3 Ways to Get Ahead on Your Students Science Fair Project

3 Ways to Get Ahead on Your Student’s Science Fair Project With the school year just beginning, your students science fair project may be the last thing on your mind. Back-to-school time, however, is a great time to get an early start on your childs science fair project. Ways to get ahead on your students science fair project can include reaching out to their teacher to ensure you understand the involved deadlines, determining the central research question early on, and spending time getting creative with ideas. Getting a head start on your students science fair project gives you both time to flesh out any ideas and make a plan for how to execute the project. Also, it will help you avoid any last-minute scrambling. Does getting a jumpstart on your students science fair project sound appealing? Here are three ways you and your student can get ahead on their science fair project this fall: Communicate with your students teacher when planning for the science fair project Deadlines for science fair projects typically fall between mid-January and the end of February (though some schools may have fall due dates). While this may feel far away in September, there are many individual deadlines along the way. Depending on the teacher and the district, you could have deadlines for submitting items like your childs research plan. A good way to get ahead on your students science fair project is to mark these deadlines on your calendar. If you dont have this year's policy and procedure manual yet, you can still plan for deadlines. Look at last year's manual for your school, district, or state to see when the past deadlines fell. This years dates could change, but chances are that each deadline will still be in the same general window as the year before. It can also be helpful to reach out to your child's teacher with any questions you may have regarding the timeline. Its important that you understand the requirements and due dates early on in the school year, so you can help your student properly plan when each part of the project needs to be completed. With your childs other classes and extracurricular activities, the school year can get busy quickly. Its key to schedule time around your students other responsibilities to work on this project. Being aware of deadlines and having an open line of communication with your childs teacher are good opportunities to help your student get ahead on their science fair project. [RELATED: 3 Ways to Effectively Communicate with Your Childs Teacher] Get ahead by determining the science fair projects research question and timeline The first step for any project is deciding on a hypothesis and basis for the experiment. Once your student has determined their research question, they can then begin to plan out the rest of the project. For example, is your child interested in conducting a social science experiment or a physical science experiment? Its important for your student to do as much research as possible on the different types of experiments they can conduct. This way, they can fully understand the style of experiment they are going to execute. Once the research question is determined, your child can better plan their timeline. This is because the type of experiment your student chooses can have an effect on how the timeline plays out. For example, if your students experiment includes a sample of conveniencei.e. family members or classmatesthey would have to conduct their experiment based off the availability of their subjects, which in turn affects the timeline. A great way to get ahead on your students science fair project is to determine the projects hypothesis early on so you can adjust the timeline accordingly. [RELATED: How Parents Can Help With Elementary Homework Challenges] Get creative with science fair project ideas Now that you have determined the project and made a timeline, the fun can begin. The beauty of starting science fair preparations early is that you and your student have plenty of time to get creative with the projectboth in how to conduct the experiment and in how to set up the final presentation. There are a multitude of creative and engaging project ideas your student can turn into an experiment: Is your child interested in learning if gummy bears will grow at different rates in different types of liquids? Do they want to know how electricity affects the pH of water? Have they always wanted to learn how to make a battery out of fruit? Start a conversation with your student about what interests them. Research creative ideas online with your child, and see if anything peaks their interest. The important thing is to find a project your student is excited about executing. This is a project that is worked on over the course of months, so choosing one they are energized about will make this years science fair project a fun experience. [RELATED: 4 Ways Parents Can Help Middle School Students Succeed] Any topics you want to know more about? Let us know! The Varsity Tutors Blog editors love hearing your feedback and opinions. Feel free to email us at blog@varsitytutors.com.