One of our most popular events every year is our 6th class project for the Primary Science Fair at the BT Young Scientist Exhibition. We love how much the students learn from it and the confidence they get from demonstrating experiments, explaining the Science and showing off their hard work!
This year, we’re taking part in the Intel Mini-Scientist project as a way to involve other classes in the fun of displaying a science project. The exhibition will take place on Tuesday 3rd December at 10am and it promises to be an amazing day. 4th, 5th and 6th will display individual, paired or small group projects at the exhibition and judges from Intel will come out and ask them questions about their project. More details will follow as we move along – plenty of blog posts, I promise! – but for the time being, today’s ‘Wednesday for Parents’ deals with the initial dilemma of ‘what will I do for my Mini-Scientist project?’
A good science fair project should aim to answer a question. It doesn’t have to be something really complicated, it can be one of those questions that we ask on a daily basis! For example:
- Does the toast always land butter side down?
- If you press the button at the pedestrian crossing multiple times, does it make the lights change sooner?
- Does playing music to plants make them grow faster?
So, when your child starts thinking about what to do for their Mini-Scientist project, here are a few sites to help kickstart the ideas:
- http://www.mythbusterstheexhibition.com/educators/ – Mythbusters is the ultimate Science Fair! Here’s their take on how to approach a project and a few cool ideas that could make excellent projects
- http://www.squidoo.com/top-100-science-fair-projects – 100 Science Fair project ideas – there are some great ones further down the page
- http://www.education.com/science-fair/middle-school/– fantastic ideas in here! Remember, your child doesn’t have to follow the instructions for the project – it’s just a way to think up ideas.
- http://www.sciencefairadventure.com/ – plenty to explore here!
- http://www.primaryscience.ie/activities_simple_search.php – this is the website linked to the Discover Primary Science Award – see our work from last year here – lots of great activities on this one.
The best ideas will be linked to your child’s interests! If they’re interested in football, MMA, GAA, computers, art or music, they’ll probably be drawn to those topics and that’s the best way to keep them motivated and excited. The links above could be useful as examples of how to set up a project. Your child will be given plenty of support and guidance in school, but this is a great opportunity to find out about something they’ve always wondered!
If your child is in 2nd or 3rd class this year, the links above have plenty of cool experiments. Perfect for a day like today when everyone’s stuck indoors!
As always, we’re here to help! If you want any information about the Intel Mini-Scientist, you can check out the website here or you can come in and talk to Ms Whyte, Ms Sexton or Mr Foley, whose classes will be taking part.
Also, if you come across any other great Science Fair links, we’d love to hear about them!
