Cobb County School District

Elementary Science Fair

From Stress to Success!

Coordinators: Angela Smith, Hannah Roge,

Anna Turner, Megan Zimmerman

What is a science fair?

A JOURNEY OF
SCIENTIFIC INQUIRY

Students answer a
scientific question by
conducting an
experiment.

The process ends with a

showcase event that
shows students that their
work matters to the
school community.

How should students choose

a problem/question?

What Makes a Project

Great?
Students

come up with their own

question based on their own interests or
desire to learn about how/why
something works in the world
Students design an investigation to
answer their testable question

What Kind of Questions?

Examples:
Do

coffee grounds affect the growth of

plants?

Which

type of surface can an insect walk

on best?

Which

What

sunscreen blocks sunlight the best?

food do mealworms like best?

How to find project ideas

Online
http://www.sciencebuddies.org/science-fairprojects/project_ideas.shtml?From=Tab

How to find projects ideas

Online
http://www.iKeepBookmarks.com/Powers_Ferry/3rd/Gates/Science/Science_Fa
ir,_Projects
http://www.iKeepBookmarks.com/Powers_Ferry/3rd/Gates/Science/Science_Fa
ir

Once a student chooses

a problem/question

Projects should:
Follow

the scientific method

Support results with data

The Scientific Method

Must
have!

Great projects
Use Best Practices
Student initiated and completed
Experiment-based
Data-driven results analyzed and written

And Avoid:
Models (Volcano, Robot, etc.)
Research only projects or display boards
about general interest topics
Projects done by parents

Using Science Notebooks

to Record Data

Recording Data

http://www.sciencebuddies.org/blog/2010/01/lab-notebooks.php
http://www.fcps.net/media/548198/student_data_results_and_conclusioncurrent.pdf

Recording Data

http://school.discoveryeducation.com/sciencefaircentral/Getting-Started.html

http://www.sciencebuddies.org/science-fair-projects/project_data_analysis.shtml

How should the data be

displayed?

Data Reminders:
If a good testable question has been
written, students will be able to gather
data through experimentation.
Quantitative

data includes numbers

and/or units of measure

i.e. Measurements: height, weight,

voltage, time, distance, quantity

Qualitative

data includes descriptions

and anecdotes

This type of data is harder to analyze

Displaying Data Results

Data

should be displayed in a
graph or chart

Graph

or chart the average of the

data when possible.

Remember

to label the axes of the

graph and include a graph title
(and key, if necessary)

What should my board

look like?

How do I display my results?

Display

Board
Pictures
Procedure
Data
Notebook
or Journal
You can find this diagram and a lot of helpful
information about display boards at
www.sciencebuddies.org.

Advancing to the District

Fair

The six, top first-place projects from your

school fair (regardless of grade level) will
advance to the district fair.

Entries are set-up the morning of the fair.

The fair is open to the public and students
can view all other entries.

Judges use the standards-based rubric to assess all entries.

Each grade level is assessed individually.

Date:

February 11, 2017

Location:

Kennesaw Mountain High School

1898 Kennesaw Due West Road
Kennesaw, GA 30152
Phone: (678) 594-8190
http://www.cobbk12.org/kennesawmountain/

Questions?