5 Easy Steps to Put Together a Science Fair Project Board
By: Susan Wells of Steve Spangler Science
The science fair project is due next week, you’ve spent time researching, hypothesizing, experimenting and discovering… now, how do you pull it all together?
If you still need help finding a project or working on your project, read my post from last year with Five Simple Steps to Get Started with your science fair project.
I coordinate my school’s science fair, and the second most asked question (after what project should I do?) is ‘How do I put together my project board?’ Here are five easy steps to follow to make your board both beautiful and informative:
1. First, start with a board. The popular three-paneled science fair board is found at many craft stores like Hobby Lobby. They come in a variety of colors. While you are picking out a board, grab a package of letter stickers or some colorful markers. This will help add creativity and design to really make your board pop.
2. While you are working on your project, take notes on the computer or a piece of paper. Write it down and type it up as you go, so when you are done, you will have all of your text ready to stick down.
3. Take a lot of pictures before, during and after your project. Take pictures of your materials, your experiment and your results.
4. Laying out a project board is easy when you think about it in the steps that you took to perform your experiment. Starting on the upper left side, layout your project as you did it, leaving space in the upper middle panel for your eye-catching title, name and grade. A good science fair project includes the following:
- BIG QUESTION: What are you trying to find out?
- HYPOTHESIS: An “I think ... “ statement. What do you think will happen?
- MATERIALS: A list of supplies for your experiment
- VARIABLE: Something that changes in your experiment
- PROCEDURE: The steps you take to run your tests
- DATA: A graph or chart that shows the results of your test
- BIG DISCOVERY: What happened? Explain your results
- CONCLUSION: So what? What did you learn?
- I WONDER: What does your experiment make you wonder about?
5. Finally, glue and secure everything down on the board.
Keep in mind that this is just a guide. Schools and teachers have their own requirements and guidelines. Make sure you follow their rules first.
Susan Wells is a mom of two girls, ages 6 and 10. She organizes the Science Fair at her daughters’ elementary school and loves to bring science into their lives in and outside of the classroom. Susan does social media, blogging, blogger outreach and web marketing for Steve Spangler Science.