Maple Hills Elementary PTA

Science Fair 2010
Friday April 16th, 2010

Parents and Students:  Please note that we are referring to projects as              investigations instead of experiments.

Dear Parents and Students,

Welcome to Science Fair 2010!!!  The purpose of the Science Fair is to help increase the awareness of science through the development of projects, investigations and hands-on displays.  Science fairs are meant to encourage the students’ ongoing participation in science activities and to develop higher level thinking skills, and curiosity about the world around us.  Collecting data, writing, designing and presentation are all used in the process.

PARENTS, PLEASE NOTE THE FOLLOWING:

• Projects should follow the Scientific Method described on page 2 of this packet.  For students in grades K through 2 the scientific method can be followed more loosely. 
• Parents are strongly encouraged to work with their children to develop a suitable project. 
• Students may choose to work alone or in a group of up to four.
• Resource materials to help you choose a topic are available in the Maple Hills School library and King County Public Library.  There are books, investigation packets and "science-to-go” kits.  The investigation packets are simple and were put together primarily for grades K through 2. 
• There are many resources available on-line using key words “science fair projects”.
• A great website for research information is http://howthingswork.virginia.edu/.

All Students will talk with a Parent Scientist about their project during the day on Friday of Science Fair week.  This is a great chance for student scientists to talk to people who are passionate about science, and to show off their project. 
(Note: For younger students, arrangements can be made to talk with their teacher instead).

The Parent Scientists will encourage students to discuss the following:

·         why they chose their project

·         what question did they ask

·         how their project was designed to answer that question

·         what the results were

·         what went right or wrong

·         how they might change their investigation if they were going to try this investigation again

The philosophy behind having the kids talk with a scientist is to get them to think about what they did in an atmosphere of positive reinforcement.  Students are strongly encouraged to use the scientific method as well as their creativity, neatness, and scientific thought.   

We will have a Science Fair open house on Friday April 16th 2010 from 6:30 until 8:30 pm in the school Multi-Purpose Room. There will be activities for the whole family in the Multipurpose Room and the Gymnasium as well as a display of student projects in the halls and pods.

See you at the Fair!

Laurae Briggs and Nancy Gunderson, Science Fair Co-Chairs – 2010