Science Fair Projects and experiences

That’s a great project!

Only DS ever did an official project, and that was in 5th grade. Other than the write up, we loved the project. DS designed and built a catapult. I can’t remember what he was testing, but he still has the catapult. IMO, the write up was way beyond a 5th grader’s level and DS needed a lot of help. DS was/is really smart, but there were so many sections and details and he had never done anything like it. None of it was done in class other than the graphs, which I didn’t agree with either.

It’s was funny—at the science fair, parents were saying that there was no way the kids did the graphs, that the parents did them. I told the dad the graphs were all the kids DID do. That they learned how to make graphs in computer lab. But it was very obvious whose kids had help and I felt bad for the kids whose obviously didn’t have help. And I was frustrated that so much had been asked from us as parents, and that the projects were due the day after the kids got back from spring break. The next year, the project was done all in class and the write ups were much simpler. I thought the new way was more age appropriate. But I was still glad we moved from that school before DD was in 5th grade!

I will say that DS places second and it was due to a spelling error (that DS switched because he didn’t believe me when I told him he used witch instead of which!). But the county level was really boring and involved a lot of standing around waiting for the judge to come by so you could defend the project. I was happy that DS places second!

I love them but, other than buying supplies, I don't get involved.

I think my DS built a trebuchet for his last (grade 11) science fair project. That was pretty awesome.

I celebrated the last science fair project we had to do.
I HATED them with a passion

Ds's last project was what kind of packing protected the egg the most and then we dropped it off the roof

Neither my husband nor I enjoyed the science fair projects. Neither one of us really has a scientific brain, so we could only offer minimal help to our kids.

Having to figure it out on their own might have really helped them. My son’s undergrad degree is in chemical engineering and my daughter has a master’s degree in data science. Maybe they were thinking they wanted to major in something that would help them help their kids w/ 5th grade science projects since their own parents were so worthless!

how are you measuring "best"?

If my kids were young enough to have to do a science fair project she/we would be ALL OVER this...

medium.com/@marcus.wojtkowiak/are-science-fairs-worth-all-the-stress-caa2208d0afc

This one wins!

Our daughter just brought home the rubric for her very first science fair. I love science, and so does my husband. And we already are ready to stab ourselves in the eyeballs with pencils. There are a lot of statistic and graphing requirements for this. That somehow all have to fit on a standard tri-fold. Along with all the other things. And they have to make a picture/video slideshow to show in class. And, apparently most important to the teacher is the requirement of an interactive component that the judges and other students can play with when they come by the project. 🙄

Our kid was given a choice between an experiment and a consumer report style project. She opted for the consumer report, and will be testing 3 brands of markers to determine which is the best in a variety of categories. I am happy she went this route. I think it’s going to bring the least amount of stress.

My kids' elementary school science fair is optional. My DD did "What Sinks, What Floats" in Kindergarten and Optical Illusions in 1st or 2nd. My son has never wanted to do them. In 5th grade, DD and her BFF really wanted to a joint one on flowers or something. It was a nightmare because the other kid had lots of extracurriculars, so they basically could never get together and did it the night before.

The funniest one I saw was where a kid tested different remedies for farting and had info on whether various "myths" were really true (he who smelt it, dealt it, etc.) It was hilarious.

I mostly hate it because it takes place in a cramped gym that is a sensory explosion. When DS was young I would have to carry him, so he didn't get trampeled.

my favorite from elementary school fairs was "who is smarter, my dog or my 3 yr old sister?" my own kids --the outstanding one in a way was the kindergartener who did not want to do the class project, but wanted to make a model of an eyeball.. she researched it, I got her a white ball and she decorated it as an eyeball.

My dd may have done the same science fair project for 3 years in a row from grade 6 to 8 because she was in a different school each time. Had it down pretty well by the last time.

As a science teacher, I HATE at home done projects! Parents end up doing most of it and the kids learn very little. I don't do science fair with my 8th graders. At my site, our 6th grade teacher does a school science fair with just her class. The experiment is done at home. The kids bring it to school on a designated day and they set up in the cafeteria. Parents or anyone who wants to check it out pay $1 to get in (fund raiser for her class). She has people (school board members, friends from other schools, people from out school) come in and ask the kids questions about their project. Those who can actually answer questions about it get the better grades. That generally means they did it themselves with adult help not that the adult did it for them. Each person is asked to score 5 projects minimum. Each kid has a stack of 5 forms at their experiment to ensure that each kid gets multiple scores. The scores are then averaged for the students grade. It's pretty cool but TONS of work!