Science Enrichment: TDSB Science Fair at Leaside PS

There is an opportunity to send 3 science fair entries to a competition in May.

Students who are interested in participating in this competition for extra credit/enrichment shall attend a mandatory meeting noted on the calendar. Students should have 3 possible ideas they would like to further investigate.

Basic competition notes and expectations.

As studied each year, there are three branches of elementary science: Research, Inquiry, and Technological Problem Solving.

Research Science develops your learning by researching a topic in detail. These typically do not do well in a competition because the research question itself is weak (unless you are looking at competitive/contrasting data). For example, a science project on how a volcano works is a research science project as most students can not create volcanic eruptions of hot lava at home, or at school. Baking Soda/Vinegar reactions are cool, but not volcanic science. Reporting on developments in Cancer Research and Therapy may lead to the entry giving a series of suggestions based on the research. There needs to be a real focus for this research though, a really good question which is to be answered by the project.

Technological Problem Solving focuses on identifying a Society/Environment problem and developing/designing a solution for it. Some typical entries include prototypes, but are grounded in tangible application (for example, designing a space station around Pluto is far fetched, whereas developing a new probe for Mars with credible research is a good idea, a low cost environmentally friendly substitute for road salt would be even better). Most of these projects would reflect Kevin O'Leary's phrase of "building a better mouse trap," as viewers of Dragon's Den frequently watch pitches of this type. One of the award winning ideas from previous years was a lawn ornament shaped like a tree that had solar panels for leaves facing different angles, that produced a measurable better average energy than the same number of panels facing the ideal direction, and was far more aesthetically pleasing. A recent Google Science winner is a 16 year old girl who developed a LED flashlight that uses body heat energy to work. Her prototype is now patent-pending.

Inquiry Science focuses on designing and conducting a test, and essentially following the scientific method. Examples of this include consumer product testing. These are typically the best projects, and often branch into other fields of study. A recent entry in the 2012 Intel International Fair included the research necessary to demonstrate the mental health therapy benefits from allowing people to talk to horses.

Depending on the number of interest students (solo, or in pairs) there may be a school competition to determine the top three.

A proposal must be submitted prior to committing to the competition.

There will 2 or 3 meetings each week, during lunch, where students will report to their peers and teacher their progress and difficulties. This is as much a cooperation event as it is a competition.

Copying an experiment out of a book, especially with known results, will NOT be accepted.