Increase Science Fair Participation - Have a Classroom Talk
Are you in charge of planning the school science fair? Schools all have their own way of advertising activities. Many send out an email in the school's weekly bulletin. But does that really spark student's interest? Most parents just scan it to see if there is anything relevant to them. The science fair might be the last thing they want to do. If you want to create excitement and increase participation in your science fair, you need to advertise to the kids.
The keys to a good classroom talk.
1. Perform a Fun Science Demonstration to get the Student's Attention.
The demonstration should be something that the kids will remember. You want the kids to go home and tell their parents about it.
Our burping bottle demonstration will definitely get the kids talking. Click the image to learn how to make one.
2. Have the Classroom Teacher Participate in the Demonstration.
Students love to see their teacher as the volunteer. This also creates excitement for the teacher. One year, I shook a can of soda. I showed the teacher how to open the can without it exploding. If the teacher could open the can, he/she would get to keep the soda. The students loved it, and the teacher enjoyed the soda.
3. Show how the demonstration can be turned into a science fair project.
I always tell the students that in a science fair investigation, they must change and measure one thing. I asked them what could we change in the demonstration we just did? What can we measure to see the effects of the change?
For the balloon in a bottle demonstration, students can change:
bottle size, balloon size, the size of the hole
What can we measure?
The size of the balloon in the bottle, rank how hard it is to blow it up, or the time it takes to blow it up.
For the soda can shake up, students can change:
The type of soda, size of the can, Length of shaking, and how hard you shake.
What can we measure?
We could rank how well it opened without exploding, the size of the eruption, and the amount of time the air hisses out of the bottle.
4. Explain what a fair is and the fun activities at the fair.
Make sure to tell them what the night of the fair will be like. Create excitement by offering activities at your fair as well as exploring all of the projects. Make sure to give the teacher flyers with the information about the fair.
Does a classroom talk work?
Enrollment at our fair went from 15 students to over 40 in one year after starting a science fair classroom talk. I wouldn't do it any other way. After the talk, parents approached me, telling me their child came home wanting to do the fair. They even stopped me at the grocery store. Success! It is easy to convince students to do the fair, but many students may never learn about it if it is only in the school newsletter.
Create excitement with the kids; it will be hard for the parents to tell them no.
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