Science Fair Project Resource Guide

• 1. Getting Started
• 2. Choosing a Topic
• 3. Completing the Project
• 4. Displaying Your Project

1. Getting Started

Before you get started, you probably need to know more about what a science fair or project is all about. Of course, your teacher can tell you more about the science fair at your school, but the sites on this page can explain what science fairs are all about.

If you're wondering what you get out of doing a science fair project, scroll to the bottom of our page and look at our "Why should I do a science fair project?" section.

Cool-Science-Projects
http://www.cool-science-projects.com/index.html
Superb advice for every aspect of a science fair project: topic ideas, research, data recording, display making, and more! Everything is presented in a step-by-step guide. There are also project ideas for all grade levels.

Discovery Channel School: Science Fair Central
http://school.discovery.com/sciencefaircentral/scifairstudio/handbook/
"A science project is like a mystery in which you are the detective searching for answers." Janice VanCleave helps you turn from science gumshoe to super sleuth and explains each step, from research to presentation.

Experimental Science Projects: An Introductory Level Guide
http://www.isd77.k12.mn.us/resources/cf/SciProjIntro.html
Not sure how to plan your project? Peter Macinnis covers every step. Also, scroll to the bottom and find a long list of topic ideas.

Science Fair Primer
http://users.rcn.com/tedrowan/primer.html
Learn here how to do many important steps in your project, from developing a purpose and designing an experiment, to analyzing your data and writing a research report.

Science Project Guidelines
http://www.fathermag.com/904/science/guidelines.shtml
Having judged science fairs for many years, Kennedy Space Center scientist Elizabeth Stryjewski knows the common mistakes students make in their science investigations.

A Student’s Guide
http://www.ag.ncat.edu/extension/programs/dte/science.pdf
Carefully explains how to do a science project and why they are important.

Dr. Shawn's 10 Easy Steps to Science Fair Success
http://www.scifair.org/articles/steps.shtml
Dr. Shawn lists ten steps to a good science fair project, including a detailed outline for planning your experiment. Notice how "planning" and "preparing" are the most detailed steps?

"Why should I do a science fair project?"

You might be asking yourself this question. Here are some good answers.

Center for Precollegiate Education
http://www.cpet.ufl.edu/sciproj/sci004.htm
If you’ve been studying science, won’t it be fun to do some yourself?

Science Fair page at Cool-Science-Projects.com
http://www.cool-science-projects.com/science-fair.html
Learn about the biggest science fairs and the largest cash prizes and find out why almost all the winners of the big science fairs had to learn how not to quit.

Science Service: Why Complete a Science Project?
http://www.sciserv.org/isef/primer/why_complete_project.asp
Here are some good reasons: it lets you use what you know, do real investigation, and because a good project just might pay off – in cash!