Lesson .
.How to Do a Science Fair Project
Jet Propulsion Laboratory https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/ Last Updated: Sept. 26, 2024
Find out what’s involved for students:
Subject
Science
Grade Levels
3-12
Time Required
30 - 60 mins
"How to Do a Science Fair Project: Overview" - download video (mov)
Overview
In this video series, a JPL scientist, engineer and educator team up to help students learn how to observe the world around them and ask questions about the things they observe. Students will learn how to take those observations and turn them into a successful science fair project.
Materials
- How to Do a Science Fair Project: Overview - watch on YouTube | download video (mov) | video transcript (PDF)
- Step 1 - Get Your Idea and Do Some Research - watch on YouTube | download video (mov) | video transcript (PDF)
- Step 2 - Ask a Testable Question - watch on YouTube | download video (mov) | video transcript (PDF)
- Step 3 - Design and Conduct Your Experiment - watch on YouTube | download video (mov) | video transcript (PDF)
- Step 4 - Examine Your Results - watch on YouTube | download video (mov) | video transcript (PDF)
- Step 5 - Communicate Your Experiment and Results - watch on YouTube | download video (mov) | video transcript (PDF)
- Example image - This image, used throughout the video series, can be used to help students practice making observations
Management
Watch the How to Do a Science Fair Project video series for instructions on creating a successful science fair project.
Procedures
- Download the example image used in the video series and ask students to identify objects in the image they could ask a question about. Then, ask students to look around their classroom, house, school or neighborhood and identify more things they could ask a question about.
- Help students develop their ideas into testable questions that follow the format, "How does INPUT affect OUTPUT?"
- Help students make sure they are only testing one thing. Students often want to change lots of things in an experiment. Make sure they understand they can only change or test one thing and this "thing" is called a variable. Encourage students to think ahead about outside factors that might influence their science experiment or engineering design and do everything they can to eliminate these influences. Only by eliminating other influencing factors can we be sure our variable is the only thing we are testing.
- Help students understand that many outside factors can influence a science experiment or engineering design. Lead them through thinking about what could have affected their experiment or design that they did not anticipate at first.
- Make sure students carefully review what is required for a display and abide by those guidelines. Here is a good description of the elements of a display.