fair projects mightbe, the way we determine the bestprojects must be subjective. In a smallscience fair, where each judge can eval-uate all projects entered, we hope thesubjectivity of the judges will "averageout." If your science fair has fewjudges, the judges can often arbitratediscrepancies in scoring.

But in a large science fair, how canevery judge evaluate every entry? Asyour science fair grows, so does theprobability that the winning projectswill be determined as much by judginginconsistencies as by merit.

We have developed a small computerprogram, written in BASIC to run onany personal computer, that you canuse as an aid in scoring:The programevaluates not only the scores awardedto each project but also the relativescoring level of each judge. It can iden-tify judges who routinely give projectsvery high or very low scores and can


correct for those sco, es before it deter-mines the average score of anyindividual project. Judges who are ex-cessively inconsistent can also beidentified and their scores correctedor even eliminated before you decidethe winners

Our program was written for usewith Microsoft DOS, on an IBM-PC,but it is easily adaptable to any personalcomputer with at least 20K memory.It would help to have a printer and a

41.

disk d1 "e, but it's not essential.First you input the raw scores; then

the program evaluates the averagescore for each project and performs abubble sort to produce an ordered listof the project averages. This is wherescience fair scoring usually stops.

But our program goes on to computea "correction factor" for each judge.We assign each of the judges (n) andeach of the projects (m)a number, andwe input a scoring array (SCORE) of

dimension n by m to the computer.The variable SCORE(I,J), for example,simply represents the score awardedto the Jth project by the Ith judge. Ifnot all judges view all projects, manyentries in the array SCORE will beblank.

You will always have at least someoverlap among judges. The computeranalyzes SCORE and determines thedeviation of each judge's score fromthe average score of each project. From

> 42

Lynn T. Spout

this you can establish wheiher thescoring of any individual judge is uni-formly high, uniformly low, or totallyinconsistent. Assuming it is not thelatter, the computer assigns a multipli-cative correction factor to each judgeso that his or her scores more closelyalign with the average scores for theprojects he or she evaluated.

The program then will correct thearray SCORE and will reevaluate, re-bubble-sort, and print out anew the


ChangeSCORE array

Incrementiterationcounter

+

/Print

judges'deviations

tCalculate

correction factors

Calculatejudges' deviations

Initialize

Iteration< 7?

True

Calculateaverages

Bubblesort

'Ir

Print

arank

andverages

't

False

Printrank andaverages

IEnd( )

Art by MI Side

average project scores. The secondprintout gives you a winners list thathas been corrected for variation amongjudges. You can repeat this procedurein a DO-LOOP until the projectrankings from one iteration to the nextdo not change. Then you can reason-ably conclude that judging inconsisten-cies have been eliminated, or at leastreduced as much as possible.

The program ends after a maximumof six iterations or when the rankingconvergeswhen the ranking is identi-cal to the ranking from the previous

iteration. Occasionally the ranking failsto converge because of the repeatedinterchanging of adjacently ranked proj-ects, projects that in reality are tied.

Ending the DO-LOOPWe have found that no more than sixiterations are required to correct forthe variation among judges; endingthe DO-LOOP at that point signifi-cantly decreases the program's runningtime. The ranking of projects that havebeen judged by consistent judges, how-


ever, will often converge after onlytwo or three iterations.

Figure 1 is a flowchart that repre-sents about 200 lines of actual codingof the program. Write to us if youwant copies of the program itself.

We tested the computer programwith data from four hypothetical cases.To do this, we had to work back-wardswe had to establish a "true"score for each project and then tocreate judges who scored the projectstoo high or too low compared withthe true scores. When you use ourprogram, of course, you will work notfrom "true" scores but from the rawscores of your judges. In all our tests,SCORE was a 5 by 10 array, corre-sponding to 5 judges and 10 projects.Each project was scored by two dif-ferent judges; each judge scored fourdifferent projects; so the 5 by 10 arraycontained 20 unique scores.

In the first two test cases (see Fig-ures 2 and 3) we assigned all projects a"true" score of between 85 and 60.Our hypothetical judges always scorethe projects proportionately to theprojects' true scores. Then we assignedeach of the five judges an arbitraryweighting factor of between 0.65 and1.15, to represent judges that scoreconsistently low and consistently high,respectively. A weighting factor of 1.00indicates a judge who scores projectsperfectly. We chose which judge scoredwhich particular project by using atable of random numbers. (Figures 2and 3 differ only in that the judgesscored different projects; the same istrue of Figures 4 and 5.) The programproduced the array by multiplying ajudge's weighting factor by a project'strue score.

As you can see in Figures 2 and 3,the program reordered the projects inaccordance with their true scores. Thetables give each project's true score,true rank, judged scores, initial rank(based on a simple average of the judgedscores), and iteration ranks. Note thatsome projects should have tied becausethey had equal true scores.

B. J. Lagueux is a former science teacher atThe Wheeler School who is now a medicalstudent at Brown University. Howard I. Amokis an as,ociate professor of radiation medicine atBrown University, Department of RadiationTherapy, Rhode Island Hospital, 593 EddySt., Providence, RI 02902.

43

Figure 2. Program output for Test Case 1, with theoretically perfect judges.

Judge(correction factor)

True True A B C D E initial Rank after iterationProject score rank (0.65) (0.75) (1.00) (1.10) (1.15) rank 1 2 3 4 5 6

A 85 1 55 94 - 3 1 1 1 1 1 1

B 80 2-3 52 60 9 2 3 2 3 2 3C 80 2-3 60 92 1 4 2 3 2 3 2D 75 4 49 86 6 7 4 4 4 4 4E 70 5-7 70 77 4 3 5 5 5 6 6F 70 5-7 70 81 2 5 6 6 7 5 7G 70 5-7 53 81 7 9 7 7 6 7 5H 65 8 65 72 5 6 8 8 8 8 8I 62 9 40 47 10 10 10 9 10 9 9J 60 10 60 60 8 8 9 10 9 10 10

Figure 3. Program output for Test Case 2, with theoretically perfect judges.


True True A B C D E initial Rank after iterationProject score rank (0.65) (0.75) (1.00) (1.10) (1.15) rank 1 2 3

A 85 1 94 98 1 1 1 1

B 80 2-3 80 92 3 3 3 3C 80 2-3 88 92 2 2 2 2D 75 4 75 83 4 4 4 4E 70 5-7 46 53 8 7 6 6F 70 5-7 46 53 9 8 7 7G 70 5-7 70 77 5 5 5 5H 65 8 42 65 7 6 8 8I 62 9 47 71 6 9 9 9J 60 10 39 45 10 10 10 10

Figure 4. Program output for Test Case 3, with judging variations of ±5 and ±10 percent.


True True A B C D E Initial Rank after iterationProject score rank (0.60-0.69) (0.65-0.83) (1.00) (1.00-1.18) (1.10-1.19) rank 1 2 3 4 5

A 85 1 85 94 1 1 1 1 1 1

B 80 2-3 49 80 5 3 2 3 3 3

C 80 2-3 48 66 9 2 3 2 2 2

D 75 4 50 52 10 5 5 4 4 4

E 70 5-7 43 83 6 6 6 6 5 5

F 70 5-7 50 79 4 8 7 7 7 7

G 70 5-7 70 78 2 4 4 5 6 6

H 65 8 47 73 8 10 8 8 8 8

I 62 9 62 62 7 7 9 9 9 9

J 60 10 65 63 3 9 10 10 10 10


In the most dramatic example ofthe effect of our program, Project B inFigure 2 was originally ranked ninthof 10 projects because it was judgedby two low-scoring judges. The pro-gram identified these judges, weight-ed their scores, and reranked this proj-ect to second or third place, dependingon the iteration.

The third and fourth test caseswere identical to the first two, withthe exception that we chose to ran-domly vary four of the judges' weight-ing factors by up to either ±5 or ±10percent. (See Figures 4 and 5.) In thesetests, the judges were not perfectlyconsistent.

For these two cases, the programwas able to rerank one set (Figure 4)to correspond with the projects' truescores. The program improved thesecond data set (Figure 5), but thejudges' scores were too inconsistentfor the program to rank all projectsperfectly. Figure 5 represents a par-ticularly skewed set of scores. For exam-'ple, Judge B gave Project B a dispro-portionately low score of 54, whilegiving two weaker projects (D and E)higher scores (56 and 57, respectively).

Rank failureThe program's failure to effectivelyrank the data in Figure 5 illustratesone of the limitations of the program'sscoring analysis. The algorithm of ourmethod assumes that each judge's scor-ing is proportional to each project'strue score. In reality, judges' scoreswill vary around a proportionality fac-tor, as in Figure 5. The program com-pares each judge with fellow judges,to find the best proportionality factor,

and corrects scores accordingly. Theprogram cannot, however, reliably cor-rect for a judge's variation around hisor her own proportionality factor.

In the data from Figure 5, the judges'variation around their respective pro-portionality factors was too great giventhe number of judges and the numberof judges scoring each project. Theprogram's scoring method compares ajudge's score with other judges scor-ing the same project, as well as withthe project's average score. The onlyway to reduce the importance of ajudge's variation is to increase thenumber of "judge-scorings." This couldbe done by either increasing the num-ber of judges, increasing the numberof projects that each judge scores, orboth.

Given the small number of judge-scorings in our four test cases, theprogram was not always sensitiveenough to retain the equal standing oftruly equal projects. Projects B and Chad the same true score of 80, andProjects E, F, and G had the same truescore of 70. In our first test case (Fig-ure 2), these rankings did not converge,and so indicated equal standing. In theother three test cases our programwas unable to indicate the equalstanding of equal projects.

We then tested the program usingdata from an actual science fair. Inthis real case, the winners would havebeen different if our program had beenused. One of the projects that tied forfirst place would have ranked seventh,and the fourth-place finisher wouldhave ranked second. The third-placeproject would have remained in thirdplace.

This change in outcome indicates

that there was some systematic vari-ation among the judges. This is notsurprising when you consider the var-ied backgrounds and specialties of thejudges. Among the 36 judges in thefair were high school teachers, collegeprofessors, physicians, nurses, andengineers.

To ensure adequate overlap amongjudges and an accurate average scorefor each project, you must be sure torecruit enough judges so that at leastthree judges review each project. Also,in order for the computer to calculatean accurate proportionality factor foreach judge, have each judge review atleast four projects. Typically, a judgespends between 15 and 25 minutesjudging a project. A judging session of21/2 hours will allow enough time foreach judge to review between six andeight projects.

What about the excessively slowjudge who will never review six proj-ects in one evening? That judge couldkeep the whole fair waiting. Simplyrandomly assign judges to projects.Have judges first report to the orga-nizer's table to receive a score sheet.Then they can judge a given project attheir own pace and return to the orga-nizer's table for the next project as-signment. Because each judge has acorrection factor calculated in our pro-gram, having judges score a differentnumber of projects will not bias theresults.

You can use this program to reeval-uate your science fair judging, to helpensure that winning projects are select-ed fairly. At the very least, the programcan help you identify cases of inconsis-tent judging, so you can alert the fair'sorganizers to potential problems.

Figure 5. Program output for Test Case 4, with judging variations of ±5 and ±10 percent.

True True


Initial Rank after iterationA B C D EProject score rank (0.60-0,69) (0.65-0.83) (1.00) (1.00-1.18) (L10 -t19) rank 1 2 3 4 5 6

A 85 1 51 85 7 2 1 2 1 1 1

B 80 2-3 54 _ 90 4 8 5 5 5 5 5C 80 2-3 80 93 1 1 2 1 2 2 2D 75 4 56 89 3 7 3 4 4 4 4E 70 5-7 47 57 9 3 4 3 3 3 3F 70 5-7 70 70 5 4 7 7 7 8 8G 70 5-7 81 83 2 6 6 6 6 6 6H 65 8 65 75 6 5 8 8 8 9 9I 62 9 37 70 8 8 10 10 10 10 10

J 60 10 41 50 10 10 9 9 9 7 7


Science fairs are exciting. Teachers and students generallyare worth every bit of the hard work that goes into them.those students who choose not to do an independentscience project? Chances are a student whois turned on to science by one of thenontraditional events describedin this section will turn up laterin the olympiads and othercompetitive programs. Butthe main advantage of theseprograms is they offer everystudent a chance to be ascientist, if only for a day.

agree that theyBut what about

Beyond the Science Fair46

Biology, Chemistry, and PhysicsAre Team SportsA science super bowl will be as exciting as the

real thing and lots more educational.

Would you like yourstudents to beg foroutside readings inscience or argueheatedly over the

best way to determine the molecularweight of an unknown organic acid?Would you enjoy discussing recentadvances in medical science or cosmol-ogy with gifted students, colleagues,and supervisors? If so, maybe there'sa science league in your future.

The North Shore Science League innortheastern Massachusetts started in1978 when I organized intramuralbiology competitions among teamsselected from biology classes at Mas-conomet Regional High School. Thecompetitions were so popular that Iorganized an interscholastic sciencecompetition. With a great deal of helpfrom my colleagues at Masconometand five or six science supervisors, wetackled our first meet in spring 1980.Now in its third year, the North ShoreScience League, with teams from 14schools, conducts 6 meets a year, eachwith more than 100 participants. Theleague combines the high frequencyof meets in the Mathematics Leagues121 with the hands-on, high interestteam events of the Biology Olympicsand Science Bowl 11, 31.

Take the fieldThe first two events at one of ourmeets usually are run simultaneously.

Charles W. Kellogg is science departmenthead at Masconomet Regional High School,

RFD, Tops!ield, MA 01983.

by Charles W. Kellogg

One is a laboratory or field activity,for example, using a taxonomic key toidentify biological specimens, namingminerals and fossils, or determiningpercent composition of an unknownchemical mixture. In the second eventstudents solve problems: balancingchemical equations, sorting out Men-delian genetics, puzzling out mechan-ics, and more. The third event is aquiz similar to College Bowl. Althoughfun and exciting, the bowl is the mostdifficult to organize, judge, and score.Sometimes we resort to a written quizinstead. Topics have included space sci-ence, meteorology, recent advances inmedicine, and environmental issues.

Several times we have added instantinvention, a fourth event. Each teamcreates a device to perform a specifiedfunction. Once we required studentsto build a balance with plastic straws,string, paper clips, and tape. Studentswere then given several pennies ofknown mass and told to determinetheir mass. Finally, students had tomeasure out 50 g of water with theirbalance. The winning team came with-in 0.1 g. Although this event is verypopular, we usually weigh it less inthe scoring because of the somewhatunpredictable nature of the activitiesand the fact that luck rather than skillcan often be an important factor.

We try for varietyin both subjectmatter and sophisticationin selectingtopics for the meets. Life science, earthscience, chemistry, and physics appearequally often over the course of a year,and at every meet we include at leastone event in which first-year studentscan be successful. The activities we

46 NATIONAL SCIENCE TEACHERS ASSOCIATION 4 7

offer sometimes depend on whetheror not special facilities are available.For example, one member school hasa planetarium perfect for a laboratoryevent; another school lets us use itsexcellent fossil collection.

At the end of the day, we serverefreshments in the assembly room,and monitors begin scoring the events.To add to the excitement, we post theresults imm,.4;ately on an overheadprojector. The winning team receivesa trophy to keep until the next meet.The winner for the year has its schoolname engraved on the base of thetrophy, which is a mug embellishedwith the number 1 and a medallion ofEinstein. We fondly refer to it as theEinstein Award.

Ready for the kickoffA great deal of planning and prepara-tion is necessary for a successful meet.First, our constitution, adapted fromthat of the Tri-State MathematicsLeague (21, sets the guidelines for themeets. But even more important, wemust keep devising new events. Sofar, teachers at member schools havecontributed all the ideas, but it hasbeen time-consuming. Currently, weoffer $25 to anyone who submits anevent that we use in the meets. (Thiscomes out of the $50 membership duespaid by each school.) Many schoolsgive stipends to their coaches. Thepresident of the league is responsiblefor selecting the events for a particu-lar meet. The host school also suppliesthe necessary staff, equipment, andfacilities to run the meet as well as the

refreshments. Since member schoolshave been very willing to sponsormeets, no school has had to stage morethan one meet per year.

One warning: Once you have starteda league, be prepared for your stu-dents to become highly competitive.They will eagerly await the announce-ments of the events for the next meet.They will demand practice sessions,which can be almost as much fun asthe meet itself and are essential to ateam performing well. For this reason,be sure to announce the topics for ameet well in advance.

We try not to limit the number ofstudents who can join each team sincediversity is a key ingredient for suc-cess; but we also try to have only 12students from each school compete ineach specialty at a meet. At the end ofthe year, we give school letters andother awards to all the participants atthe annual Math-Science Banquet.

If you're beginning to think thissounds interesting, why not considerstarting a league of your own? Beginby conducting an intramural competi-tion at your school, as I did, amongseveral classes. This will give you ex-perience in organizing a meet and grabthe attention of your students. Afterthis, you'll be ready to organize ademonstration meet for several areaschools, with a number of other schoolsinvited to observe. This should sparkplenty of interest. Take this opportu-nity to enlist faculty members fromthese schools to organize several fu-ture meets. Before long, the enthusi-asm of both students and faculty willgenerate the momentum necessary fora formal Science League. The key toour success in founding the NorthShore Science League was the com-mitment of many science supervisorsand several teachers during the league'sfirst 2 years. They volunteered to planand run meets, design events, and eventransport students when we did nothave enough money for buses. Eventhough this was a lot of work, we allfeel that it was worth the effort.

The Science League challenges andrewards students in a way normallyreserved for athletes. The league hasalso fostered a greater sense of aca-demic community among the facultyand students of member schools andhas made our communities aware thatacademics is alive and well in theschools. Most important, however,students enjoy sciencea feeling rare-

11111111*

Um

ly experienced so strongly in theclassroom.

I hope you now see a Science Leaguein your future. I look forward tomeeting you someday in the futureNSL (National Science League) SuperBowl. May the best team win. Goodluck!

Ed Mahar:, roletny 4 Mt Plydaddplyia filets

References1. Medve, R. J. "The Biology Olympics." The

American Biology Teacher 42:223-231, April1980.

Z. Paarlberg, T. J. "The Mathematics League."The Mathematics Teacher 60:38-40, January1967.

3. Reynolds, K. E. "Science Bowl Stirs SchoolSpirit." The Silence Teacher 47:37 -38, November1980.


v

Editor's CornerScience Olympiad

After an ebb of interest, studentresearch is generating excitement againamong teachers. We still have prob-lems managing the fairs and integrat-ing that work into our curricula, butmore of us are deciding that it's wellworth the time we spend on studentresearch.

At the same time, a group of scienceeducators is planning a totally newnational program for student compe-tition in the sciencesone that is bothmore lighthearted and more rigorousthan traditional science fairs. This year,for the first time, students from allover the country will participate inthe National Science Olympiad, a pro-gram that has already been quite suc-cessful in individual states. Aiming atmaking the national competition as re-warding as the local ones have become,Jack Cairns of Delaware and GeraldPutz of Michigan have spearheadedan intense effort to raise funds and toget people from across the nation in-volved in the olympics.

The Olympiad features team andindividual events in junior high (grades6 to 9) and senior high (glades 9 to 12)divisions. Challenges range f-.7,m high-ly technical qualitative analysis, titra-tion races, and computer programmingto exciting and creative paper airplanecontests, egg drops, and tea-makingraces. Activities that normally flowerin quiet laboratories bloom to thecheers of fans and participants as spir-ited as those at any homecoming game.

Many state Olympiads climax theircompetitions with a. Science Bowl, atrivia game of science facts that trulyseparates the amateur from the aficio-nado. The best competitors in thesehead-to-head rivalries are often notthose with the highest grades or aca-demic laurels. The Science Olympiadfavors creative, self-motivated, inde-pendent thinkerspeople with thetraits that bode well for future NobelPrizes. Team spirit and cooperation,the marks of good research groups,

are the attitudes that produce winnersin the team competitions.

Is it quantifiable?Local Science Olympiad success is ob-vious: increasing attendance everyyear, higher enrollments in scienceclasses, and more and more teachersvolunteering their time and talents tomake each olympics better than thelast. As a veteran coach, I can attestthat the contests are great occasionsthat keep getting greater. Studentswho never worried about grades be-came suddenly enthusiastic. Students"on the fringes" of the academic pro-gram were absorbed into the fervorof the events. I have fond memoriesof our years of state competition:

the student who came directly

F.

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Science Olympiad favors creative,independent thinkerspeople with the traits

that bode well for future Nobel Prizes.

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from the senior prom, refusing to sleepuntil he took his medal in the catapult(trajectory) contest, and his successor,whose carefully made catapult fellapart as he demonstrated it for TVcameras before the event

the end product of one session: arocket that still sits on the roof of alocal restaurant

the senior who cried after receiv-ing her gold medal in qualitative analy-sis"the first award I ever got"

the 10 days it took to regain fulluse of my vocal cords after cheeringfor our team.

Many educators and groups haveendorsed the concept of the ScienceOlympiad. Otis Smith, Past Presidentof the CAG Council, told state repre-sentatives, "What is really exciting isthe prospect of having students of allability levels involved in science." PastNSTA President Don McCurdy calledthe Olympiad "a vehicle for involvingmany students at the secondary levelin scientific endeavors at a relativelylow cost.

The Olympiad promises to involvea broad cross-section of business, in-dustry, professional groups, and thegeneral public in a productive effort torecognize students, teachers, andschools." At its July meeting, the NSTABoard of Directors unanimously en-dorsed the National Science Olympiad.Through the sponsorship of the UnitedStates Army, a national seminar forstate facilitators took place this fall.

For information about the NationalScience Olympiad, write to GeraldPutz, 5955 Little Pine La., Rochester,MI 48064. Whether it's through a Sci-ence Olympiad, a science fair, theSpace Shuttle Student InvolvementProject, or another extracurricularactivity, why not make this the yearyou challenge your students to gobeyond the textbook? Share yoursuccesses and failures with other

0 teachers and with NSTA. We'll all beglad you did. Juliana Texley


CompetingWin or lose, when students work hard to prepare

for these science contests, everyone wins.

The thrill of victory, the lessons learned from defeatdo they havea place in our science curricula? For many years contests and com-petitions were deemphasized, but today competition is making acomeback. Students and teachers alike attest to the motivationalvalue of science fairs, symposia, and olympiads, all of them great

motivators for students, whether or not you choose "winners."And science teachers are discovering what the physical education department

knew all alongthat community support for programs is largely a function ofpublic relations. Parents, friends, and boards of education all find ways to join inthe action when science becomes a team sport.

What appears here are some suggestions of ways you and your students canbecome involved. Is a science team in your lesson plan?

Ready, Set, JETS!by David J. Rowson

Opportunity often comes disguised ashardship. On certain Saturdays in Feb-ruary and March, thousands of highschool students across the countryprove that by taking rigorous 40-min ute exams as part of the JuniorEngineering Technical Society's (JETS)National TEAMS Competition. In pur-suing the TEAMS challenge, studentscan win schoolwide, communitywide,and even nationwide recognition foracademic excellence.

TEAMS (Tests of Engineering Apti-tude, Mathematics, and Science) is anational academic interscholastic com-petition consisting of seven examina-tions: biology, chemistry, physics,mathematics, computer fundamentals,engineering graphics, and Englishallthe subjects in a college preparatoryscience curriculum.

Students who test in TEAMS getimmediate rewards. TEAMS scoring

takes place at the site of the competi-tion immediately after the tests arecompleted. In a typical schedule, stu-dents compete in morning sessions,scores are tabulated, and winners arepresented their awards as part of thesame day's program. A TEAMS com-petition is an ideal occasion to empha-size college preparation, career guid-ance, and the fields of engineering,technology, math, and science. Forexample, a TEAMS competition canserve as the centerpiece for a day-longcluster of activities such as engineer-ing or science exhibits, engineering de-sign contests, or talks and panel dis-cussions by people from business, in-dustry, and academe.

Local recruitsCompetition begins at the local levelwith sponsors who host competitions


in their area, region, or state. Spon-sors of TEAMS competitions comefrom local high school JETS chapters,area education units, professional en-gineering societies, and faculty at ju-nior colleges and schools of engineer-ing at leading universities. Sponsorsrecruit teams from area high schools;arrange for testing facilities; and formcommittees to proctor, score, arrangefunding, and report results.

Local high school teams of up to 12students each decide who will com-pete in each academic discipline. Eachstudent is allowed to contribute onlytwo exam scores to the point total,making TEAMS truly a team effort.

1"""ttly

Local winning teams go on to thenational TEAMS competition. At theclose of the school year, TEAMS na-tional winners receive their awards atan awards banquet in a prominent city.JETS provides award-winning teamsand their coaches 'xpense -paidtrips to the cerenr rip includesvisits to local sit.. achnical orscientific interest. J" presents na-tional awards to the WO.. '1 in eachacademic area and to the me,. '5ers ofwinning teams that represent schoolshaving both large 1.700 or more) andsmall (fewer than 700) enrollments.

Help is available for anyone inter-ested in holding a TEAMS competi-

tion. JETS state coordinators are re-sponsible for all JETS activities in theirstate, so they contact JETS nationalheadquarters on a regular basis. Inaddition, colleges of engineering andengineering societies such as the Na-tional Society of Professional Engi-neers, the American Society of CivilEngineers, the American Society ofMechanical Engineers, and the Insti-tute of Electrical and Electronics En-gineers have consistently been willingto encourage and support TEAMScompetitions.

The first back-to-back national cham-pions in the small school category camefrom the community of Red Bud, Illi-

thostmly 4 M.Mn

nois (population 2600). At Red BudHigh School, athletic and academicteams have equal stature. just as thefootball and basketball teams are sentoff with pep rallies, so are the mem-bers of the TEAMS team. Twice, in1981 and 1982, they returned as na-tional champions.

The TEAMS coach, Sandra Spalt,

See JETS page 52

David J. Rowson is associate director of JETS,

345 E. 47th Si., New York, NY 10017.For more information on TEAMS competi-tions, contact him at Mai address or the JETScoordinnior in your sink.


Breakfastof Champions

by Marian McLeod

Science is alive and well and living atSeaholm High School! I wanted toshout it from the rooftops. Our teamhad just taken first place in the Na-tional Science Olympiad.

Everyone had worked hard and long.Winning had involved many more peo-ple than just the 15 team members.How could we prolong the heady feel-ing of victory and thank and honoreveryone at the same time? Weplanned a Breakfast of Champions.

We invited the parents who loanedthe family car, who wiped glue andsupplied toothpicks (for bridge build-ing), and who walked the wocds withour orienteering champion. We didn'tforget the retired rockhound whocoached our geology champion, thedoctor who lent out her professionallibrary to our anatomy expert, andthe astronomer who worked with ourastronomy gold medalist.

And the teachers were therenotonly the science teachers, and depart-ment head who worked so hard, butthe middle school teacher who helpedour geologists and the industrial artschairperson, who built an answer lightsystem so we could practice ScienceBowl. We welcomed the administra-tors, who gave unstinting support, andthe department secretary, who neverfailed to lend a helping hand. Togetherwith our champions, everyone sharedin the satisfaction of a job well done.

The Science Olympiad brought ex-citement to our program at Seaholm.Our victory was significant with fourgold medals, six silver medals, and onebronze.

Marian McLeod is an applied science leacherat Seaholm High School, 2436 W. LincolnRd., Birmingham, MI 48009.

For more information a'oout the Na-tional Science Olympiad, see the No-vember 1984 issue of TST, pages 8-9.To participate, contact your state sci-ence supervisor or Gerald Putz, 5955Little Pine La., Rochester, MI 48064.

JETS Continued from page 51

says Red Bud has no more talentedstudents than other schools but pointsout that Red Bud students set reason-able goals and work hard to achievethem. Activity begins on freshman"farm teams," so depth is built intothe team. Practices begin in Octoberand are scheduled before, during, andafter school hours.

The rewards from the years of hardwork, in addition to the medals, tro-phies, and trips, are higher ACT andSAT scores, many scholarships, andthe knowledge that some studentshave gone on to college who mayotherwise have chosen not to. Thecareer Red Bud winners most cftenpick? Engineering, of course.

A Competitions SamplerJunior Science andHumanities SymposiumAt the Junior Science and HumanitiesSymposium the emphasis is as muchon sharing as on doing science. Theprogram is modeled after professionalscientific symposia; students presentthe results of their independent re-search orally in a competition that isas much forensic as scientific. Studentsalso hear researchers and scientistswho discuss the IStest developmentsin their fields.

At 45 regional symposia, hosted byuniversities, panels of scientists hearthe research of students nominatedby their science teachers. The scien-tists select five representatives to thenational meeting, which has been heldat West Point, New York, in recentyears. The program, which is free tostudents, is funded by the Army Re-search Office. For information, con-tact Barbara Osborne, Academy ofApplied Sciences, Junior Science andHumanities Symposium, 4603 West-ern Blvd., Raleigh, NC 27606; (919)851-1776.

Scholarships for the InventiveThe Annual Thomas Edison/MaxMcGraw Scholarship Program awardsscholarships to high school studentswho are interested in science andengineering and who demonstrate theinventive genius of Thomas Alva Edi-son and Max McGraw.

All high school students in grades9-12 who attend public, private, orparochial school in the United States,Canada, or other participating nation


are eligible. To enter, a student mustsubmit a proposal, which may be anabstract of an already completed ex-periment or a projected idea, on a prac-tical application of an experiment inscience or engineering. A letter ofrecommendation from the student'steacher or sponsor, which indicateshow the student best exemplifies Edi-son's and McGraw's creativity and inge-nuity, must accompany the proposal.

The 1986 awards will include two$5000 and ten $1000 scholarships.Proposals and letters of recommenda-tion must be postmarked by December1st each year. For inform:ition aboutnext year's program, write to RobertA. Dean, PO Box 80953, San Diego,CA 92138.

Young InventorsIn the footsteps of DaVinci and Edi-son, today's young scientists are en-couraged to invent in the annual Dura-cell Scholarship Competition. Thereward: $30,000 in scholarship mon-ies, and the satisfaction that comeswith successful technology. Science isno vague endeavor for Duracell com-petitors; it is as real as lightedsneakers and battery-powered windspeed analyzers. Several of the teacher/sponsors of last year's competitionwrote to The Science Teacher:

High emotionsThere are moments in the lives ofteachers that are charged with highemotions, when our hearts swell withpride and the glow of love seems toshine the brightest; such momentsoccur slowly if one is counting the

53

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Randall Makda won ihe grand prize for "The Wind Speed Analyzer" (top) and ChrisiopherUrban won second place for lighied Sneakers" (bottom) in the 105 Duracell Scholarship

54

years in the profession, but when thetime comes, it is exhilarating. You sud-denly realize that your dedication,patience, compassion, and meticulous-ness pay off.

Young Chris Urban brought aboutjust such a mcment in my life thisyeztr through his achievementsecond-place winner of a Duracell scholarship.Joan Thud Rieck, science chairperson andwither, Vineland High School, Vineland, N.J.

Solar trackingLast year in the fall I received a bro-chure describing a competition spon-sored by Duracell. The criterion herewas creativity, and for the first time, Isaw a program that was designed tohelp and even encourage the gifted,creative group. After announcing theevent :o my class, student approachedme and wanted to enter. We discussedthe feasibility of making a solar track-ing device, and he seemed very astuteregarding its construction.

I was astonished, though, when helater brought the complete.' 'device tome in actual operating coin...on. Thedevice won him second place in thecompetition and a 53000 scholarship.After this, I realized that there is in-deed no limit to the potential of ouryoungsters.Nor Novi. $4 fern 4* feather 01 N't 4/1141This.

winner David llriliuts. Body A lounhun HighS. hoot, Fort Collin:, Colo.

Laughing and cheeringFrom the first application to the finalawards, I was excited, laughing, cheer-ing, and just plain having fun. I sin-cerely believe the enthusiasm that thecontest generated in me spilled overinto my leaching, And that in turninfluenced my students' efforts n thecompetition. 1 teas able to show themthe excitement of science in a way Icould not in the classroom.--Bob SRA', $4/Ctii e leather of .400gdpraewinner Angu:. Cahler and ,our.a.1 pm winnerErie Romeo, Shoreham tVatting River HighSehool, Shoreham, N.Y.

Independent studyA longstanding Interest in alternativesources of energy and their potentialapplication at our home in centralWashington prompted my son Randyto design and construct a recordinganemometer to aid in determining thefeasibility of our site for a wind-powered generator. he chose this as


the problem to research and developin an independent study course I offerto serious senior science students eachyear and to enter it in the Duracellcompetition.

Duracell administers the programin an excellent fashion from beginningto end. The guidelines are clear, con-cise, and unrestrictive. The experiencewas outstanding for all concerned.George A. Make la, science teacher and hitherof the grand-prize winner, Cashmere HighSchool, Cashmere, Wash.

This year's entries .n the FourthAnnual Duracell $30,000 ScholarshipCompetition are due February 24, 1986,and should be sent to Duracell Schol-arship Competition, PO Bo 812,Cooper Station, New York, NY 10276.For an official entry package, write toDuracell Scholarship CompetitionEntry Forms, PO Box 14312, Dayton,OH 45414.

WestinghouseScience Talent SearchForty-four years of success are behindWestinghouse's effort to identify themost creative future scientists, engi-neers, and mathematicians. The pro-gram's alumni include five Nobel prizewinners.

Students must submit the resultsof independent research and resumesby December 15th each year. For infor-mation about next year's program,contact Science Service, 1719 N St.NW, Washington, DC 20036. Thisyear's awards will include $140,000 inscholarships and 40 all-expense-paidtrips to Washington for the ScienceTalent Institute.

Space Shuttle StudentInvolvement ProjectNow in its sixth year, the Space Shut-tle Student Involvement Project (SSIP)offers high school students the chanceto propose experiments that could beperformed aboard the Space Shuttle.Past winners have proposed studies ofcrystal formation; silkworm, bee, andearthworm behavior; and plant growth,among others.

Kay Meisch, a chemistry teacher atWebster Senior High School, in Web-ster, New York, was advisor to 1984-1985 national winner John Nash. Johnwon for his project "Effects of Gravity

;

4

Rsdh A L.S

Thomas Walter, one of the seven SSIP winners for his project, "Reproduction in Space: AnInvestigation of Differences in Early Pattern Formation of Isolecithal (Et hinodertn)and Mesoleci-thal (Amphibian) Eggs in Micro-g."

and Magnetic Field Strength or theSurface Morphology of Ferrofluids."

Meisch recalls, "My student wasamong the 7 national winners, selectedfrom almost 3000. We were off to alaunch!

"On Friday, August 23, 1985, ourbus departed from Cocoa Beach forthe Kennedy Space Center. We werewelcomed by NASA officials and par-ticipated in a workshop.

"Our students each gave a 10- to15-minute presentation about theirproject. That afternoon we touredSpaceport USA. An evening banquetand awards ceremony was led byGerald Skoog, NSTA president, andCurtis Graves, acting director for edu-cational affairs for NASA.

"Saturday morning we arose at 4:30to go to the launch site, but thunder-storms delayed Discovery's maiden voy-age. Sunday morning it was 5:30, butagain the countdown was stopped. Acomputer problem, and the secondlaunch was scrapped.

"Helenmarie Hofman, of NSTA,came to everyone's rescue. NSTA


would be our host until Tuesday. At3:30 AM Tuesday it was raining andour prospects seemed gloomy. But thecount continued, and our twice-delayedShuttle thundered off the launchpadat 6:58 AM.

"Every minute we spent waiting waswell worth it. It was one of the mostexciting moments of our lives. Johnand I were very grateful for our un-usual experience."

Students should describe their spaceexperiment in a 1000-word proposalprepared according to SSIP guidelines,which were on the poster inserted inthe September 1985 issue of TST andnow are available from NSTA.

Regional winners and their advisorswill attend expense-paid symposia atNASA centers next spring. Nationalwinners and their advisors will attendan expense-paid national symposiumnext summer. The three top studentswill receive scholarships from NSTA.

Any student in a U.S. public, pri-vate, parochial, or overseas school ingrades 9 to 12 can enter.

55

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Moms M. Stall, courtesy of Montsontry County, Md.

Meet Me at the Fairby William G. Lamb and Peter Brown

Science fairs should

be more like

county fairs.

During the mid to late1960s, support for sciencefairs waned to the pointwhere many sponsorsjust plain got out of the

science fair business. Every teacherknows what science fairs are: researchproject competitions in which studentspresent their results on three-sidedexhibit boards a maximum of 75 cmdeep, 120 cm wide, and 270 cm tall.Right? These science fairs follow therules and regulations specified by theInternational Science and EngineeringFair (ISEF) as administered by ScienceService in Washington, D.C.

Among other definitions for "fair,"my old battered dictionary gives theclosest one for both science fairs andcounty fairs: "a competitive exhibition(as of farm products)." I must admitthat I was surprised by the emphasisin the definition because my idea of acounty fair is as much rides and enter-tainment as pigs and pickles winningblue ribbons. In addition to these con-tests, county fairs have something elsethat traditional science fairs often lack:joy, sparkle, and diversity.

Last year in Oregon, a consortiumof groups got together to start a statescience fair after many years without


one. We wanted to have a real fair inthe county fair sense with events andactivities in addition to the typicalISEF research competition. But first,our event needed a name. We couldn'tuse science fair because too many peo-ple, we thought, associated thosewords with unpleasant competition.So, after much discussion, we calledthe 3-day event the Northwest ScienceExposition.

Brainstorming produced plans for aseries of events. First, we would havea research competition, affiliated withthe ISEF and run according to its rulesand format. We called it a researchcompetition to stress that it was onlyor k. part of the overall exposition.

We also arranged a noncompetitivedisplay of student projects at theOregon Museum of Science and Indus-try (OMSI). Many students, especiallyyounger students, we decided, wouldrather exhibit their work and receiverecognition for it in a noncompetitive,unjudged forum. Students could dis-play research, but we also encouragedother kinds of projectsfamiliar mod-els and demonstrations of well-knownscientific principles as well as morecreative science-art projects and dia-ries of nature trails. Originally, wethought this event would attract most-ly middle schoolers, but we soon foundthat a significant number of highschoolers, including many who haddone bona fide "competitive" researchprojects, opted to exhibit their workat the noncompetitive show.

In our third event, an "olympics,"teams of students challenged one an-other in the high school science bigthree: biology, chemistry, and physics.Each of the olympics began with aquiz in which every team took a writ-ten test. Team members cooperatedin answering the items. Then the topfour teams competed in a college-bowl-type verbal quiz. Except for thequiz bowl, each olympic event wasunique. I describe some of them in thebox accompanying this article.

We also arranged a series of tours

56 NATIONAL SCIENCE TEACHERS ASSOCIATION57

Kathy Madan

±44

Kathy Mafilkton

to sites of scientific interest, includingthe Washington Park Zoo (studentsgot to go "backstage" as well as viewthe animals out front), the Oregon

...-Graduate Center (various researchlabs), the Regional Primate ResearchCenter (research labs and a Macaquecolony), CH2MHill Civil Engineeringfirm, and the National WeatherService.

Finally, students could sign up forworkshops at OMSI in forensic sci-ence, microbial genetics, computerflight simulation, and computer graph-ics and music. One day at the exposi-tion, Astronomy Day, featured anOMSI planetarium educator offeringworkshops and shows. Some studentsopted to see videotapes from the Voy-ager missions.

In addition, the Lane County (Ore-gon) Educational Service District pro-vided a portable planetarium, and stu-dents and teachers could attend sciencefilms during the day at OMSI. To avoidthe problem of students having noth-ing to do on Friday night and to pro-mote social interaction among studentsfrom the different schools, we sched-uled a barbecue, a physics demonstra-tion, and a dance, complete with avery live band.

Putting on this extra aganza poseda number of problems and requiredthe close cooperation of many groupsof people. Fortunately, the Expo wassponsored by a consortium includingthe Oregon Science Teachers Associ-ation (OSTA), the Portland section ofthe American Chemical Society (ACS),the Oregon section of the AmericanAssociation of Physics Teachers(AAPT), the Northwest Associationof Marine Educators (NAME), the

William G. Limb teaches chemistry and phys-ics at Oregon Episcopal School, 6300 S.W.Nicol Rd., Portland, OR 97223. Peter Brownis a teaching associate at the Oregon Museumof Science and Industry, 4015 S.W. CanyonRd., Portland, OR 97221.


Oregon State Department of Educa-tion, and the Oregon Museum of Sci-ence and Industry. This cross-fertili-zation has been important because,although many of the same teachersbelong to OSTA and NAME, there isvery little overlap among OSTA, ACS,and AAPT. Although the Expo wouldprobably have been easier to stage withfewer interests represented and a well-financed dictator delegating the tasks,the give-and-take of planning meetingsand our mutual delight in finally exe-cuting the Expo helped all of us buildvital professional networks.

Coordinating so many activities atthree sites separated by several kilo-meters proved to be pretty challeng-ing, but came off with only a fewhitches. We arranged for shuttle busservice between the sites. Except forstudents who tried to take part in 1-3ththe research competition (which ran alittle ahead of schedule) and the olym-pics (which ran a little behind sched-ule), most students got where theywanted to go on time.

In its first year, the Expo served 33schools and more than 500 students.Most schools participated in a varietyof the activities. More than 60 percentof the teachers returned a question-naire evaluating the Expo. The gen-eral consensus? The Expo was justdandy and would have been dandierwith better organization.

We're quite proud of our first an-nual Expo, which was supported bygenerous grants from the SwindellsFund of the Oregon Community Foun-dation and the Winningstad ChairFund of the Oregon Episcopal School.We look forward to the next, whichwill be held in Hillsboro (Oregon)High School, April 12-13, 1985. Weare especially happy that all the majorevents will be at one site. It's the com-bination of individual research andteam competition, noncompetitive ex-hibits, films, tours, workshops, andsocial events that makes the North-west Science Exposition a real sciencefair.

Pointing the Wayfor Young Researchers

by Lynn W. Glass

Sometimes students have a hardtime sifting through the rules ofa science fair to come up with a

project that pleases both the judgesand themselves. Here in Iowa, a strongsupport organization guides studentsthrough their early days in research.From before project planning to thenational meeting of the American Ju-nior Academy of Science, the Iowa Ju-nior Academy of Science backs itsyoung researchers.

Each fall the Iowa Junior Academyconducts a "how to" workshop for highschool students and teachers who areinterested in getting a science researchproject started. The workshop helpsstudents define a manageable researchtopic, locate resources (both people andprint), and learn how to present find-ings. Other teachers and successfulstudent researchers run the work-shops.

We then introduce the young scien-tists to a skill that will come in quitehandy if they go on in research: writ-ing research grant proposals. We en-courage all Iowa secondary school stu-dents to complete a two-page grantapplication form, and we award re-search support of up to $200 for aproject.

Science students in Iowa seem to bealways busyat science fairs, sciencesymposia, science olympics, universityresearch participation projects, andvarious other science competitions.The Iowa Junior Academy of Sciencepublicizes these events and recognizesthe winners. At its annual meeting,the Iowa Academy of Science high-lights award-winning students fromthe many state science events of the

Lynn W. Glass directs the Iowa Junior Acad-emy of Science and is a professor of secondaryeducation, N156 Quadrangle, Iowa SlateUniversity, Ames, IA 50011.

58 NATIONAL SCIENCE TEACHERS ASSOCIATION c9

preceding year. In addition, the direc-tor of each event nominates a selectfew students to compete for our Ju-nior Academy's highest honortwoexpense-paid trips to the annual meet-ings of the American Association forthe Advancement of Science and theAmerican Junior Academy of Science.The students vie for the awards bypresenting a poster paper and oralresearch report. The governor of Iowausually comes to honor all thesedeserving students.

The 1983-1984 school year markedthe first annual Outstanding ScienceStudent Award program sponsored bythe Iowa Junior Academy of Scienceand the Iowa Academy of Science.Nearly 400 senior students from 500Iowa high schools received a bronzemedallion for their excellence inscience.

We're also excited about our firstamusement park physics project thisfall. More than 2000 junior high stu-dents are learning about physics whilehaving fun on 12 different amusementpark rides. Plans are currently under-way to expand this popular event toinclude even more students next fall.

Funding for our many events andactivities comes from three sources.Private enterprise covers a large por-tion of our expenses. A competitivegrant from the American Associationfor the Advancement of Science paysabout half of our student researchgrant program. Dues and othersources of income to the Iowa Acad-emy of Science are the third source ofsupport for the Junior Academy.

We like to think of the Iowa JuniorAcademy of Science as a trainingground for a new generation of scien-tists. Don't be surprised if a dispro-portionate number of the next crop ofNobel laureates in science hail fromthe Hawkeye State.

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Spring should be a time of rejuvenatedoptimism, renewed vigor, and hearty self-congratulation upon successfullysurviving another winter. However, inclassrooms across the nation, scienceteachers are faced with the seasonalmalady known as Science Fair Syndrome(SFS). The victims of SFS often complainof low student motivation& levels, highincidences of uncontrolled variables, andhallucinatory visions of papiermachevolcanoes. If you share these symptoms,why not try a consumer fair as analternative to a traditional science fair?

The bask premise of the consumer fairis that we are all purchasers of goods andservices. From the toddler begging for apenny for the gumball machine to anadult making a decision on the purchaseof a cemetery plot, the acquisition andspending of money is a basic fact of life.Our economy encourages consumptionby young people, but often these youngconsumers do not have the skills andknowledge necessary to buy wisely.Consumer fair projects encouragestudents to use scientific investigationskills learned in the classroom as ameans to becoming more independentand intelligent consumers.

In the consumer fair scheme, thestudents are led through a series of stepsto arrive at their own choice of projecttopic and investigation. The first step is a

visit to the neighborhood grocery storewith its variety of grocery and otherconsumer products. The students list tenfoods and ten nonfood products andthree brands of each product on a formwhich I provide. They then narrow downtheir list of products until they havechosen the one product of greatestinterest to them. This single productrepresented by three different brands forthe purposes of comparison becomes thesubject of their project. Next studentsdecide which of the many aspects of theirproduct they wish to investigate. Theaspects might include: weight, volume,number of items, packaging,effectiveness, or taste. Their final step inthis preliminary stage is to formulate aquestion (hypothesis) about the aspectthey will use to compare the threeproduct brands. An example of aninvestigative question IS: Which brand ofdiaper, brand X, Y, or Z, actually absorbsthe most moisture?

Students use the scientific method tosearch for answers. Consumer projectsoffer the opportunity for them toconstruct a hypothesis from a question,identify and control variables, design andconduct an experiment, and collect andanalyze data (see Figure 1). Studentsoften need assistance as they developtheir experimental design. During thisphase, the teacher serves as resource

Figure 1:Investigation Set-Up Sheet

Product Investigated.

Three Brands Compare

Question about Product to be

Answered.

1. Hypothesis:

2. Manipulated Variable:

3. Responding Variable:

4. Controlled Variable:

5. Equipment:

6. Procedure:

7. Data Collected:

8. Hypothesis Check:

9. Conclusion:


person and facilitator, answeringquestions and offering advice. The actualexperiments may be conducted in or outof class. While some experiments requireequipment and the use of process andmeasuring skills, others such as blindtests for taste preference, emphasize theuse of subjects and proper sampling andcontrol techniques.

In addition to the data gathered duringtheir experiments, the students alsocompare the tested brands by doing acost analysis (Figure 2). They comparethe three brands using one quantitativeaspect, such as volume, weight, ornumber of items, divided into eachbrand's cost. The resulting per unit cost isused to determine which brand is the bestbuy.

The students bring experimental datathey collect in the form of graphs, charts,conclusions, and experimentalprocedures on posters. The posters, thethree brands cf the product used forcomparison, and the materials used toconduct the experiment are combined asa display. These displays make up theconsumer fair. Teachers evaluate theprojects according to the scoring criteriain Figure 3.

Consumer fairs are educational,interesting, motivating, and fun. Theactivities provide reinforcement of skillstaught in the science classroom and helpstudents become knowledgeable andindependent consumers. Most important,consumer fairs illustrate that science andthe methods of science are relevant tostudents' everyday lives.

DONALD J. NELSONRidgewood SchoolRock Island, Illinois

ReferencesBurzler, D. R. "Be a Super Shopper."

Arithmetic Teacher 25:40-4; March1978.

Car lock, L. L. "Will Your Students BeEffective Consumers?" BusinessEducation Forum 38:58-61; April/May1984.

Foxworth, E. H. "Flow to Spend ThatHardEarned Dime." Teacher 94:93-6;January 1977.

Kleefield, James. "Teaching ConsumerSkills." Learning 9:32-3; September1980.

Opsata, Margaret. "ConsumerAwareness." Instructor 89:154-6;February 1980.

Padilla, Michael. "Using ConsumerScience to Develop ExperimentalTechniques." Science and Children18:22-3; January 1981.

Seese, John W. "Don't Throw In theTowelTest itr The Science Teacher51:28-9; April 1984.

Figure 2: Cost Analysis

When comparing several brands of the same product, a consumer is ofteninterested in which is the "best buy." You can figure any relative costs of severalbrands of the same product by doing a cost analysis.

Directions: You first decide on one aspect of the product that you will use tocompare all the brands. You should use volume, weight, or number of items forthis comparison. Then fill in the chart below using the brands you are comparing.

Brands Cost Volume, Weight, or Number of Items

1.

2.

3.

You will need to do some dividing. Divide the cost of the brand into its volume,weight, or number of items to find the per unit cost for each of your brands. Theper unit cost tells you how much product you get for one cent. Use the formulabelow to help.

Per Unit CostCost N/ Volume, Weight, or No. of items

Repeat the procedure for all the brands being compared. Then fill in the chartbelow to identify which brand is the best buy.

Brand Per Unit Cost Best Buy

1.

2.

3.

Figure 3: Project ScoresheetA) Project Set-Up

1-5 Question investigated well thought outInvestigation procedure well designedInvestigation followed as designed

B) Project Results1-5 Quality data collected

Hypothesis check supported by dataData displayed using charts or graphsConclusions made from data clearly stated

C) Project Appearance1-5 Posters complete and neatly printed

Display well organizedDisplay informative and understandableProduct brands displayed

D) Brand-Cost Analysis1-5 Brands correctly compared

Correct calculationsBest buy data clearly charted or graphed

E) Project Effort1-5 Project complete and on time

= Total Score 1st Place = 23-25 points, 2nd place = 20-22 points5-25 3rd Place = 17-19 points, 4th place = 14-16 points


AppendixNotes to parents, schedules for students,instructions to judges are the keystonesscience fair organizers rely upon. We'vecollected these forms for you to use asis, or to modify to meet your program'sspecial needs. Most of these forms wereoriginally produced by Ed Donovan ofthe School of Education, University ofSouth Carolina, Spartansburg. We hopethey will help you create the best sciencefair ever.

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62

Science Fair Project Application

Name Date

Teacher Grade

Project Title

Project Description (be brief)

PROJECT AREA (circle one):

Biology Chemistry Physics Mathematics Behavioral General Science

i ROJECT TYPE (check one):

ExperimentalForming a hypothesis (question) about something the student doesn't know theanswer to, doing an actual scientific experiment, making observations, collecting data, and reaching conclusions.

DemonstrationScience in a show and tell format. The student knows what is going to happen whenhe or she begins. Includes models, kits, collections, posters, etc.

BiologicalA project involving living things such as insects, birds, food, people, diseases, etc.

PhysicalA project involving things not living such as chemicals, stars, air pressure, weather, etc.

Will you require electricity? YES NO

Your project should include the following items:

1. Exhibit that can stand by itself.2. Research paper with bibliography.3. Abstract (one page summary, with bibliography).4. Materials necessary for the exhibit.5. Oral presentation (3 to 5 minutes).6. Logbook of daily work.

Return this completed form to your teacher by

Student signature

Parent's signature

Teacher's signature

63


Information for Students About Science Fair Projects

A Successful Science Project:

1. Represents your work--not that of an expert or your parents2. Indicates an understanding of the science area chosen3. Shows careful planning that would eliminate a "rush" project4. Has a notebook showing a complete record of all your work5. Has a simple, well-stated title and neat lettering6. Includes photographs, charts, pictures, graphs, etc., that might be necessary to

explain your work7. Has accurate, valid, and correct observations8. Tells a complete story-Problem and Solution9. Is original in approach and presentation

10. Is self-explanatory11. Is attractive and organized12. Does not have to cost much money13. Is best if it is an experiment, but it doesn't have to be14. Is one that gives credit to those who gave help

A Science Fair Project is Not:

1. Only a report2. Necessarily a new discovery or an original piece of research3. Constructing a plastic model from a hobby kit4. An enlarged model or drawing5. A week-end chore6. One, two, or even three posters7. Something done by your parents or teacher

Steps in Making a Science Project:

1. Choose a topic and discuss it with your teacher. Ask your teacher for helpand suggestions.

2. Once you have chosen your topic problem, find out as much about the topic a possible.3. Keep a project notebook and record all of your thought, preparations, and ideas.

Keep a record of your readings.4. Set up a work area somewhere around your house where you can work on your

project. Make sure the area is off limits to your pets or younger brothers and sisters.5. Work on your project a little each day, don't wait until the last minute.6. Collect the materials needed for the project.7. Check with your teacher for suggestions and materials, he or she can save you

time, excess, work, and money.8. Construct your exhibit and make letters for your signs.9. Mount your pictures, graphs, charts, etc.

10. Present your science project at the fair.

Created by Becky Brown, Chapman Elementary School, Spartanburg School District #7, Spartanburg, South CarolinaModified by Ed Donovan, Science Education Center, School of Education, University of South Carolina, Spartanburg

R 4 NATIONAL SCIENCE TEACHERS ASSOCIATION 63

Schedule for the Student's Science Fair ProjectWeek What You Should Be Working On Due Date Check

1 * Make sure you understand what you need to do for thescience fair project. Ask questions if you're not certainabout any aspect of the assignment.

* Find time to use books, encyclopedias, and magazinesat the library. Look for a topic that is interesting toyou. Keep bibliographic notes on the books andmagazine articles where you get your ideas.

* You may want to visit museums, hospitals,universities, zoos, and science centers to get ideas.

2 * With your project idea firmly in mind, write thepurpose, question, hypothesis, materials needed, andprocedures.

* Show your written material to the teacher and discussyour project for approval.

3* After the science project has been approved by the

science teacher, begin to gather your necessaryequipment and begin your project.

4* Seek advice and help from professionals to refine your

project: doctors, nurses, researchers, teachers,librarians, veterinarians.

5* Conduct your experiment and collect data.

* Keep careful, written records of results in a notebook.Record the day and time you make observations. Be asspecific as you can about the amount, size, and type ofmaterials, plants, or animals you use.

6 * Draw conclusion and organize the results of yourexperiments in chart or graph form.

7* Write your research paper. Include a table of contents,

abstract, summary sheet, purpose or hypothesis,step-by-step explanation of your experiment, results,conclusion, and bibliography.

8 * Construct your exhibit. Build a back-drop to mountgraphs, charts, illustrations, photographs, signs, andsummary sheets.

9 * Prepare an oral presentation.

10 * Add finishing touches to your project.

* Come to the science fair and present your project

8 564 NATIONAL SCIENCE TEACHERS ASSOCIATION

The Scientific MethodA student record sheet for an experiment or science project

Cl. What do you want to find out?(PURPOSE)

c3. What do you need to use?

(i. What do you think will happen?(HYPOTHESIS)

(MATERIALS)

4. What will you do to find out?(PROCEDURES)

.5. What happened?

(RESULTS)

.1I6. What did you learn?

(CONCLUSIONS)

R 6 NATIONAL SCIENCE TEACHERS ASSOCIATION 65

1

Note to ParentsWe hope the following suggestions will be helpful as your child develops this year's scienceproject:

1. Please remember that the most important ingredient in any project is the amount ofwork the student accomr tishes, how much knowledge he or she acquires, and howmuch initiative is displayed. Many abilities are developed researching, organizing,outlining, measuring, calculating, reporting, and presenting. These involve thereading, writing, arithmetic, and social skills so much a part of successful daily living.

2. Although it is to be the student's effort, there is no substitute for a parent's support.

3. Do not worry about the project's performance at a science fair. If strengthenedthinking skills and increased knowledge have occurred, then a prize has truly beenwon.

4. Areas in which a parent's assistance will be necessary include:a. Safety. Be sure that poisons, dangerous chemicals, and open fires are avoided.

Learn and practice electrical safety if electricity is used in the project. If anyaspect of the project appears to be dangerous, it is not to be included.

b. Transportation. Help will be needed for the transportation of materials to thescience fair, although it is better if the student can set up and take down theexhibit with a minimum of assistance.

5. Areas in which a parent's assistance may be welcome include:a. Suggesting project ideas (these may be connected with your work).b. Transportation to libraries, businesses, museums, nature centers, universities,

or any source of project information.c. Technical work such as construction and photography.d. Being an interested listener.

Reprinted with permission from Public Service Company of New Mexico, Educational Programs,Alvarado Square, Albuquerque, New Mexico 87158. 0 PNM 1982

Science Fair Parent Volunteer FormI would like to volunteer for the following jobs at the science fair:(Check where you can help.)

Science Fair Committee Supervise students setting up

Help set up the gym Supervise students during judging

Help supply refreshments Help clean up the gym

Name Addresss

Telephone # PLEASE RETURN BY

66 NATIONAL SCIENCE TEACHERS ASSOCIATIONf7

Helping Your Children with Their Science Fair Projects

Things a parent may do:

1. Give encouragement, support, and guidance. (Be positive!)2. Make sure your child feels it is his or her project. Make sure the project is

primarily the work of the child.3. Realize that the main purpose of a science fair project is to help your child

use and strengthen the basic skills he or she has learned and to develophigher level skills.

4. Realize your child will need help in understanding, acquiring, and usingthe major science process skills (researching, organizing, measuring,calculating, reporting, demonstrating, experimenting, collecting,constructing, presenting). Your child may not have been taught theseskills. Therefore, it may not be fair to expect him or her to know how todo them.

5. Realize that your child may be using reading, writing, arithmetic, andsocial skills for the first time in a creative way to solve a problem.

6. Realize that the teacher works with 20-30 students and this may make itdifficult to give a large amount of individual attention to your child.

7. Understand that the teacher may need your help. If you have the intenstand the time, you might contact the teacher and volunteer to help orjudge at the school's science fair.

8. Help your child plan a mutually agreed upon schedule, to prevent a lastminute project and a disrupted household. A 4 to 8 week plan that usesa check-off sheet is best. The following steps (you may I Ant to addmore) should be on your schedule.a. find a topic.b. narrow down the topic to a specific scientific problem that is

appropriate to the child's ability level.c. research what is already known about the problem.d. develop a hypothesis. (What outcome do you expect?)e. develop a procedure/investigation to test the hypothesis

(if experimental).f. make observations and collecting appropriate data.g. interpret the data and other observations.h. state and display the results.i. draw appropriate conclusions.j. create the exhibit.k. write the research paper and the abstract.1. present the project,

9. Help your child design a safe project that is not hazardous in any way.10. Provide transportation to such places as libraries, nature centers,

universities, etc. that can help the child find project information.


11. Help your child write letters to people who can provide help on thescience project and be sure the letters are mailed.

12. Help the child develop the necessary technical skills and/or help the childdo the technical work such as building the exhibit and doing thephotography.

13. Help your child understand that science is not a subject but a "way oflooking at the world around us."

14. Be sure that the child states in the paper and/or exhibit the help he orshe has received from you or others. This will help judges to make afairer evaluation of the project.

15. Look over the project to check for good grammar, neatness, spelling, andaccuracy. Make suggestions on how it can be corrected .

16. Buy or help find the necessary materials to complete the project.17. Realize that a good project doesn't have to cost a lot of money. Many

times a simple project that is well displayed and explained is the best.18. Help the child understand that a weekend chore, or one or two posters, is

not a project.19. Help the child to keep a record (log book) of all he or she does and a list

of references used.20. Find an area in the house where the child can work on the project and

not have to worry about pets or brothers and sisters.21. Explain to the child that he or she should consult with you or the teacher

when problems arise. Set aside time for help sessions. Make them shortand constructive. Be an interested and enthusiastic listener.

22. Have your child present his or her science project to you before he or shetakes it to school.

23. Help transport child and the science fair project to and from theschool/district/regional science fairs.

24. Do not worry or get upset if your child doesn't win a prize at the sciencefair. The skills the child has gained are worth all of the effort. Help yourchild to begin to plan for next year.

25. Feel a sense of pride and satisfaction when the project and the sciencefair are finished. Share this with your child, you have both earned it.

69


Science Fair Project Judging Criteria

Scientific Thought (30 points)Does the project follow the scientific method? (hypothesis, method, data, conclusion)Is the problem clearly and concisely stated?Are the procedures appropriate, organized, and thorough?Is the information collected accurate and complete?Does the study illustrate a controlled experiment that makes appropriate comparisons?Are the variables clearly defined?Are the conclusions accurate and based upon the results?Does the project show the child is familiar with the topic?Does the project represent real study and effort?

Creative Ability (30 points)How unique is the project?Does the exhibit show original thinking or a unique method orapproach?Is it significant and unusual for the age of the student?Does the project demonstrate ideas arrived by the child?

Understanding (10 points)Does it explain what the student learned about the topic?Did the student use appropriate literature for research?Is a list of references or bibliography available?In the exhibit, did the student tell a complete and concise story, and answersome questions about the topic?

Clarity (10 points)Did the student clearly communicate the nature of the problem, how the problem

was solved, and the conclusions?Are the problems, procedures, data, and conclusions presented clearly, and in

a logical order?Did the student clearly and accurately articulate in writing what was accomplished?Is the objective of the project likely to be understood by one not trained in the subject area?

Dramatic Value (10 points)How well did the student design and construct the exhibit?Are all of the components of the project done well? (exhibit, paper, abstract, log of work)Is the proper emphasis given to important ideas?Is the display visually appealing?Is attention sustained by the project and focused on the objective?

Technical Skill (10 points)Was the majority of the work done by the student, and was it done at home or in school?Does the project show effort and good craftsmanship by the student?Has the student acknowledged help received from others?Does the written material show attention to grammar and to spelling?Is the project physically sound and durably constructed? Will it stand normal wear and tear?Does the project stand by itself?

70NATIONAL SCIENCE TEACHERS ASSOCIATION 69

,IMMIII.

Science Fair Project Judging Form

Project Title Project Number

Project Category Judge Number

CRITERIA: POINTS

Scientific Thought (30 Points)Is the problem concisely stated?Are the procedures appropriate and thorough?Is the information collected complete?Are the conclusions reached accurate?Comments:

Creativity (30 points)How unique is the project?Is it significant and unusual for the age of the student?Does the project show ideas arrived by the student?Comments:

Understanding (10 points)What did the student learn about the project?Did the student use appropriate literature for research?Can the student answer questions about the topic?Comments:

Clarity (10 points)Are the problems, procedures, data, and conclusions presented logically?Can the objective be understood by non-scientists?Is the written material clear and articulate?Comments:

Dramatic Value (10 points)How well did the student present the project?Is the display visually appealing?Is the proper emphasis given to important ideas?Comments:

Technical Skill (10 points)Was the majority of the work done by the student?Does the written material show attention to grammar and spelling?Is the project well-constructed? .Comments:

TOTAL POINTS71 (based upon 100 )
