Thank you! We have found the variety of science fair models in middle schools to be very interesting. We’re analyzing the data from our national survey now and are hoping to have results soon (and would be happy to share them with you). We’re also looking forward to next year when we are able to look at schools’ science fairs in depth. Thank you for your advice along the way!

Thank you! We’re still in the process of data collection, but once we have analyzed the data, we plan to disseminate what we have learned on our website http://sciencefairstudy.edc.org/ and through other channels.

Our study focuses on the school-level fair. Schools are selected based on location,willingness to participate, grade-level (we are looking for grades 6-8; 6th graders need to participate in the science fair), and school type (public or charter). While we have been in touch with ISEF and Broadcom, our study is not focused on that level of science fair. Thanks for the question!

In addition to all of the characteristics, we’re also selecting schools based on their science fair model – in particular, whether the science fair investigation is integrated with students’ “regular” science class or is a stand-alone experience. By location, we are looking for a distribution across the south, mid-west, north-east, and western regions of the country. To date we have 9 hubs distributed among these regions where we are focusing our recruitment efforts. We are also sampling across urban, rural, and suburban locales within each hub.

I should also mention we are still recruiting schools! Public/charter schools that include grades 6-8, hold a school science fair, and are interested in participating in our study can apply here: http://go.edc.org/sciencefairstudyapplication. We plan to wrap up this recruitment in the next few weeks, so schools should apply ASAP.

You raise an interesting point. Our study is measuring students’ interest in science and science careers as well as their understandings of science and engineering practices. In our pilot year we have not examined students’ use of social media as part of their science fair experience.

Great questions, thanks. Yes, we are including judges and looking at the judging process. The judges’ provide additional insight into what students might be getting out of the experience and the aspects of the fair that might contribute to those outcomes. It’s also helpful to understand more about the role that competition might play in students’ experiences.
Regarding your questions about equity and access, we are very interested in understanding who participates in science fairs, especially at schools where they are voluntary. In our current study we are not looking at schools that do not have science fairs, but a comparative study and a closer look at the sustainability of science fairs would be very interesting.

I’m following up on Jerry Valadez’ anecdote about the student’s science fair entry about his grandfather’s building of bird traps in Cambodia, which had strong engineering design elements but did not fit the criteria for his school’s science fair. I am a geoscientist and served as a volunteer science fair judge in New York state. I found that many good-quality Earth Science projects could not be highly ranked within the judging criteria that we were given because they did not have a controlled and manipulated variable. The criteria as written strongly favored experimental studies over the methodical observation that is a mainstay of research in geosciences. I’m glad that you are including the judging process in your study.

Hi Kim, you raise an important point. We do ask teachers about the topics and kinds of projects that are included within their school’s science fair experience. We have not yet dug into the data from the judges that we collected during our pilot year, but this is certainly something we could pay attention to as we examine the guidance given to judges and the criteria they use. Thanks!

We’re hearing many and varied recollections of science fair experiences, some positive and others not-so-much. What we want to understand is what does it take to ensure that students have positive experiences like yours; especially more and more diverse students, whose parents aren’t scientists, etc. What features of the science fair experience are most likely to lead to positive outcomes for children? If we can learn that, then we have a better shot at ensuring that fair experiences will serve all students well.

I’ve not surveyed parents for research about science fair but in my current efforts with STEM in out of school time, I do survey parents of kids that participate in our community science workshop and in Family Science events. I offer snacks and coffee or any type of refreshments and then survey or interview. It’s best to make that a routine activity and then distribute surveys and do interviews over a period of time instead of all at once.

Thank you! We appreciate the advice/insight. We’re going into our full data collection year next school year, so want to have a plan in place for encouraging parents to participate.