Do’s and Don’ts for a successful High School Science Fair Project
Coming up with a unique project idea can be challenging especially when the science background of a student is poor.
Parents and teachers have a significant role to play in helping students choose and execute their projects.
It is vital for a student to select a project that can be done within the predetermined budget and time.
Students should come up with quick and easy high school science fair projects that match their abilities and which they can perform well.
Do’s and Don’ts to aid students succeed in their projects
• Proper selection of research topic is crucial. Students should pick on topics they are comfortable in.
It should be the topic they are well-acquainted in and can gather as much information as possible.
Some students select topics they cannot complete within the stipulated timeframe and end up failing.
Projects that are time-consuming and require information from sources they cannot access should not be picked.
Magazines, internet articles, documentaries and reference books among others are excellent sources of information.
• It is vital to start a project early. A big mistake that most students do is to wait until last minute then they start working on their projects.
What happens is that they end up including wrong and misleading information that makes their projects rejected.
Starting a project the earliest is the best step to take.
• Choose a proper scientific method when doing a project.
This helps in showing the objective of the project when writing a hypothesis, how variable were measured, and how they were selected.
This gives the project some direction and indicates that the student had some goal in mind.
• Incorporating charts, graphs, lettering and background colors make the project easy to understand. Besides, it also makes it grab attention with ease.
However, students should be keen when choosing background colors. Clashing colors can reduce the final mark.
• Practice before the final presentation matters a lot. Practice helps a student realize flaws in their projects and gives them time to do the necessary corrections.
Doing a dry run in front of friends or family members is the best step to take.
Quick and easy high school science fair projects are the best learning experiences students can undertake to qualify for scholarships, earn prizes as well as distinguish them for college application. In fact, it involves much more than typical homework as it involves a lot of thinking and creativity.