The Winning Science Fair
Project
You can improve your
chances of making a winning science fair project. There are many easy things you
can do to give yourself a better chance of winning at a science fair or any
science project competition.
The information
provided will arm you with knowledge from people who actually won at top
competitions. There are no systems to guarantee victory, but you can give
yourself a competitive advantage.
Read on, or skip
to a particular section:
You can read through these in any order depending on what you
are most interested in working on next. If you follow all of this advice,
you are sure to have an edge in your upcoming fair.
Be Interested
The surest footing you can get when embarking upon your quest to making a
winning science fair project is to be interested in your subject matter. This
one thing affects every single aspect of your project and your future
presentation of your project.
Your
interest and enthusiasm (or lack thereof) will direct your decisions and
motivations. A keen interest in your project will allow you to be able to work
on it longer, with more energy, and have more fun with it – and all of this will
show through in every aspect of your research and work. Being interested in your
work is good advice no matter what, but it’s especially important if you want a
winning science fair project.
So,
first and foremost, pick your topic well. Pick something that you have a
profound interest in. If you don’t know what that could be, or are having
trouble getting motivated, allow us to help – we have designed a process to help
you:
start here.
Pick A
Challenging Topic
This is good advice whether or not you are competing to win. If you are
competing to win, this is critical. Choosing an overly simple topic will not
help you make a winning science fair project.
Depending on what your level is (elementary, middle, high school or beyond) you
may choose to extend a project from a list of choices given to you or you may
need to come up with something entirely on your own. In either case, there is a
simple formula to determine what you need to do in order to make your project a
‘challenging’ topic. Take a look what others in your grade category have done in
the past – if you look closely enough, you’ll notice a few outstanding examples
where the competitor in question took a few extra steps in order to place his or
her project above and beyond the others.
A
great way to do this is to compete at one (or more) levels above the one you are
in. If you are in middle school, then check out what the high school
participants are doing for there projects and then make a project that could
compete with this higher level. This will give you easy criteria at how
challenging you should make your project, and if you do this it will give you an
edge at making a winning science fair project.
Unique
Projects Have an Edge
Unique maybe a little strong – but there is no denying the fact that projects
that have some originality to them are more likely to be winning science fair
projects then those that are based upon “tried and true” (and boring!) projects
of the past. Take a look at prior projects at your school or online and you will
quickly get an idea for what projects have been done to death. Different light
color affecting plant growth comes to mind, and there are many others.
Choosing something unusual and atypical often times goes hand and hand with
picking a challenging and interesting topic! So if you have something
interesting in mind, you can probably come up with an aspect of your interest to
turn into a unique winning science fair project.
Problems
Encountered are War Stories
Judges at science fairs are scientists (at least at heart) and as such they love
to hear about difficult, daunting, unforeseen problems that were overcome with
persistence and the stubborn application of the scientific method. This is part
of
a
good science fair project and
what judges look for. If you run into hard problems, write the experience
down. Even if you can’t solve it directly but instead have to go around it.
This is what the evolution of science is all about – men and women that
stubbornly refused to let difficult problems get in the way of their research
and progress.
When
you are done with your project, make sure to organize all of your “problem
experiences” and then memorize one or two and practice reciting them as a
stories. Most judges will identify with you because they themselves have no
doubt run into troublesome challenges themselves and love hearing about how
other people dealt with them. This will lend you credibility as a true scientist
and the judge will most likely leave you feeling inspired by your story. Your
efforts will get you one step closer to having a winning science fair project.
Avoid “I’m not
sure…but it might be [blank]?”
If during an interview with a judge you are asked a question for which you do
not know the answer: do not pretend to know. Don’t even try – most judges
will see right through this kind of deception and it will reflect very badly on
you no matter how good the rest of your presentation and project is. Making a
winning science fair project means, sometimes, having to say “I don’t know
that,” especially if you have done work in a challenging field. It’s not the end
of the world, and the judge will appreciate your honesty.
At
the highest levels of competition, it’s very unlikely that you will come away
from a science fair having been able to answer every single question posed to
you about your project. The world of science is big – no one expects you to know
it all, just be sure to be dutiful in your research and get to the point where
you feel comfortable about your subject. If you can do that, you will be in good
shape to answer questions at the fair, and you will be one step closer to a
winning science fair project.
Include a “For
next time…” Section
At the end of your science project report, include a section that describes what
you would differently if you had the opportunity to do it again. This shows
thoughtfulness and thoroughness on your part – again, both traits common in a
true scientist.
A
great way to accomplish this is to keep a journal with all of your thoughts and
ideas about your project. This will allow you to jot down any ideas you may have
about your project in a spot where they will not get lost. This also allows you
to form the “for next time” section quite easily by simply lifting the (good)
ideas you had about your project, but where unable to do this time around for
whatever reason. It took effort to come up with those ideas – use them to your
advantage!
Striking but
Not Abrasive
In addition to doing a good job at your science report and display you will want
to align yourself with winning science fair projects everywhere by designing the
visual appearance of your project to be attention getting, perhaps even striking
– but without being abrasive.
If
you are thinking of using twenty different neon colors in order to decorate your
display, you may want to think again. A great and award winning science fair
project stands upon a foundation of science not flash, in order to
win. If you feel the need to constant tinker with the visual appearance of you
project, perhaps you are trying to conceal a perceived lack in another aspect of
the project.
Make
sure the fundamentals of you project (the topic, the science, the research, the
experiment) are sound and they will stand on their own. Are we saying to make
your display as bland as possible? Of course not! Use colored construction paper
as backing for your paper displays, use a creating display approach – by all
means have some fun with it. But don’t go overboard. Winning science fair
projects win with fundamentals, not flash.
Follow the
Rules – Even the Subtle Ones
Make sure to follow every rule set forth by the competition you are entering;
including the rules that are hinted at. What do we mean by this? Sometimes, you
can get a sample judging sheet before the event or from last years’ event. Often
times, you can glean valuable information about what the judges deem to be the
more important aspects of a winning science fair project.
Sometimes judging will reward some aspects of a project more then others. Some
fairs favor originality above everything this, some rigor, and others for
applicability. Do not try to get an unfair advantage by getting anything
private (not publicly accessible.) Such actions can only lead to your doom in
one form or another. Do learn from every piece of public information
about the fair you are attending.
Knowing who your judges are and what they want and then meeting these
expectations is a great way to get a fair advantage by doing work that others
are often not willing to do. There are certain things that are almost universal
in judging criteria, so be sure to review these as well.
Use every fair
and even handed advantage to get your project closer to being a winning
science fair project.
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