New feature: Option to disable parent/student photo upload

You can now choose to disable the photo upload functionality for your Our Science Fair site.  Some schools have requested this because they are concerned about violating their district's policy regarding the use of student photos. 

If you would like to disable the photo upload feature, log in to your coordinator pages, and under Site customization, go to Photo upload page.  Near the top of the page, uncheck the checkbox labeled Enable photo upload:

and then press Save.

Disabling this feature will not actually remove the Upload Photos menu item or page from your site.  However, anyone who visits that page will be presented with a brief message indicating that the feature is not supported.  In addition, you will need to make sure to remove any text from other parts of your site that refer to uploading photos, so that your visitors aren't confused by a mixed message.

I also want to take this opportunity to reassure all coordinators that choose to leave the photo upload feature enabled.  The photos uploaded by parents/students will only ever be made available to you, the science fair coordinator.  We do not ever make them publicly available, and we do not share them with anyone except you.  Currently, the only way you can get access to the photos is from the DVD that we will send you a few days before your science fair.  We are working on a way for coordinators to access the photos online, but that is not possible today.

--Rajeev

New feature: Customize the instructions for sending in check

Just a minor new feature announcement today.  You can customize the text that instructs parents on how to write the check and submit it.  Parents see this text when they order supplies and choose to pay by check.  The default text simply says, "Please write a check and send it in with your student to school."  However, some schools would like to have more specific instructions for the parents, such as taking the check to the office, giving it to the student's teacher, or placing it in a special envelope or box dedicated for the PTA.

To customize this text, log in to your coordinator pages, and under Site customization, choose Ordering page.  About three-quarters of the way down the page, you should see this:

Change the text to suit your situation, and press Save.

--Rajeev

New feature: Custom fields on the registration form

This weekend we launched an exciting new feature which really showcases the flexibility of Our Science Fair.

In designing the registration form where students go to sign up for your science fair, we originally built a one-size-fits-all kind of form.  But the obvious truth is that different schools have different requirements, and there's no way for us to predict what kinds of information you would like to collect from your students.  With custom fields, we no longer have to.  For example, some coordinators would like students to fill in their science project category (biology, physics, chemistry, etc.), but it's not something we wanted to put on every school's form.  Other coordinators give away t-shirts to all participants and needed students to fill in their t-shirt size on the registration form.  With custom fields, coordinators can collect whatever information they need to.

Start by logging in to the coordinator section of your site, and clicking on Register page in the left menu bar.  You will now see a new section that looks like this:

By default, to make the feature a little easier to use, we have automatically added three commonly used fields to your account:  Project category, T-shirt size, and Additional comments.  However, all of these fields are turned off by default, as shown by the lack of check marks in the Show column.

If these fields aren't what you had in mind, you can add your own by clicking the New field button.  Or you can edit the ones that are already there by clicking the pencil.  You are then taken to a screen which allows you to define the field:

The Field choices are where you can provide predefined choices for your users to select from.  However, the user will always still have the opportunity to type in a response that is not one of the listed choices, so don't worry too much if your list of choices isn't 100% complete.  If you leave the Field choices entirely blank, then the field on the registration form will be completely freeform.

The Field help text is where you can provide some helpful instructions to your users about how to fill in the field.

When you're done defining your field, click OK, and then make sure the checkbox is checked in order for the field to actually show up on your registration form:

Finally, you must click the purple Save button to save all your changes.  Now, when you visit your school's science fair site, and go to the Register page, you will see your new field about half way down the page:

When students start signing up for your fair and entering data into your custom field, you will be able to see the data they entered by visiting the Project entries page in the coordinator section.  Custom fields will show up on the far right of the table.

Note that each custom field you define will show up in exactly one place on the registration form.  This means that if you have two or more partners working on a project together, they will only be able to fill in one value for the field.  This can be a problem for things like "T-shirt size" where you really want to collect the information for each participant, not for each project entry.  There are a couple ways you can get around this limitation, and admittedly neither of them is perfect.  You could put some help text on the field instructing your users to make sure to manually type in the t-shirt sizes for each participant identified by first name.  So, for example, the user could type in "John: Medium; Jacob: Large" into the field.  This works fine because even if you provide field choices like "Small; Medium; Large" for the user to select from, they can still type their own freeform response.  The other option is to ask your students to register separately for each participant, even if they are working together.

As always, we hope you find this feature to be useful and intuitive, and definitely let us know if you run into any problems.

--Rajeev

Interview with author of "Science Fair Handbook"

In my quest for resources to help science fair coordinators run better science fairs, I came across a number of books.  Any guesses as to what that number is?  One.  That's right, there is exactly one book out there that discusses ideas for coordinating a fantastic science fair for your school.  It's called Science Fair Handbook: The Complete Guide for Teachers and Parents, by Anthony D. Fredericks and Isaac Asimov:

If you're anything like me, the first thought that goes through your mind is, "Isaac Asimov?  Nahhhh.  It couldn't possibly be THE Isaac Asimov.  Why would Isaac Asimov write a book about science fairs?  It must be somebody else with the same name.".  But in fact, it really is THE Isaac Asimov, one of the masters of science fiction.  Asimov died in 1992, and contributed directly to the first edition of this book a couple years earlier.

The book as shown above is now in its third edition, and was published in 2001.  That makes this edition almost a decade old, but amazingly everything in it is still perfectly relevant.  The only exception is the very last chapter which lists over 40 websites to use as resources.  As you might expect, many of those websites are no longer in existence, and more importantly there are hundreds of new ones that have popped up in the past several years (the best of which is Our Science Fair ).

I was curious to find out more about the book from the primary author, so I called him yesterday, and he graciously agreed to let me interview him.  Anthony Fredericks, though not quite as famous as Asimov, is a well-known author and professor of education at York College in York, Pennsylvania.  He's written 117 books (Wow.  I'm not sure if I've written that many sentences.) including teacher resource books, children's books, and even recently some adult non-fiction science books.  He's also possibly one of the friendliest people I've ever spoken to.

Fredericks was introduced to Asimov through his editor, and when the editor suggested co-authoring a book, it took Fredericks all of about 2 milliseconds to accept the offer.  Fredericks told me about how he remembered using some of Asimov's textbooks in high school, and how excited and honored he was to now actually get to work with Asimov.  There was a time during the writing of "Science Fair Handbook" that Fredericks and Asimov had an amicable disagreement about the philosophy of a particular section.  After weeks of going back and forth, trying to persuade each other, the humble Asimov finally told Fredericks, "You know, I believe that you have more expertise in this area.  So I think we should go with your approach."  Fredericks was shocked by Asimov's concession, and still remembers that day fondly.  Not because he won the argument, but because Asimov actually thought of him as an expert.

I asked Fredericks about his views on the current state of science education in K-12 schools in the United States.  He seemed disappointed that we aren't doing better.  There clearly isn't as much emphasis placed on science in the classroom as there is on reading and math, and he feels that science is just as important.  He says, "You wouldn't even be able to get from your bed to your classroom in the morning without all the innovations that science has given us."  He believes strongly in inquiry-based science, and hopes that his book will give teachers more options for including science into their curriculums.

The book itself is a wonderful resource, and I recommend every science fair coordinator get a copy for themselves.  It's full of great ideas, forms, worksheets, sample timelines, and schedules.  It talks about all the things that can make a science fair a huge success vs. a flop.  It even has resources that you can pass along to the students and parents to help them out with their project, such as choosing a topic (sometimes the hardest part!).  Fredericks says that philosophy of the book is not about how to win blue ribbons at the science fair.  He says that students should be rewarded just for participating, and that it's the process that's important, a philosophy that I strongly agree with.

After you get your copy of the book, don't forget to also get a free science fair website for your school here!  And please leave me a comment if you enjoyed this post.

--Rajeev

Showing Off Your Project with Your Science Project Display

[Note:  We are thrilled to have Kayla Fay as a guest blogger on our site.  Kayla is a freelance writer, mother of four boys, and creator of 24 Hour Science Projects and Middle School Science Projects.  This blog post contains some great information for science fair students.  Coordinators: you may link to this blog post from your Our Science Fair website, so that students can take advantage of it.]

You've worked hard on your project, and now it's time to create your display board. Your science project display is an important part of your science project, because it shares what you have learned, and shows off what you've done.


A science board is usually a three fold display divided into several sections. Each section can be headed by an identifying title. Every science fair has different requirements, but here are the usual elements:


Title, Purpose and Hypothesis - Every science board has to display the project title and purpose - and they aren't necessarily the same thing. For example, you may have a project called, "A Straight Flush" The purpose of the project, however, is to discover "Which Brand of Bathroom Tissue is Most Biodegradable?" The title will usually be displayed in the center panel at the top or on an extra board fastened across the top of your project. Have a separate section for your hypothesis.


Materials and Procedure - These two sections list what you used in your experiment, and what steps you took to accomplish them. It always looks nice to use bullets (little dots or marks) or numbers in your list. Remember, the information in these sections should read like a recipe, and give instructions for your project to be repeated by someone else. You'll want to be as clear as possible. If you can, get another adult to read over your procedures to see if they can follow what you have done.


Data and Results - The format of your data and results section will depend on the experiment you have done. You will probably include your graph and chart in this section. You may also give a paragraph summarizing your results. Graphs and charts should be colorful and clear. If your project was an observation or a demonstration, you will need a good written summary and probably some photographs in this section.


Conclusion, Analysis, Applications, References - These sections will not always be required. Check with your teacher to see if you need to include them.


It's important to note that most science fairs will not want you to put your name on the project. They'll usually label your board with a number.


Remember, the work isn't done when the procedure is over. As any scientist will tell you, presentation is a big part of science. After all - that's the only way others are going to know about the wonderful discoveries you have made with your science project!


Kayla Fay
http://www.middle-school-science-projects.com

Kick off your science fair with a show!

How do you generate excitement for your upcoming science fair? How do you encourage kids in all grade levels to voluntarily participate when it's not a requirement?

Many schools kick off their science fair season with a fun school-wide assembly in the gymnasium that is all about science. A great kick-off assembly has a lot of the following characteristics:

• Less talk, more show! Sorry teachers, but the assembly isn't the right time to teach the kids about specific scientific principles ... at least not in any great detail. Do lots of demos that will fascinate your young audience, and keep the show moving. Don't spend more than 8 minutes on any single topic or demo. The main goal is for the kids to walk away realizing that science is really really cool.
• It's like magic. A great science demonstration has a lot in common with a magic trick. It amazes your audiences and leaves them wondering how it works. But the difference is that with science, you don't have to keep the "trick" a secret. Definitely offer a basic explanation of what just happened, but don't expect the learning to necessarily stick. (Teachers may choose to follow up with more detailed explanations in the classroom.)
• Between 30-60 minutes long. That's long enough that it's worth the effort to gather the entire student body in one place, but not so long that the kids start to lose interest toward the end.
• Between 100-400 students. That's big enough that students feel the excitement of a large gathering, but small enough that everyone will be able to see the demos and many students may even get to participate.  Which brings me to ...

Image courtesy of Pacific Science Center
• Audience participation. A great presenter will engage the students directly. He/she might ask the kids questions so they can show off their scientific knowledge in front of their peers. But even better, he/she will ask for volunteers to come up to the stage to actually be part of the demonstration.  One year, Sam from Mad Science did a show for us where he actually got our principal up on stage. The demo involved using Bernoulli's principle to cover her in toilet paper. Thankfully she was a great sport about it, and needless to say, the kids thought it was hilarious!
• No technical difficulties. Don't kill the vibe by keeping your audience waiting while you figure out how to get the microphone hooked up. Test it all out ahead of time.
• Keep it safe. No matter how cool the demo is, it won't leave the impression you want if someone accidentally gets hurt. So make sure your presenter has practiced everything many times before and knows how to keep everyone safe.
• Plug the science fair! Now that you've got their undivided attention, don't forget to actually tell them why they're there. Something short and sweet at the end of the show can work great: "Now, after seeing all that, who here thinks science is cool?!! (Wait for hands to go up.) Well, guess what everyone?  Our school is having our very own science fair this spring, and all of you get to participate! Go home and talk to your parents about it, and come up with an idea for a science project. You can pick whatever topic you want and design your own science experiments at home! So ... who here is going to do a science project for the science fair?!!! (Wait for hands to go up.) Alright everyone, your teachers will be giving you more information when you get back to your classes. Thank you!"

So, once you've actually decided you want to do a kick-off assembly for your school, how do you actually find someone to do the show? Here are some options:

• Your science teachers are pretty busy already, but it certainly doesn't hurt to ask if one of them might be willing to step up and put together a show.
• Another option might be to find a parent volunteer in your community who is especially passionate about science. Just make sure they're actually qualified to do an engaging show and most importantly keep it safe. The internet is full of great science demos that anyone can do without needing a lot of special equipment or materials.  Dry ice makes for some fun demos and is available in the meat section of many grocery stores.
• It's possible that your school already has a relationship with a specific educational science organization, such as Science Adventures or Mad Science. These organizations may be offering after-school science enrichment programs for many students at your school. If that's the case, they may very well be willing to do a show for you free of charge (because it's a way for them to get in front of all the students at once and promote their after-school programs).
• Check your nearest science museum, science center, or children's museum to see if they offer any such programs. You may have to pay for show, so find out if your school or PTA has any budget for this kind of thing.

Image courtesy of Pacific Science Center

I live in Sammamish, WA, which is a suburb of Seattle. At our elementary school, we get Pacific Science Center to come in and do our kick-off assembly, and they do an amazing job. They have a program called Science On Wheels, which is specifically intended for this kind of thing. They offer four different shows, all of which are really exciting for the students (at all grade levels, including high school). Because our school has about 600 students (K-5), we actually do two separate assemblies back-to-back so that each assembly has about 300 students and runs about 40 minutes long. This works out well, and makes for a really fun Friday in January.

Good luck! Please leave a comment if you have other thoughts or suggestions! And don't forget to get a free science fair website for your school at http://oursciencefair.com/.

--Rajeev