Science Fair Projects

Changes in science fair at the district level...

Greenville County Schools has changed the way they are conducting the district science fair. A few years ago, the district decided to not conduct a science fair at the middle school or high school level, just the elementary level. With this change, it became unnecessary to use the Greenville convention center and the fair was moved to the Roper Mountain Science Center. While this helps with the logistics of the fair, the space available at the RMSC is much smaller than the TD Center. Thus, only a few projects are now allowed from each school.

For East North Street, this means that only one 5th grade student, one 4th grade group, and one 3rd grade class can compete at the district level. A total of three projects will represent our school. Every class at ENSA will complete a class project (kindergarten through 5th grade). All class projects will be judged and the best from each grade will win a prize from ENSA. Additionally, fourth grade students will complete small group projects and fifth grade students will work on individual projects.

Helping our students succeed with science fair...

As we have done in the past, each 3rd, 4th, and 5th grade student will receive a folder with all of the science fair information included. This folder contains all of the details of the projects and worksheets to help the students organize and manage their project. The folder also includes the rubric explaining how the projects will be graded. For instance, even though the 4th graders are working in groups, their grades are determined individually and are based on the write-up each student completes. Additionally, all presentation materials will be provided for each class, group, and individual. This includes all display boards, construction paper, glue, graph paper, and display section titles for free. Students are encouraged to take photos of their projects as they work on them to add to their displays in order to better show the work they did.

Science Fair Resources...

Science Buddies: This is a great site for developing project ideas. The site includes a help page that asks the students questions about project due dates, student interests, age, science background, etc. and uses these answers to help narrow down projects that best fit the needs of the student.

http://www.sciencebuddies.org/science-fair-projects/project_ideas.shtml

Education.com: This site lists approximately 2,000 ideas sorted by grade level.

http://www.education.com/science-fair/

Science Bob: A good site for background information on science fair projects and how to make it successful. Also includes some project ideas.

http://www.sciencebob.com/sciencefair/ideas.php

All Science Projects: This site contains 500+ ideas grouped by difficulty (elementary, middle, and high school) as well as topic.

http://www.all-science-fair-projects.com/

Discovery Channel Science Fair: Not many ideas but lots of good information as to what parents can do to help (and what they should let the student do).

http://school.discoveryeducation.com/sciencefaircentral/Elementary-Science-Fairs.html

Science Kids: Lots of projects for kids of all ability levels to work on .

http://www.sciencekids.co.nz/projects.html