Maple Hills Elementary PTA Science Fair

Student science projects due Thursday March 29th
"Family Science Night" is Friday March 30th 

Dear Parents and Students,

Welcome to Science Fair 2012!!  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 in the How-To Guide.                                 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 many resources available on-line using key words “science fair projects”.
• One website for research information is http://howeverythingworks.org/home.html  you can search for specific topics on the left hand bar.  Another fun website is http://www.abc.net.au/science/surfingscientist/ . 
• All Students can talk with a Parent Scientist about their project during the day on Friday of Science Fair week.  This is a great chance for students to talk to people who are interested in 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 Family Science Fair Night on Friday March 30th 2012 from 6:30 until 8:30 pm in the school Multi-Purpose Room for all Maple Hills’ students and families. There will be activities for the whole family as well as a display of student projects in the halls and activity rooms.  Some of the hands on science activites includes a star planetarium, slime making, havercraft, robots and more!

 
Volunteers Needed!
Please download and review the volunteer jobs list.  Please contact Julie Hatley, Science Fair Chair, if you would like to volunteer or have any questions.  Contact infor can be found on the documents above. (coming soon)