The Science Fair Podcast

Listen in iTunes Listen to this episode to hear how I chose the “winners” of my science fair. Hear how we transformed their “cloud-based” presentations into traditional projects that could go on to compete at the school-wide and city-wide Science Fair. Also learn how I used this as an opportunity to teach the iterative nature of Science Inquiry and how students used what they learned in my Science Fair to improve their inquiry thinking.

Listen in iTunes On today’s podcast I talk about preparing students for Science Fair day. It will include how I prepare students for their oral and visual presentations, the technology we use to do it, and how our Science Fair day is different than a tradition science fair. Hear about using Google apps to make your Science Fair tri-fold board free! Not only that, but creating cloud-based Science Fair “boards” allows students to collaborate in school and at home, virtually. In addition it allows you to give feedback right on their documents from your computer. Check out the links below for resources to use in your classroom. Google Presentation Instructions (Gdoc) (PDF) Oral Presentation Instructions (Gdoc) (PDF)

Listen in iTunes Science Fair is an excellent opportunity to build math skills into your Science class. In this episode, I detail how I guided students in organizing their data into presentable form. I used tutorial videos to help students develop 21st century cloud based data analysis skills. Listen to hear how students researched graph types, selected the most appropriate graph and turned it all into a document that could later be used in a final science fair report. Video Tutorials: Making a graph using your Google drive Inserting a Google graph into a Google document Instructions and Resources Organizing Data (Gdoc) (PDF) Creating a Science Fair Graph (Gdoc)(PDF) Results and Reflection Writing (Gdoc)(PDF) Data and Results Rubric (Gdoc)(PDF)

Listen in iTunes Analyzing data always presents challenges for students. In this episode, I discuss how I approached data analysis with my students. Hear about the hangups we ran into and how the activity unfolded in my classroom.

How Our Humanities Teacher Helped Make Science Fair Rock! The awesome Lillie Marshal, 7th grade Humanities teacher joins for this episode of the podcast. She shares how she welcomed Science Fair into her classroom and curriculum and how she used it to teach research concepts. Listen to hear how to work with colleagues to “interdisciplinize” your Science Fair. Lillie is also an incredible blogger in her own right. She publishes aroundtheworldL.com, a travel blog. She also publishes teachingtraveling.com, a travel web site for teachers.

In episode 5, I describe how my students put their procedures into action. I detail how students self pace the activity and how I offer tailored support. I also discuss how I have my students reflect on the process to revise their experimental procedures. Below are links to the web based resources mentioned in the episode. Reflection Critical Thinking Rubric (This is a rubric created by my school and used across the grades)

In this episode, students return to science class with background research in hand. They use this research to generate hypotheses. I discuss the way students debate predictions and use their research to back up their ideas. I also explain the hypothesis format I use and how it helps students envision the entire experiment.

If you've been struggling to make Science Fair a meaningful experience for your students and you, join in the conversation on the Science Fair Podcast. In this first episode, I talk about how I introduce the science fair concept to my seventh grade students. The whole podcast is recorded on my commute to work, so it lasts less than fifteen minutes . Check out this podcast each day as I talk about my day-to-day experiences and challenges working through the science fair process with my students. Please email me with your experiences and questions at adam@sciencenugget.com.