Science Fair Planning Packet | Science Fair Evaluation Rubric | Experiment Guide
Description
If your school is interested in hosting a science fair, this resource has everything you need to create a successful school event! The best part is that this SCIENCE FAIR PLANNING GUIDE was designed to send home with students to complete on their own time, as it is a step-by-step packet with clear expectations that students (and parents) can work through outside of school to create an award winning experiment and AMAZING science fair projects!
*if you want this science fair project to be done completely in school to do their science experiment and project, you just wouldn’t need to print the first few pages but the rest will help you walk your students through creating an experiment and great science fair poster.
Within the packet there are specific step-by-step details for students to follow the scientific method throughout their experiment. See the preview to see the details for yourself! The packet has a variety of information to best help students properly follow the scientific method just like scientists do.
This is truly a one-of-a-kind resource that was carefully constructed to best guide students to create an amazing and detailed experiment while carefully following the scientific method at home. We have tried doing this at school in the past, but it truly limits the creativity of experiments.
When true scientists are experimenting they ask questions, do research, use that research to form a hypothesis, summarize their research for others to learn important background information, decide on the aspects they will control during their experiment, gather/list materials, create procedures that anyone could follow, collect data, draw conclusions, and share their conclusions with others to help make a change. This packet clearly guides students through that and provides a variety of examples.
Scroll to the bottom to see how our school hosts our science fair!
Things that students will need to do:
- Use the packet to follow the scientific method while doing an experiment
- After completing all required parts for the poster (and once the experiment is concluded) students will need to purchase a tri-fold poster to display the different aspects of their science project
Specifically this resource includes:
- Science Fair Planning Packet
- A rubric for the packet
- Judges rubric for the actual science fair (very similar the rubric in the packet, it just is a little cleaner looking)
- Parent Information “Seen Slip” (for parents to sign to ensure that they are aware of the science experiment)
- Information of how we specifically run our science fair
- Certificates for science fair winners
- An EDITABLE first page of packet so you can set your own regulations and structure for your school's science fair!
Steps that teachers will need to do:
- Print one packet per student
- Decide on a due date for the science fair (we usually schedule ours to be due shortly after spring break and typically give the science fair info to them shortly before or after Christmas break so they have more than a few months to complete it)
- Decide on a tentative timeline for students to follow and write those dates in on the timeline (please let your students know that falling behind the timeline will likely result in stress)
- Make copies/hand out packets
- Remind students that this is a project that is done outside of school (this is the one activity that our school expects parents to work with their child to complete). We highly encourage parent/grandparent/older sibling/aunt/uncle involvement especially when it comes to editing.
- Discuss with students the important parts of the project/packet - show them the sentences they can use to help write their summaries, tell them how the science fair winners will be selected, discuss how students can use the rubric to help them figure out how to create an award winning science experiment, create a graph with them on the data collection page labeling the title/x-axis/y-axis, walk them through the steps of the scientific method, etc. (depending on the grade level might be how in detail you go)
- Our school has ALL 4th, 5th, and 6th graders do it - each year all students at least attempt creating a good science fair project but we do put a lot of emphasis on it. I teach 4th grade science, so when I pass out the packet I go into a lot of detail and answer a lot of questions since this is their first year doing their science fair experiment. The 5th/6th grade teachers just send the packet home and let them (with the help of their parents) figure it out for themselves. If you feel it is better to make this an optional activity for your school you can most certainly do that!
- Print and send home the parent information letter (printing on a bright paper is helpful)
- Decide on science fair judges (we have 3 judges to help differentiate the scores)
- Decide on location you will host science fair for all to come enjoy
- Give prizes to science fair winners (we do certificates, but our superintendent LOVES our school’s science fair so much that he purchases actual medals for the first place and overall finishers)
This SCIENCE FAIR PLANNING GUIDE is a detailed step-by-step guide for families to utilize to create an award winning science fair experiment.
If you think this includes too much work for your students (such as writing a summary over their research), simply cross out the portions that you are not wanting them to include in their science fair packet and on their rubric! This packet just includes anything you might need to fully follow the scientific method, but use the preview to analyze what you might want to adjust to best fit the needs of your school.
How our school hosts the science fair (you can adjust your school’s science fair outline as needed in the EDITABLE first page of the Science Fair Planning Packet):
ALL 4th, 5th, and 6th grade students must participate and create a tri-fold poster to represent the hard work of their experiment. The tri-fold will highlight the different aspects of the scientific method that they followed (required parts of their experiment are clearly outlined in the packet).
We personally do 3 winners for each grade level based on their total score between all of the judges. Then we also host an optional “overall” competition between all grade levels for students who would like to give a presentation to the judges about their experiment (students are not allowed to participate in this if they do not score an 80/100 or higher on their average score from the judges). The judges then choose those 3 winners based on their own rubric that they found for free online that focuses on presenting skills and more (I can send it to you if needed, but there are a lot of free options out there to find).
REMEMBER, THIS PACKET CAN BE USED AT HOME OR IN SCHOOL.
There is so much more to say about this packet, so please be sure to view the preview and ask on a question on TPT if you have one. I could type about it all day, remember I do include helpful details to help you best host your science fair within a PDF after purchase!
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