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Practice makes Perfect

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Key Info

Preparing for Science Fair Judging- Practice Makes Perfect!

If you can communicate your science fair project well, you maximize your chances of winning.

Write up a short "speech" (about 2-5 minutes long) summarizing your science fair project. You will give this speech when you first meet the judges. (Remember to talk about the theory behind your science fair project-why your project turns out the way it does.)

Organize a list of questions you think the judges will ask you and prepare/practice answers for them. Practice explaining your science fair project to others and pretend they are judges.

Practice explaining your science fair project in simple terms so anyone can understand it.

Presenting Yourself During the Science Fair Judging Period-Be Professional!

Always dress nicely for the science fair judging period-NO JEANS!

Make good use of your display board. Point to diagrams and graphs when you are discussing them.

Always be positive and enthusiastic!

Be confident with your answers; do not mumble.

If you have no idea what the judge is asking, or do not know the answer to their question, it is okay to say "I do not know."

Treat each person who visits you like a judge, even nonscientists.

After the science fair, always ask for feedback from the judges to improve your project.

by Amber Hess

For some science fairs you will actually have a chance to meet and speak with the judges. If you prepare for these interviews, they're a great opportunity to create a positive impression of your work.

The Details

Preparing for the Science Fair Judging- Practice Makes Perfect!

If you can communicate your science fair project well, you maximize your chances of winning.

Write up a short "speech" (about 2-5 minutes long) summarizing your science fair project. Do not restate your abstract word by word. You will give this speech (from memory) when you first meet the judges. Include in the speech:

How you got the idea.

How you did the experiment (explain any relevant terms along the way).

Your results and conclusions.

Why your science fair project is important in today's society (how will it help people today?). You don't have to cure cancer. Perhaps your work will help a small group of people, but it's still important.

Demonstrate that you understand the theory behind why your project turns out the way it does.

If you can't fit all of this into your presentation, be prepared to discuss each of the above topics separately.

Expect to be interrupted when you talk to the judges. You will rarely finish your speech.

Organize a list of questions you think the judges will ask you and prepare/practice answers for them. A few common questions are listed below.

How much help did you receive from others?

What does your data tell you?

Why is this research important? (Who cares if a rocket flies well?)

What do your graphs represent?

What does your data tell you?

What problems did you run into while doing your experiment and how did you fix them?

What are the three most interesting things you learned when doing this science fair project?

What further research do you plan on doing, or would do, to this science fair project? (Your future study)

Study your background research as you would for a test. In some ways, presenting your science fair project is like taking an exam. The better you know your background research, the higher the chance you have of winning.
This is the part I usually had trouble with: I would do the research and understand everything, but then I needed to study it. I would eventually learn and remember all the facts I should know, but I had to sit myself down and study. Force yourself to pretend there is a test the next day on all of the information, and you will be prepared.

Practice explaining your science fair project to others and pretend they are judges.

Practice explaining all graphs, tables, your short speech, answers to possible questions judges might ask, etc.

Practice explaining the theory behind your science fair project. Theory includes everything from your background research.

Videotaping yourself during practice can also be very helpful. Although it can be painful to watch the video, you will see the mistakes you made and be able to fix them the next time you speak.

Practice explaining your science fair project in simple terms so anyone can understand it.
Many students do not know how to explain their science fair project to the general public. If you can explain your project in laymen's terms, you are one step ahead of everyone else!

Presenting Yourself- Be Professional!

Always dress up nicely for the science fair judging period- NO JEANS! Everyone will take you more seriously if you look professional.

Make good use of your display board. Point to diagrams and graphs when you are discussing them.

Always be positive and enthusiastic!

Show the judges you are interested in your research and they will be more likely to remember you.

Do not be negative unless you are emphasizing a frustrating problem you ran into.

Be confident with your answers. Do not mumble and say "Ummmmm...I think maybe this is happening?" Even if you answer a question incorrectly, at least they will not think you are a wimp!

Emphasize how you were creative/unique/innovative with your science fair project.
One of the major criteria on a judges' list is creativity and originality.

If you have no idea what the judge is asking, or do not know the answer to their question, it is okay to say "I do not know."

This is better than making something up that probably is not correct.

It is better to get on to the next question for which you probably do know the answer.

Treat each person who visits you like a judge, even non-scientists.
They may be a valuable contact who could give you an internship later on.

Always ask for feedback from the judges after the science fair. Gather your judges' email addresses and ask them how you can improve. (If you know their name and employer, often you can do an Internet search to obtain their email addresses.) In my experience, I hear back from about half of the science fair judges I email. If you move onto the next level, you should update your science fair project and/or display board after receiving feedback. The improvements you make could determine whether you place in the next science fair! If you don't go on to the next level, their comments can help you on your next science fair project.

The Student Perspective

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Judging: Tips to Prepare for Your Science Fair

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Please ensure you have JavaScript enabled in your browser. If you leave JavaScript disabled, you will only access a portion of the content we are providing. Here's how. Preparing for Science Fair Judging- Practice Makes Perfect! If you can communicate your science fair project well, you maximize your chances of winning.

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Experiment Library | Science Experiments | Steve Spangler Science

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For those of you who couldn't join us on Facebook this week (@spanglerscience), we've been working hard to provide fun and amazing at home experiences to those who have been impacted by the current events.

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What makes a good Experimental Procedure?

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What makes a good Experimental Procedure?

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Use this checklist to guide you

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Overview

Now that you have come up with a hypothesis, you need to develop an experimental procedure for testing whether it is true or false.

The first step of designing your experimental procedure involves planning how you will change your independent variable and how you will measure the impact that this change has on the dependent variable. To guarantee a fair test when you are conducting your experiment, you need to make sure that the only thing you change is the independent variable. And, all the controlled variables must remain constant. Only then can you be sure that the change you make to the independent variable actually caused the changes you observe in the dependent variables.

Scientists run experiments more than once to verify that results are consistent. In other words, you must verify that you obtain essentially the same results every time you repeat the experiment with the same value for your independent variable. This insures that the answer to your question is not just an accident. Each time that you perform your experiment is called a run or a trial. So, your experimental procedure should also specify how many trials you intend to run. Most teachers want you to repeat your experiment a minimum of three times. Repeating your experiment more than three times is even better, and doing so may even be required to measure very small changes in some experiments.

In some experiments, you can run the trials all at once. For example, if you are growing plants, you can put three identical plants (or seeds) in three separate pots and that would count as three trials.

In experiments that involve testing or surveying different groups of people, you will not need to repeat the experiment multiple times. However, in order to insure that your results are reliable, you need to test or survey enough people to make sure that your results are reliable. How many participants are enough, what is the ideal sample size? See the Science Buddies resource, How Many Survey Participants Do I Need?, to find out.

Every good experiment also compares different groups of trials with each other. Such a comparison helps insure that the changes you see when you change the independent variable are in fact caused by the independent variable. There are two types of trial groups: experimental groups and control groups.

The experimental group consists of the trials where you change the independent variable. For example, if your question asks whether fertilizer makes a plant grow bigger, then the experimental group consists of all trials in which the plants receive fertilizer.

In many experiments it is important to perform a trial with the independent variable at a special setting for comparison with the other trials. This trial is referred to as a control group. The control group consists of all those trials where you leave the independent variable in its natural state. In our example, it would be important to run some trials in which the plants get no fertilizer at all. These trials with no fertilizer provide a basis for comparison, and would insure that any changes you see when you add fertilizer are in fact caused by the fertilizer and not something else.

However, not every experiment is like our fertilizer example. In another kind of experiment, many groups of trials are performed at different values of the independent variable. For example, if your question asks whether an electric motor turns faster if you increase the voltage, you might do an experimental group of three trials at 1.5 volts, another group of three trials at 2.0 volts, three trials at 2.5 volts, and so on. In such an experiment you are comparing the experimental groups to each other, rather than comparing them to a single control group. You must evaluate whether your experiment is more like the fertilizer example, which requires a special control group, or more like the motor example that does not.

Whether or not your experiment has a control group, remember that every experiment has a number of controlled variables. Controlled variables are those variables that we don't want to change while we conduct our experiment, and they must be the same in every trial and every group of trials. In our fertilizer example, we would want to make sure that every trial received the same amount of water, light, and warmth. Even though an experiment measuring the effect of voltage on the motor's speed of rotation may not have a control group, it still has controlled variables: the same motor is used for every trial and the load on the motor (the work it does) is kept the same.

A little advance preparation can ensure that your experiment will run smoothly and that you will not encounter any unexpected surprises at the last minute. You will need to prepare a detailed experimental procedure for your experiment so you can ensure consistency from beginning to end. Think about it as writing a recipe for your experiment. This also makes it much easier for someone else to test your experiment if they are interested in seeing how you got your results.

Write the experimental procedure like a step-by-step recipe for your science experiment. A good procedure is so detailed and complete that it lets someone else duplicate your experiment exactly!

Repeating a science experiment is an important step to verify that your results are consistent and not just an accident.

For a typical experiment, you should plan to repeat it at least three times (more is better).

If you are doing something like growing plants, then you should do the experiment on at least three plants in separate pots (that's the same as doing the experiment three times).

If you are doing an experiment that involves testing or surveying different groups, you won't need to repeat the experiment three times, but you will need to test or survey a sufficient number of participants to insure that your results are reliable. You will almost always need many more than three participants! See our Science Buddies resource, How Many Survey Participants Do I Need?

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Preparing Experimental Procedures for a Science Fair Project

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Please ensure you have JavaScript enabled in your browser. If you leave JavaScript disabled, you will only access a portion of the content we are providing. Here's how. Now that you have come up with a hypothesis, you need to develop an experimental procedure for testing whether it is true or false.

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Looking for some inspiration checkout this site!

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Science Project Pathways New

A new tool to easily plan, manage, and assign science projects in Google Classroom.

Enter a start date, and we'll create a schedule with assignments. Customize the schedule for your classes, then post assignments in Google Classroom with the click of a button.

Explore how a pandemic evolves by visualizing different scenarios in graphs that depict infections, symptomatic individuals, deaths, and immunity. Try vaccinations and other mitigations. Ask "What If?" and see what happens!

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Science Fair Project Ideas, Answers, & Tools

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Free Topic Selection Wizard, science fair project ideas, step by step how to do a science fair project, Ask an Expert discussion board, and science fair tips for success.

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Tips & Tricks to help you assemble your science board 

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Tips & Tricks to help you assemble your science board 

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Setting up your Show-board for Science Fair

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Science Fair Showcases Middle School Projects

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What Judges Want In a Science Fair Project

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Students from nearby counties travel to Tallahassee to share their ideas while trying to win an award in various areas of science, technology, engineering and mathematics.