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Important Dates:

Science Week Dates: February 11th - 14th, 2025

Science Fair Nights: Tuesday, February 11th and Wednesday, February 12th from 6-7:30 pm

Office Hours: (for students to come to the MPR after lunch to brainstorm with us their ideas for a science project): Thursday, January 23rd hosted during lunch recess

Science Fair Sign Up Deadline: For students planning to present a science project, parents must complete the Science Fair Project Sign-Up Google Form by end of day Sunday, February 2nd

Of note for the science fair: Student project presentations will be assigned to either Tuesday or Wednesday evening after sign-ups. There will be time each night for students to present their own projects AND walk around to see what other Tigers did.

Step by Step:

Pick a Project

  • Students can work alone or in groups at their discretion

  • Projects can be hands-on experiments/demonstrations, or displays of experimental results.

  • Once you have settled on a topic students will determine a hypothesis and test it. 

  • Once the project is completed, students may want to practice a 3-5 minute informal presentation of the project so that they are prepared to tell others at the Science Fair what they learned.

For science projects, students will be expected to describe their experiment and results on a poster board covering these five topics:

1. Pose a question (e.g., will gum lose mass if chewed?)

2. Form a hypothesis (e.g., gum will gain mass after it is chewed)

3. Design the experiment (e.g., weigh gum before and after chewing for 1, 5, 10, and 15 minutes)

4. Collect and record results

5. Interpret results (e.g., gum weighed less after chewing which can be attributed to part of gum mass being consumed by chewer)

For engineering projects, students will be expected to describe the elements and engineering principles of their project and report/demonstrate how it works. Questions to consider include:

1. What was the design goal (i.e., what is the need that your project addressed)? 

2. What were the key elements or design components of your project? 

3. What criteria and constraints did you consider/identify? 

4. Was your prototype successful (i.e., did it perform according to your established criteria?), and if not how did its failure inform the subsequent design?

Explain your results and your conclusions!

What’s not allowed?

● Use of dangerous chemicals (including dry ice) is prohibited.

● Experiments that provide food to students are discouraged.

● No live animals, open flames, projectiles, or explosives.

This is meant to protect the health and safety of participants,school property, and the sanity of Science and Engineering Night volunteers.

need inspo?

It is important to help your child remember that the process is more important than the results. The main goal of any scientific investigation is to ask questions and foster investigative skills. Be open to child-led discovery! Although the internet is full of really great projects, encourage your child to pick something they are truly interested in. Ask them what they are curious about or listen to their spontaneous, daily questions. There may be a project buried in those daily musings! If your child chooses an existing experiment from a book or the web, make sure it’s appropriate for their age and learning style. If needed, you can adjust the scope – e.g. instead of discovering the chemistry behind a reaction, have your younger child observe the changes they see. Have fun with your child as you support them.

In case of questions about the fair or projects, please don’t hesitate to reach out to us (Mary Colvig and Danielle Roselin) at tamvalleyscience@gmail.com