ASPB EDUCATION FORUM

Compiled and edited by Sheila Blackman, Grand Valley State University, Biology, One Campus Drive, Allendale, MI 49401, blackmas@gvsu.edu

Science Fair Time of Year

Spring means baseball season—and also science fair season! Plants are frequently used as subjects for science fair projects because they are readily available and easy to maintain. For many students, this will be the first time that they are motivated to ask questions about plants. As ASPB members, we can do several things to cultivate this burst of botanical interest.

Mentoring

Many ASPB members get asked by friends and neighbors to serve as mentors for their children’s science projects. Often, the student will have an idea for a project that either isn’t well thought out or does not address a question in a scientific manner, so the prospect of helping may seem overwhelming. Some of the help they need is easy for us to provide—how to formulate a testable hypothesis and how to set up a controlled experiment. However, most of us don’t have experience doing science using egg cartons and soda bottles.

If you find yourself getting regular inquiries from younger students, you might want to purchase one of the books written specifically for this age group. For example, Janice VanCleave has written several books on science fair projects, and her books are usually available in local or school libraries. The books are appropriate for adults helping younger children to dabble in science and are clear in the directions for setting up the projects. Her books also provide guidelines for standard science fair formats, including reports and presentations. On the other hand, the suggested projects tend to be simple and are usually not hypothesis driven, and the scientific background provided for each project is quite limited.

For older students, David Hershey’s Plant Biology Science Projects is an excellent resource (he recommends the projects for ages 12 and older). This book provides simple but clear instructions for carrying out a wide range of hypothesis-driven projects using plants. The book includes a chapter titled “Projects to Avoid” and a discussion of pseudoscience. David, who has a Ph.D. in plant physiology, is very active in biology education, with numerous articles in journals such as The American Biology Teacher. These and many other science fair books are available from amazon.com.

Many web resources are available. A good starting point is “The Ultimate Science Fair Resource” (www.scifair.org), which has links to just about everything. This site is sponsored by the Society for Amateur Scientists (www.sas.org). Not many science fair web sites specialize in plant biology, but the science fair page of the USDA has lots of suggestions for experiments involving plants (www.ars.usda.gov/is/kids/fair/story.htm). The Wisconsin Fast Plants web site is a great resource, with links to scores of age-appropriate activities and guides for setting up experiments using simple equipment (www.fastplants.org). The experiments are designed for use with Fast Plants but can be adapted for other plants if necessary.

Often you can be an invaluable help to a student simply by helping formulate a hypothesis, identifying appropriate controls, and suggesting resources for doing the actual experiment. It is reasonable that you could do all of this in one meeting, so mentoring doesn’t have to be a tremendous time commitment. At the same time, the benefits of mentoring are significant. For most children, the science fair project will be their first opportunity to be engaged in scientific inquiry. Having a mentor who is trained in science can make a huge difference in the experience. As a mentor, you get a dose of the enthusiasm that young children bring to learning. But the benefits go beyond the two of you, because the inclusion of a well-designed, scientifically sound project enhances the science fair experience for the other student participants as well.

Judging

ASPB members can also contribute by serving as judges for school, county, or statewide science fairs. Judging usually doesn’t require much time, and at most fairs the students are present during the judging of their projects. This gives you an opportunity to encourage their efforts and also put a human face to science. The judging pool is often diverse and usually strengthened considerably by the addition of a plant biologist. If you have any doubt as to your potential value as a judge, consider that at a statewide science fair, a project looking at the effect of day length on plant growth was criticized because “Plants can’t grow better in constant light, because they need time in the dark to carry out the dark reactions of photosynthesis.” If you want to volunteer, ask a teacher, ask around on your campus, or try Googling for your state science fair web site.

ASPB Web Resource

Science fair students make abundant use of Internet search engines to find background research for their projects. The resources they retrieve range from highly technical literature to inaccurate junk. The ASPB Education Committee is putting together an online resource specifically designed to provide science fair students with a better understanding of their plant projects. Called “The Science Behind Science Fair Projects,” it will provide simple but accurate explanations for common science fair topics such as phototropism and plant nutrition. Contributions (ideas, writing, resource suggestions) to this project are welcome and encouraged!

Mary Williams
Mary_Williams@hmc.edu