Science fair season is here! It’s a time when you can get creative, delve into a project you’re passionate about, and test your nerves while you talk to the judges. Here are some tips to help you be not just prepared — but ready to knock it out of the park.
Choose a Topic You Care About
Before deciding on a topic or invention, make sure it’s something that’s meaningful to you. You are going to spend long hours working on this project (and some projects continue for two or three years), so you want to have a true interest in it. Think about your hobbies, your interests, and look at real world issues you encounter every day. Ask yourself what you wish you had that would make your life — or the lives of others — better or easier. You will find that your project becomes more and more interesting when it’s something you’re passionate about.
Don’t Get Discouraged
Once you’ve settled on your big idea, you’ll need to spend plenty of time researching, experimenting, and possibly even creating prototypes. Not everything will go according to plan — that’s science. Expect to hit some bumps along the way, but don’t get discouraged. Every misstep you make or obstacle you face provides you with more information to get where you want to go. A bump is simply an opportunity to pivot and move in a different direction. Many inventors try and fail multiple times before they are successful. So don’t let a setback bother you. Instead, use it as motivation to keep pushing forward.
Create a Schedule and Stick to It
The science fair process can take months, and it can be easy to put off doing today what could be done tomorrow. But to be sure you’re fully prepared, start working on your project early, create a manageable timeline, and stick to it. Be sure to account for research and experimentation, and build in time to change course if things don’t work out the way you expect. Leave yourself enough time at the end to fine-tune your presentation. Creating a schedule and sticking to it will allow you to do your best work throughout the process, while ensuring that you meet your deadline and are prepared for the big day.
Practice Makes Perfect
During the fair itself, you’ll most likely be asked dozens of questions, and among them is sure to be a request to succinctly explain your project. Before the fair, create a short “speech” that summarizes your project. Include why you chose the topic, what you hoped to learn or fix, whether or not you were successful, and what you might do differently in the future. Practice it enough so that you can repeat it without having to think too hard about it. The more familiar you are with your material, the more comfortable you will be. The judges will notice that you are confident and prepared.
Prepare for Questions in Advance
Science fair participants are asked tons of questions during the fair, so make sure you’re ready for them. Think about how you might answer questions about what you learned, what you would do differently, what impact of your project might have, and what problems you ran into along the way and how you solved them. There are plenty of resources online that list potential questions you can review and practice answering. The more prepared you are, the less likely you are to be stumped by a question.
Have Fun!
It can be easy to view your science fair project as just another assignment you have to do, but it doesn’t have to be a chore. Choosing a topic that you enjoy and are interested in will keep you from becoming bored. Exploring an interesting topic may even lead to future opportunities or career paths. A science fair can be a great way to learn on your own terms and think outside the box, which is something you can’t always do in school. Don’t be afraid to get creative and have some fun — the judges appreciate students’ unique ideas.
Preparing for the science fair can be a long process, but it can also be incredibly rewarding. Take the time to choose a project or topic that is important to you, and use this time to delve deeper into an area you truly care about. The science fair is an opportunity to learn, to have fun, and to develop new skills. While the season may seem long, it will be over before you know it! And when you are packing up your project, you want to be able to look back on all the fun and learning that took place, and be proud of what you accomplished.
On Topic
Stanford University freshman Anna Quinlan, Cherokee Nation, studies computer science and currently serves as a webmaster for the Stanford AISES College Chapter. Her goal is to become a physician-scientist and help improve health care in Indigenous communities. When Quinlan was in high school, she was a Grand Award winner at the AISES National American Indian Science and Engineering Fair. From there, she went on to represent AISES at the Intel International Science and Engineering Fair (ISEF), where she placed second in biomedical engineering. Clearly Anna knows her way around a science fair, and she has some advice for students who are getting ready for their next competition.
What should students consider when choosing a topic for the science fair?
Choosing a topic has always been the hardest part for me, so don’t despair if you’re having trouble finding one. I found that the best way to find good project ideas was to identify a subject I was interested in, then read the scientific literature about it in order to find out what unanswered questions still remained. Those sorts of questions make awesome, intriguing science fair projects.
Is it better to present an unusual theory or to fully investigate a science fair favorite?
Investigating an unusual theory tends to be a better project because it’s “novel” research — research that hasn’t been done before — that’s what most high-level science projects tend to be. Also, it’s more interesting for you (and your judges)! Answering unknown questions tends to be more satisfying than confirming a well-substantiated phenomenon.
What was your most memorable science fair entry?
Over the course of my junior and senior years of high school I built a lower-cost insulin pump that could automatically dose insulin. The project was an amazing way to not only concentrate on diabetes, which I am passionate about, but also to grow as a scientist and learn new skills like coding. That project led to a summer internship working with the open-source diabetes community. I’m now pursuing a degree in computer science as a result.
Once the hypothesis is tested and results are recorded, how can young scientists create an impressive presentation?
There are a lot of good resources online on how to make a good science fair board; I personally used the ScienceBuddies guides to help make mine. Make sure to include visual elements or demonstrations if the fair allows it! Judges like to see photos about what you did.
How can students catch the judges’ attention?
Having a novel and intriguing topic is probably the best way. I’ve had judges who weren’t actually scheduled to judge my project come to my board because they found my research interesting, or because they had a personal connection to diabetes.
What’s the strangest or most exciting thing you’ve ever seen at a science fair?
The project next to me at ISEF in my freshman year of high school was one of the most exciting ones I’ve seen. The student had created an improved way to deliver CRISPR that was based on how viruses infect cells, which could help treat diseases like cystic fibrosis. It’s amazing to see what high school students can do with creativity and determination.
What kinds of questions should fair participants be prepared to answer?
You’ll definitely be asked about why you chose your topic, and what future directions you’d like to take with your research. It’s important to acknowledge the limits of your research, and how it fits into the larger picture. I also found that almost all my judges would ask for a short overview of my project before they started asking questions. Be prepared to give a two- to three-minute summary of your question, methods, and results.
Were you ever stumped by a judge during a presentation? How did you handle it?
Definitely! At ISEF, judges tend to be subject-matter experts, and I’ve had judges who were significantly more qualified about an aspect of my project than I am. During the ISEF of my junior year of high school, one judge asked me a question about the mechanics of stepper motors, and I had absolutely no clue. I told him that I didn’t know the answer, that my project had focused more on the software side, which was a completely OK answer. Judges would prefer you tell them that you aren’t sure of the answer, rather than answer a question incorrectly. That year, I placed second in my category, so not knowing 100 percent of the subject matter behind my project definitely didn’t hinder me.
What are the top three science fair mistakes?
The first mistake can happen early: not spending enough time selecting your topic. This is the most important part of the project, not only for your own personal enjoyment while you’re working on it, but also for the purposes of judging. Having a project that no one else has done before is really important at higher-level fairs like ISEF. At those events, judges want to see projects that do a good job investigating the research question and have research questions that are interesting and new.
Another mistake students make is not taking advantage of their resources. I attended a public high school that didn’t have a lot of resources for science research outside the classroom, but I was able to find online tutorials and classes to help me with my project. I actually learned how to code through CodeAcademy.
Finally, not preparing for judging interviews and presentations is a huge mistake. I recommend students read some of the online articles that include commonly asked science fair interview questions and then practice answering the questions with your mentors and/or teacher. Also ask your teacher what questions they would ask you. For every project I’ve done, there have always been a couple of project-specific questions that (almost) every judge would ask me, and this process helped me to identify some of the questions beforehand.
