Science Fair Information

Our school will be having a Science Fair on April 28th and 29th!

We hope that, with your enthusiastic encouragement, your child will participate in the fair by preparing a project. This will be an exciting experience for your child!

Although students receive help at school from teachers, parent support and assistance are essential to your child’s success. This is one of those opportunities for families to work with children and brothers and sisters to help each other.

I am confident the following benefits will result from your child’s participation in the science fair:

• Reinforcement of grade level science, literacy and math skills 
• Fostering curiosity, awareness, and creativity 
• Increased scientific knowledge 
• Learning research techniques 
• Growth in ability to work independently 
• Having fun with science! 
• In addition to the opportunity to work on a project, the Science Fair provides students with an increased awareness of science and an opportunity for them to develop positive attitudes about themselves and their work. The science project allows children to use critical thinking and problem solving skills learned in science and in math.

Below are a list of websites that can help your child choose a topic:

http://www.sciencebuddies.org/science-fair-projects/project_ideas.shtml
http://www.education.com/science-fair/second-grade/
http://school.discoveryeducation.com/sciencefaircentral/
http://www.surfnetkids.com/science_fair_ideas.htm
http://pbskids.org/dragonflytv/scifair/index.html
http://www.all-science-fair-projects.com/
http://www.fatlion.com/science/
http://www.reekoscience.com/

There will be two pair groups and four solo projects this year. I will assist and facilitate as much as I can to help every child feel comfortable, curious, and knowledgeable as they work through the steps of their experiment.

The G2 science fair timeline:

• Students form a question they want to find an answer to. (Week 29)
• Research the problem and form a hypothesis. (Weeks 30-31)
• Conduct the experiment to find out if you were right. Do your experiment at least twice and complile proof by recording data. (Weeks 32-33)
• Form a conclusion, checking your hypothesis. (Weeks 34)
• Communicate your results, writing about how what you learned applies to the real world. (Week 35)
• Create science fair board. (Weeks 36-37)
• Practice presenting in front of your family and classmates before the science fair. (Week 38)

We will work on this in class but a fair amount of it will also need to be done at home. Closer to the date of the fair, students will bring their projects into school and I will help them with the finishing touches and we will practice presenting their findings.

Although I would like the students to work as independently as possible, your second-grade child will need your help as a guide, or a more knowledgeable other, during these coming two months.

Information on the Scientific Method

Science projects should follow the six-step scientific method. These steps are shown on the chart below.

Time Management

Help your child meet due dates by getting out your family calendar and marking the interim due dates. Block out times for trips to the library and other work time.

How to Help

To help, ask questions to help your child figure things out; don't just provide the answers. Open-ended questions, such as, "What else could you try to solve this?" or "What is stopping you from going on to the next step?” Sometimes just talking it out can help children get unstuck. If not, ask the teacher for help. Respect your child's independence in learning by helping at the right level.

Helping at the Right Level at Every Step

Project Step	Helping at the right level:	Going too far:
Ask a question.	- Discussing with your child whether a project idea seems practical	- Picking an idea and project for your child: A topic not of interest will turn into a boring project.
Do background research.	- Taking your child to the library - Helping your child think of key words for Internet searches	- Doing an Internet search and printing out articles
Construct a hypothesis.	- Asking how the hypothesis relates to an experiment the child can do	- Writing the hypothesis yourself
Test the hypothesis by doing an experiment.	- Assisting in finding materials - Monitoring safety (you should always observe any steps involving heat or electricity)	- Writing the experimental procedure – Doing the experiment, except for potentially unsafe steps - Telling your child step-by-step what to do
Analyze data and draw a conclusion.	- Asking how your child will record the data in a data table - Reminding your child to tie the data back to the hypothesis and draw a conclusion	- Creating a spread sheet and making the graphs yourself, even if your child helps type in values - Announcing the conclusion yourself
Communicate your results.	- If a presentation is assigned, acting as the audience - If a display board is assigned, helping to bring it to school	- Writing any of the text on the display board - Determining the color scheme and other graphic elements