Science and Technology Fair

No doubt you will have heard about the Science Fair. It is a school wide event that has
been happening at Balmacewen Intermediate for a number of years now. It is a
successful event and our students often make up the majority of the award winners at
the Otago Science & Technology Fair each year. We have also had a number of overall
winners during our years of entering.
WHO: All Balmacewen Intermediate students will complete a Science & Technology Fair
project in some form, either as an individual or in a group.
WHEN: Science Fair takes place over the course of term two. All students complete a
project which is due into their classroom teacher for presentation by Monday 22 June.
nd

From here all the projects will be exhibited in the hall and judged. The best entries will be
taken to the Otago Museum to be judged amongst the best in Otago at the Otago
Science & Technology Fair.
WHERE: Students will carry out science investigations and learn how to put their projects
together, create graphs and learn procedural writing techniques in class. They will get
some class time to work on their projects and the rest will be made up of homework time
for the term.
WHAT IS A SCIENCE FAIR PROJECT? A Science Fair project can be an invention,
investigation or experimental research.
Below are some approximate dates. These may change slightly from class to class.

HOLIDAYS WEEK 1: It will start with a Big Question, idea or aim that the
student wants to explore. For example: How can I keep the fizz in my fizzy for
longer? Why is the sea salty? How can I make myself safe on my skateboard when
coming to school in the mornings?
WEEKS 1 3: Students will need to research and gather background information
around this big idea. They will use this information to make a hypothesis or (in the
case of an invention) come up with a prototype.
WEEKS 3 7: Students need to come up with a plan for how they are going to
carry out their experiment, invention or investigation. They need to remember to
use a fair test, etc. (These things will be covered at school.) Students carry this plan
out over the next few weeks, keep a record in their log book and take photos of the
process along the way.
WEEK 8: Students put together their results using graphs, etc.
WEEKS 8 9: Students then summarise their results, making reference to their
hypothesis.
The most important parts of their project are then summarised and get presented
on a display board (pictures of these will be on class blogs in the coming weeks).
The display boards will be available from the school library for a cost of
around $10. The rest of the information goes into a log book/clearfile which will be
kept with the display board for judges to reference.
We will have a lot of discussion and sharing of ideas in class and there will be notices
coming out with additional information. I hope this summary of information is useful.
If you have further questions please see your childs classroom teacher.

GOOD LUCK,
Balmacewen Intermediate teaching staff