Have you ever considered running a Science Fair at your school – a competition where students to plan and produce a project of their choice and present it at a special event attended by members of the community? An event like this is a great way to promote and develop enquiry skills, raise engagement and motivation, and involve every student, not just the top attainers, in ‘doing science’.

What exactly is a Science Fair?

I’ve organised yearly Science Fairs at my school, an inner-city mixed-gender comprehensive, for the past three years. Every year, my aim is for all Year 7 and Year 8 students at my school to enjoy the challenge of investigating a question of their choice, using and developing scientific enquiry skills. They do this as part of their science homework, and where possible their parents support and coach them. They communicate their findings to their peers and teacher during a science lesson. All projects are recognised and praised by the class teachers and the other students in the class. Those showing the best effort and originality are selected to take part in a ‘final’. The Science Fair Final is an official event attended by other students, teachers, governors, STEM Ambassadors, parents and other members of the school community, where students’ scientific achievements are celebrated and rewarded. We run similar events for Year 9-11 and for Years 12-13 separately, so that students only compete with others of a similar age.

Why bother running a Science Fair?

There are lots of reasons to run a Science Fair like the one described above. Firstly, it promotes enquiry skills in science: students plan and carry out their own investigations as part of their project. Some example investigations have been “How many potatoes does it take to charge an iPhone?” and “Which household product is best at removing an ink stain?”. Science teachers usually have to cover large amounts of content in their lessons, so a Science Fair that focuses on enquiry can be really refreshing.

The fact that students get to choose what they investigate results in very high levels of engagement with the task. Every student can be involved, not just the top attainers or those most enthusiastic about Science. By setting this as homework and allocating some lesson time to the initial ‘heats’, you can involve every student in the year group or key stage. As a result students that were ‘switched off’ from Science then have an opportunity to have fun and achieve in a subject they thought they didn’t like or weren’t good at.

Lastly, a huge benefit of a Science Fair is that the best of students’ work is celebrated publicly, building positivity and raising the profile of science education throughout your school and in the local community.

How do I organise a Science Fair?

I will post a more detailed ‘How To’ on this blog soon, including ready-made resources to save you time if you want to run this yourself. For now, these are the main requirements and things to consider when planning an even like this at your school:

Provide support and guidance for students at the very beginning, to maximise the quality and quantity of projects that students complete as homework. We send a letter to students’ parents with success criteria and a list of useful websites, and also set aside STEM Club sessions where students can drop in and get advice.

Check that there would be no clashes or problems allocating some lesson time and homework time for students to work on and present projects (e.g. avoid weeks leading up to exams).

Find a suitable venue for the final. We do ours in the school cafeteria, so the school site team help us to arrange tables in a marketplace style, and the on-site caterers provide refreshments for visitors.

If you do decide to run something similar don’t hesitate to get in touch and share any successes!