A Teacher's Guide to Fourth Grade Science Fair Projects
The most important objective in science fair projects is to give the student a brand new discipline. This is all about the scientific method. This scientific method for doing science fair projects is used throughout the entire world, in every country, and has been used for many a long years. The scientific method attempts to eliminate the bias and prejudice that the scientists may have when testing an hypothesis. Personal and national and religious beliefs have no part when doing science fair projects using the scientific method.
There are four distinct parts to the scientific method for doing science fair projects.
The first part is to observe and describe a phenomenon.
Secondly, you must create an hypothesis to explain the phenomenon.
The third part is the use of the hypothesis to predict the results of the experiment.
And last the student must perform experimental tests, using strict guidelines.
All science fair projects must adhere to these standards.
When the experiments demonstrate that the hypothesis is correct it can be accepted. If the experiments do not prove the hypothesis, it must be rejected.
If the experiments do not definitely represent the hypothesis, then the science fair experiments must be changed or denied. An hypothesis must be able to be tested or it will not qualify for school science fair projects.
Sometimes the mistake is made to ignore information which does not support the hypothesis. The strong attitudes of the experimenter about the validity of an hypothesis has no value in science fair projects. Only experimental data is valid.
Fourth grade students are a fertile group to work with on science fair projects. This is the age to help the student’s understanding of scientific inquiries. Now is the time to encourage them to do science fair projects and to develop their own ideas and experiments. The concepts of scientific method and scientific inquiry as they apply to science fair projects were probably introduced in third grade.
You will want to review the various steps in the scientific method starting with research to completing the finished project report.
Students should be encouraged to visit http://www.terimore.com to see over 400 kid friendly science fair projects.
