This time of year, many students are preparing for an actual science fair competition. Most fairs have an interview portion, when the student will explain their project to one or more judges. This will make most students nervous – so the more prepared they are, the better this will probably go.
QUICK TIPS:
When the judge comes to your project:
—-stand up, stick out your hand and say:
—-“Hi, my name is _____ and my project is ______ (state your title)”.
—-Then, BRIEFLY summarize the project in 1 minute (maybe 2).
—-Then, say: “Do you have any questions?”
PRACTICE this with friends and family – it will help with the nervousness.
Questions students should be ready to answer :
• Where did you get the idea for this project?
• What research did you do?
• What was your control?
• What were your independent and dependent variables?
• How (and how often) did you replicate the experiment?
• What would be the next experiment you would do?
• Why did you think that would happen?
• Why did you choose that…?
• What did you change and what did you measure?
• How did you measure that?
• Why are your findings important?
• What does that word mean (for all big/science words used)?
• What did you learn?
• What was the hardest part?
• What was the most fun?
• Did anything surprise you along the way?
• Who helped you?
• Why did you choose that amount, or measurement, or piece of equipment?
• If you had to do it all over again, what would you do differently?
GOOD LUCK!