The scientific method or more recently referred to as scientific
inquiry is what most educational experts feel students should learn
through science. The Hawai‘i Content Standards spend quite a lot
of time on punching home the importance of scientific inquiry.
A science fair project takes students step-by-step through this
process :
• State the problem
• Gather
information
• Form a hypothesis
• Test the hypothesis
• State a conclusion
• Report results
All of these steps are covered in a science project. Students
are more likely to internalize this process if they have to actually
walk through it rather than simply memorizing the steps for a test.
The project is extremely time consuming on the part of the student
and the teacher but does provide students a hands-on opportunity
to “demonstrate the skills necessary to engage in scientific inquiry.”
In the real science world, scientists are required to keep detailed
logs of their experiments that document their experiments and are
considered legal documents. The science log introduces student
to this concept. Have students make their own science logs and
keep them in class. They are not allowed to take the folder home
(so students don't lose it) but they can take papers out of it
as they need them for reference.
Contents
Materials
Project gradesheet
Table
of contents
Project overview
All project guidelines
All project rubrics and scoresheets
Signed documents (guidelines,
scores, etc.)
All science fair notes
All science fair handouts
Student rough drafts and final
drafts
Student Benefit
A science log can be as simple or as complex as you want it to
be. The main function of a science log for students is to serve
as a place to hold all of their science fair paperwork. Students
are admittedly not great at keeping their paperwork in order, especially
for long periods of time. This project spans an entire semester
and in that time it‘s easy for students to lose important papers;
papers that they will need towards the end of the project when
they have to pull everything together. By filing all of their science
fair papers in one place, their science log becomes an important
reference. As the project moves along, students can easily go to
their science log to refer to past paperwork, notes, handouts,
etc. Once the project is over, the students should have a detailed
science fair project reference that they can use if they happen
to do another inquiry-based project in the future.
Teacher Benefit
The science log serves
two purposes for teachers. Meeting one-on-one with each student
whenever possible throughout the science fair process is the most
effective way to get students through the project successfully.
When you meet with each student, they should bring with their science
log to the meeting. You can go through everything with the student,
referring back to past work or drafts when needed.
The science log also serves as documentation of student progress
or lack there of. Since this is such a major project and may count
heavily towards a student‘s grade, parents may question how they
were graded. You can bring the science log to any parent conferences
as evidence.
The gradesheet goes hand-in-hand here as well. Keep two copies
of the gradesheet for each student; one copy for the student to
keep in their science log and one for you to keep on file for documentation.
