Personal Injury Law

Science Project How-To

By Megan Roth

I remember my first science fair: I was in fifth grade and decided to craft a wooden device that a marble was able to roll down, thus demonstrating the laws of gravity (challenging, I know). But hey - I was in the fifth grade.we didn't want to do anything too complex! And, let's face it: mine was one of the few projects that worked and I had fun doing it.

Sometimes, we get too caught up in 'outdoing' the rest, and we lose sight of the project's purpose. Science Projects should be more about proving a hypothesis than about standing out by looking fancy and using expensive items. They should be challenging enough for the grade level, yet informative, quick and fun. Sometimes, however, the projects can become hazardous. It's important to remember that, while we do want students demonstrating more than the basic "what goes up must come down" principle, we don't want to put them in danger by doing so.

So how can we achieve a sort of harmony, where the students enjoy their project, the faculty is satisfied with the project's level of difficulty, and the students' parents don't go broke because of it?

It can be difficult to find a project that meets all of these qualifications. First, one must decide if he wants the project to be more 'display' or 'experimental' in nature.

After that decision is made, he can log onto one of the many websites suggesting different ideas, tips, and tricks for science projects (he could also let his imagination run wild, but that's generally when the injuries happen, so we recommend starting with a basic idea and moving forward).

From there, the student needs to create his hypothesis and conduct research either proving or disproving this. After the student has educated himself on the topic, he can create and implement a design for his project (this refers to the actual construction of the project). And finally, after all research has been documented and the project has been created (and proven successful), the student is able to display his project. As we mentioned earlier, it's easy to get caught up in the display. Though we don't want this to be a student's primary focus, we do want to make sure the project is appealing enough to attract the attention of others.

That being said, go get 'em! A science project can seem like a lot of work, but when done right, it can be a fun way for a parent and their child to bond and provides a wonderful opportunity for students to demonstrate what they've learned.

Full post as published by Des Moines Personal Injury Lawyer on September 08, 2008 (boomark / email).