The purpose of this website is to allow Lower Lab students to share the results of their science fair research projects digitally.

Thank you to all the students who completed science experiments and the adults who supported them. These projects reflect hard work and a diligent adherence to the scientific process. All families are encouraged to explore the different science experiments and try some yourselves!

All experiments must follow the scientific method and be TRUE experiments, however students are welcome to share these results in a variety of ways.

You get to decide exactly HOW you present your research digitally, although no matter how you choose to present your research, you MUST follow the scientific method and include all of the components of an experiment that are included in your science fair resources, which are available to you through Google Classroom.

Please note that participation in the science fair is optional for families and students will NOT be penalized in ANY way for not participating. Our emotional well-being is the most important thing at this time, and the science fair should NOT be a cause for additional undue stress in our lives. With that said, we encourage students to use the science fair as an opportunity to set up some form of true scientific experiment, control the variables, and accurately measure the results in whatever way the individual student is able to at this difficult time.

A note on choosing a research question:

Unfortunately, many of our original science fair research questions are no longer possible given the current restrictions and limitations of our lives at this moment. So many of the excellent scientific questions you might come up with may not be possible to explore right now. We suggest keeping a scientific questions notebook, where you can record all of your potential research questions. You may not be able to research a question right now, but you will have many opportunities to do so in the future!

Ultimately, it is the adults you live with that will be the ones that determine what is, and what is not, a feasible experiment for you to complete at this time.

Students: Please be respectful of the decisions your parents have to make right now. Work together to come up with a question that you are genuinely curious about AND is feasible for your family at this time.

Your presentation can take a number of forms. You can choose to include all, or some, of the components listed here:

A. A scientific report written in Google Documents that follows the scientific report guidelines available to you in Google Classroom. If you do this, make sure to set the share settings on your document to "view only" before sharing.

B. Create a Google Slides Presentation that is based on the three-fold display outline available to you in Google Classroom. Think about each section of the poster as one or more slides in the presentation. If you do this, make sure to set the share settings on your slides presentation to "view only" before sharing.

C. Create a traditional three fold display based on the outline provided to you through Google Classroom and upload pictures of your display board, and/or a video of you presenting the display board to a Google Slides presentation.

D. Be creative! Remember, the most important part of your project is the underlining scientific research. Feel free to present your research in a manner of your choosing.

Final Step:

How to publish your work to this website.

You MUST follow these steps EXACTLY, or else your work WILL NOT be featured on the website.

The best and easiest way to post your work is to create whatever you are sharing in programs from Google, such as Documents, Slides, or Sites.

When your project is entirely complete and ready to be published, follow these steps:

1. Make sure you are truly ready to share your presentation. Once you complete these steps you will NOT be able to make ANY updates or changes to your presentations.

2. Name your document according to the following protocol:

Last name, First name, 2 - 5 keywords from your research question

For example:

Crohn, Nolan, Bouncy Ball Bounce Height

3. Click Share

4. Enter the email address sciencefair@lowerlab.org in the email address field.

5. Click the pencil and change the share settings to Can View.

6. Confirm that Notify people is selected.

7. Make sure your share screen looks like the first picture below.

8. Select Send

9. Click Share AGAIN

10. Select Get Sharable Link

11. Make sure your screen looks like the second picture below. Make sure Anyone at PS77 with the link Can View is selected.

12. Select Done

13. A teacher will create a page for you on this website with a link to your presentation

Some final thoughts:

Use the sciencefair@lowerlab.org email ONLY for submitting completed work. Teachers will NOT be responding to emails, or sending emails, from this address. If you have any questions at all, please contact your teacher via the channels you typically use.

Even though we are presenting our work digitally, make sure you are spending the majority of your time on the experiment itself. Strong research, carefully controlled variables, and accurate measurements are far more valuable than flashy digital presentations. Do the experiment first. Decide how to share after.

Keep the research question and the presentations simple. Focus your time on adding complexity and rigor to the design of the experiment, the ways you control the variables, and the ways you accurately measure your results.

The suggested deadline for submitting your presentations is June 12th.