Science Fair Time!

   Originally, we were supposed to conduct our own science fair experiments and create a glogster to show to the class, but we were given a research project instead. I found some articles based on science fairs that were actually pretty interesting. I'm glad our assignment was switched to this because I think it's more beneficial for us as future teachers to learn about the importance and set-up of science fairs as opposed to creating our own projects. I think that doing projects might've been more fun, but I still enjoyed reading about science fairs. The articles really emphasized kids doing the experiments by themselves and not getting too much help from their parents. "How to Put on a Great Science Fair!" talked about how kids learn by doing and science fairs allow them to have that opportunity. The best way to encourage students' accomplishments is to recognize them, especially when it's done publicly because they feel special and important. All of the articles also discuss how crucial it is to incorporate other subjects, particularly math since you need it to record data. They also stress how teachers should be involved in the process to help the students along by assisting students when they're creating their questions then monitoring the progress weekly and showing them how to analyze their data. On top of all of that, they need to explain the importance of oral presentations to students, so they know how to communicate their findings properly. The first article that I read, How to Put on a Great Science Fair!, also discussed how teachers should have a math lesson based on comparing items quantitatively, such as ratios and fractions. The author really wants the teachers to assist their students throughout the process, even with the poster making process. Teachers can have their students make drafts of the layout of their presentation during class or for homework. One thing that I really liked about this article is how it says that successful projects show students that they can learn for themselves and that the goal of education is to teach students to teach themselves.

   The second article I read, The Value of a Science Fair, mentioned how science fairs also improve students' computer research skills, library research skills, and they learn how to use different computer programs such as spreadsheets. Younger students don't typically have long assignments, so this allows them to have that opportunity and experience what it's like to have to plan out their project. It also talks about the communication skills that children gain because they have to figure out how to explain their project in a way that impresses the judges and clearly expresses what they're trying to say. I like how this article includes how science fairs give teachers the opportunity to discuss ethical issues such as plagiarism and falsification of data. These topics are incredibly imperative for students to know and learn about early on, so they understand the importance of them. Another thing this article mentions that really caught my attention is how science fairs are great examples of active learning and the inquiry process, which aren't employed enough in classrooms. We talked a lot about inquiry throughout the course of this semester, so it seemed extremely relevant. I also agree that inquiry isn't used enough in classrooms, which is a shame because students love it.

The third article I read, Science Fairs: Teaching Students to Think like Scientists, mentioned that a misconception that students have about science is that is must be conducted in a "cookbook sequence". I like that they included this in their article because we talked a lot about misconceptions in our class as well, so it's interesting to hear the misconceptions about science fairs too. It talks about how real science is actually unpredictable and we should be teaching students that, which was also discussed in class. This article was probably my favorite out of the three; one thing I liked about it was how they talked about science fairs as a chance for students to educate the teacher and tell you their discoveries. Everyone learns better when they can teach the information to someone else instead of just learning it, so I like the idea of having students teach the information to the teacher. The article was based on one community where they have volunteers such as other science teachers, retired teachers, engineering mentors, and environmental scientists who all help students conduct their research and refine their problems. The volunteers also help the students figure out the correct steps that they should complete in order to have an accurate experiment. Their goal is to teach students how to become researchers and I love that idea. I think that more schools should have systems like this because the students seemed to enjoy it and it's a great system to have in place to help the students improve their skills.

I used three articles to conduct my research on science fairs:

How to Put on a Great Science Fair!

The Value of a Science Fair

Science Fairs: Teaching Students to Think like Scientists