Science Fair Superstars

School:: Golden Terrace Elementary
Subject:: Science
Teacher:: Mattea Marks
Students Impacted:: 320
Grade:: 5
Date:: August 18, 2016

Investor

Thank you to the following investor for funding this grant.

Perna-Rose Foundation for Hope - $626.60

Impact to My Classroom

# of Students Impacted: 320

The 5th grade science fair was a HUGE success this year! Students worked on their projects from August until March. They each thought of their own question and took that questions through the entire scientific method until they were ready to present their projects in March. This had taught them a lot about the practice of scientists by allowing them to be a real scientist. Questions ranged from how gender effects putting together jigsaw puzzles to how fast different kinds of chocolates melt to which brand of shoe will make you run the fastest. Students discovered the answers to their questions and how to use their data to back up their analysis and conclusion.

The fourth graders have also been working on group projects. They will get to show their work in May and are all set to do their own projects when they get to 5th grade next year.

Please click here to see our Science Fair Journey.

Please click here to see a video that was featured by the district about our Science Fair.

Original Grant Overview

Goal

My goal is to expand 4th and 5th grade students' interest in STEM while gaining an understanding of the scientific process and preparing them to compete in the district and state science fairs in Middle School.

What will be done with my students

5th grade students will develop their own science fair projects and 4th grade students will work in groups to develop science fair projects. They will be taking a question all the way through the scientific method. They will develop a question on a topic they are interested in, make their own hypothesis, develop an experiment, conduct that experiment and then analyze the results. They will then work on their communication skills by creating a poster board for their project and presenting it at the school science fair.
Students will begin working on their project the first week of school and continue until March when they will participate in the science fair. We had a very successful science fair last year for fifth grade and are expanding it to 4th grade for the first time this year.
4th and 5th Grade students have many nature of science benchmarks in their science curriculum which they will explore first hand during the length of this project.
Student work will be evaluated according to a rubric and they can earn a 1st or 2nd place ribbon depending on how many points they earn on the rubric.

Benefits to my students

Students will be able to be guided, step by step through the process of creating a science fair project. By doing this in 4th and 5th grade, students will feel comfortable getting involved in the middle school science fair in the future where they can go all the way to the state science fair. Students will be motivated to explore STEM interests and eventually STEM careers.
Student learning will be evaluated on a 22 point rubric evaluating each section of their project. They will also develop communication skills by presenting their project at our school wide science fair to peers, teachers, staff and community members.

Budget Narrative

Each 5th grade student will receive a poster board to present all their hard work. Each group of 4-5 4th grade students will get a poster board for their group's work. I will order enough 1st and 2nd grade ribbons so that all the students who earn enough points on the rubric will get a ribbon.

Items

#	Item	Cost
1	Tri-fold poster boards	$577.00
2	1st place ribbons	$21.70
3	2nd place ribbons	$27.90
	Total:	$626.60

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