3 Super Fresh Ideas to Improve your Science Fair

Maybe you organized your school’s fair last year. Or maybe you helped out last year and you are stepping up to take the reins. You are an innovator and want to make some simple tweaks to improve the whole experience for kiddos and their grownups. Here are some quick tips for you to consider as you embark on your super-hero role in inspiring kiddos to lead authentic Science, Technology, Engineering, & Math (STEM) projects during your fair.

Our Top Tips for Awesome Science Fair Project Displays

Whew! You have done all of the hard work of finishing up your Science & Engineering Fair project – congratulations! I’m sure you learned a ton. Now is your chance to celebrate and share all that you learned with your peers. No matter how your project turned out, you should be VERY proud of all that you learned along the way. Here are some good tips for putting it all together for your display.

A Judge’s Guide to Science Fair

A Science & Engineering Fair judge can either make or break a student’s passion for STEM. All too often, we’ve seen judges who are far too critical of students’ projects and don’t have a clear understanding of an appropriate level of work for the grade levels they are judging. Recruit professionals in your community who have connections to your school’s grade levels and provide them with clear instructions on how to assess students’ projects.

Assess Students’ Skills, Not Project Perfection

At just about any Science Fair, you see projects that are absolutely perfect! They have perfect procedures, perfect results, and perfect project boards. Unfortunately, sometimes these projects are examples of perfect plagiarism. They are either copied from a published project or are actually the parents’ work. These students totally get robbed of the opportunity to use their creativity and critical thinking.