Homeschoolers have done extremely well in science fair competitions, but that can happen only when the adults planning and supervising the science fair and the creation of projects carefully investigate the rules ahead of time. Felice Gerwitz has written An Insider's Guide to Successful Science Fair Projects to help get you started.
While other books focus on helping students plan and execute their science fair projects, this book also addresses the questions that homeschooling parents and group leaders have about hosting science fairs. While it doesn't cover all of the details for either parents or students, it does alert you to what you need to know and where to get the information. Among the many topics covered are science fair guidelines, project categories, how to choose a winning topic, creating a notebook or journal, research, writing an abstract, creating the display board, writing the report, the presentation, and judging criteria. The information and examples for writing abstracts should be particularly helpful to students.
Gerwitz includes blank forms for scheduling, planning, and record keeping for students, as well as forms to be used by adults organizing a science fair. Also found at the back of the book are pages with contact information for contest information, science fair reference books, science supply sources, and sources for information on selected science topics.
An Insider's Guide is available only as a PDF, but that makes it easy to print the forms.
Even if your homeschool group isn't concerned about following the strict guidelines that allow winners to advance to broader competitions, An Insider's Guide provides you with almost everything you need to put together a "lower-key" event for homeschoolers. Whether your homeschool group wants a less-competitive or highly-competitive event, this book is a great starting place for those who are new to science fairs and want to learn from someone with plenty of experience.
