Science Fair

Dear House A parent,

When we return from the break, students will begin work on their individual experiments for the Science Fair, which will be held on February 12th.

 We'd love for your student to have a head start by coming with their experiment topic already chosen.  Before the break, students used the website http://www.sciencebuddies.org/science-fair-projects/project_ideas.shtml  which has a "project selection wizard" that provides choices based on the student's interests from an online questionnaire.  This site is highly recommended because it tells you how to set up the experiment and what materials would be required.

 

This powerpoint (Type "how to write a testable question" into google and it is the first link) also explains key vocabulary (independent and dependent variable) and provides many examples of easily-testable questions for science fair projects.  The powerpoint version uses lots of visual symbols to make the concept more concrete.

If you'd rather come up with your own ideas, some helpful questions to ask your student are:

            What could you change that you think would change an outcome?   

            How would you measure the outcome? (distance traveled, etc)

            What do you like to cook or bake?   What one ingredient or step could you change that you think would change the result?

            What do you like to build?  Could you test whether a design is stronger or faster than another?

            What equipment do you use that you could compare results from each?

           

The Science Fair project is a wonderful opportunity for you to connect with your child's learning.  Please feel free to respond to rdecicco@mtsd-vt.org with any questions or ideas.  If you'd like to help out with the science fair, please contact me to find out ways we could use your assistance.  Thank you and welcome back!