Participating in a high school science fair is an awesome opportunity for students to showcase their creativity and understanding of scientific concepts. Science Fairs can come in all shapes and sizes – from a single Biology class, to a gymnasium full of students across multiple grade levels – and even multiple schools! Participating in a Science Fair not only encourages students to engage with science but also builds critical thinking, problem-solving, and collaboration skills.
But if your school doesn’t have a science fair, what do you do? Where do you start? Here is a comprehensive, twelve step guide on how to set up a successful high school science fair at your school!
Step 1: Know Your Purpose and Goals
Before wading into logistics, it’s important to know the purpose and goals of your high school Science Fair. Maybe you want to start small with just your own students. Allow them to choose a topic within the course of study. Give them a semester to work and hold the Science Fair as an end-of-course project.
Or maybe you are thinking bigger – the whole grade, or the whole school. Are you aiming to inspire students to explore the process of scientific inquiry? Or do you want to focus on a specific theme (maybe a different theme each year), such as sustainability or technology?
Working out these objectives will guide your planning process and help communicate the fair’s importance to students, teachers, and parents. The steps that follow can be adjusted depending on your needs and purpose!
Step 2: Form a Planning Committee
Gather a group of enthusiastic teachers, administrators, and possibly even students to form a planning committee. Divide and conquer! Give each member, or set of members, a different responsibility for planning and working the science fair, such as organization, promoting, judging criteria, and student engagement. You do not have to do it all!
Step 3: Choose a Date and Place
Selecting the right date and venue is often overlooked, but is super important for being sure your event is well attended. Aim for a date that doesn’t conflict with major school events or holidays. Would it be best for the fair to be during school hours? After school? Or on a weekend?
Also plan the day in enough advance so that students feel confident that they can make an outstanding project. At the same time, do not set a date so far out that there is too much time to procrastinate!
Host the science fair in a large space, such as the gymnasium or auditorium, where students can display their projects and attendees can easily navigate the exhibits. If your school does not have a large space, consider asking other schools or community centers in the area.
Step 4: Create Categories for the High School Science Fair
Establish clear guidelines for project submissions to help students understand what is expected. Begin with the type of project – those investigating the scientific method, and those focused on engineering and design. From there, you can outline sub-categories based on different scientific disciplines, such as biology, chemistry, physics, and environmental science.
If you have enough students, consider awarding a winner for each category, or even each subcategory. Then there can be an overall winner, a best in show.
Will your students be working as individuals? Or partners? Maybe both! Will you separate the grade levels or allow them to all compete against one another?
Your choices here depend a lot on how many students you will have participating. You do not want so many categories that you end up with no competition (everyone in their own category). But you also want enough categories that more students get a chance to be recognized for their hard work. Somewhere between 5 and 8 projects in each category seems to be a sweet spot!
Step 5: Guidelines
Providing a clear rubric will help students focus, and give judges a road map when evaluating projects. High school science fair projects can be so variable! So it is helpful to have a more general rubric. Or, consider having a separate rubric for each category you created.
There are a lot of free-to-find rubrics on the internet. Use them as-is, or use them for inspiration to make a custom rubric for your own science fair. Here are a few!
This one from Richmond County Schools focuses on the scientific method, and has some great guidelines on how to make a trifold presentation board. There is a lot of information here!
Here is a detailed rubric for the scientific method on only two pages. It is a great guide for students and judges. Here is another, geared towards honors students.
This grading rubric is specific to a science fair project focused on engineering an invention. Here is a rubric for making a model of something.
This simple rubric from Southington Public Schools lays out both scientific method and engineering projects side by side.
Or, give the task to ChatGTP! Ask it to create a rubric for each category and watch the magic happen. (Check out this blog post for six amazing ways to use ChatGTP to make your teacher life easier!)
This part alone can be overwhelming to some teachers. Remember, you are not doing this all yourself – in step two you set up a team to help! Let them help!
Step 6: Promote the Science Fair
Effective promotion is key to encouraging student participation. Use everything you can think of to spread the word – school announcements, newsletters, social media, and posters around the school. Find some students to help with social media and making posters – does your NHS need some volunteer hours? Mine always does, they are a great resource for help!
Host a get-together (don’t call it a meeting!) for students and parents to explain the fair’s purpose. Provide food! Kids (and parents) will endure much for food.
At the get-together, showcase past projects (or ones you find on the internet). Inspire students to get involved. Highlight the potential for prizes or recognition, or something great to add to a college application, which can motivate students to participate.
If an in person meeting is not in the cards, do one over zoom. You might find even more people are willing to participate from the comfort of their living room.
You may choose to motivate by mandating, as a part of the students’ grade. This is totally fine! However, it is still important to inspire them. You want them to want to put in the effort and make a great project.
Step 7: Organize Registration
Set up a registration system for students to sign up for the science fair. This could be done through an online form (like a Google Form) or a physical sign-up sheet. Have them tell you what category they will be entering, and provide a brief description of their project design and/or purpose.
Make the document public, so that students can see what each other are doing. This can be inspiring and also lights a bit of a fire under students to make a decision quickly so their idea is not taken.
You may wish to limit the number of entries into each category. You do not want to end up with a category of only one entry (and automatic winner!), and you do not want a category of 30 entries where some great projects will get little recognition due to sheer competition.
Step 8: Provide Resources and Support
Offer resources to help students succeed in their projects. This might include workshops on the scientific method, project design, and presentation skills. Collaborate with other science teachers to incorporate project ideas into the curriculum leading up to the fair. If possible, ask science teachers to allow time in class to work on projects. Even a few minutes per week can make a big difference.
Consider creating a resource hub on the school website where students can access guides, videos, and other materials related to their projects.
Keep up with students’ progress, especially at the beginning (don’t procrastinate getting started!) and as the day draws near (don’t flounder at the finish line!). Schedule designated check-in times where they must provide evidence of progress, a summary of what they have accomplished so far. Be ready to intervene if necessary, such as calling parents with your concerns and keeping them after school or during lunch to work.
Step 9: Arrange for Judging
Recruit judges for the high school science fair who have a background in science, education, or related fields. How many judges do you need? One for each category would be good, but two would be better. Two people judging each project gives less room for favoritism or bias. Plus, they each have someone to bounce ideas off of, and riled up parents have two people to blame rather than one if their son or daughter does not receive the blue ribbon.
To find judges, put out a call on social media in your local community. Ask parents or faculty spouses that may be involved in science or education fields. Consider inviting local scientists or university professors to participate.
You may even make a deal with a neighboring school – their teachers judge your fair, your teachers judge theirs.
It is your last resort to use your own teachers. Part of the mystique of a great science fair is that the judges are not the teachers. Strangers add credibility to the event and inspire students to do their best.
Be sure to secure judges well in advance so that you are not scrambling at the last minute! Provide judges with clear criteria for evaluating projects, but do not overwhelm them. Give the judges rubrics a few days before the science fair so they can be familiar with them.
Step 10: Prepare for the Event Day
At least the day before, set up all of the tables and booths you will need. Be sure there is enough space for people to comfortably walk around, remembering there will be a student standing in front of each project. Number each project location.
Create a map of the room with numbered locations for each project and assign each spot to a particular student. It may be tempting to organize projects by category, but I have found that to be very stressful for both students and judges. It is best to spread projects out so that students are not watching competing projects be judged right in front of them!
Let students know their spot number and give them ample time to set up their project space before the fair starts. Build in a buffer so that if anything needs to be adjusted, you will have the time to do so.
When setting up the room, make location numbers very visible so that judges can easily find which projects they are to be evaluating. Give them a map too so they know where to go. It is very helpful to highlight the projects each judge is evaluating on their personal map. Your judges will also need a name tag, and maybe a snack!
Besides the judges, who else will be attending the fair? If you have the space, invite the whole community! Use community social media pages to let everyone know about the fair. Highlight some of the student projects that will be on display to create hype and interest. Invite students from other schools- especially younger grades that will eventually be making high school science fair projects themselves one day.
If your science fair is smaller, just your students, then invite other classes or grade levels. It might be helpful to assign times for class groups to come, in order to spread them out and prevent overcrowding.
Step 11: Celebrate Achievements
During the event, take time to recognize all participants. Consider holding an award ceremony at the end of the fair to celebrate outstanding projects. Awards can range from ribbons to trophies or even certificates of participation.
Take the celebration beyond the event itself. Post photos of the projects on the school website and social media accounts. Make a fun video compilation of the event that you can show on social media and to students next year. Take some of the best projects and display them somewhere in the school.
Acknowledging students’ hard work boosts their confidence and encourages their efforts, even if they did not get a ribbon.
Step 12: Gather Feedback
After the science fair, gather feedback from students, judges, and attendees to assess what went well and what could be improved in the future. Not just the day of, but the whole process from start to finish. This can be done through surveys or informal discussions.
Take time to reflect on your own experiences of the overall success of the science fair. Analyzing this feedback will help you refine the process and make the next science fair even more successful!
Creating a high school science fair can be a rewarding experience that inspires students to explore the amazingness of science and engineering. While it may seem overwhelming at first, any school can create a vibrant, engaging event! With careful planning, support, and celebration of achievements, your science fair can become a highlight of the school year and a source of pride for students, teachers, and the entire school community.
Happy teaching!
