Hamilton Invitational Science and Engineering Fair (HISEF) Sponsored by Intel Hamilton High School Chandler Unified School District # 80 Anatomy of a Science Fair Developing and Maintaining a Successful Science Fair Program

Science Fair Goals Present a sustainable concept for hosting a district science fair Give novel ideas to involve community support and gain participation Discuss curriculum alignment and other ideas for long term maintenance of your program

Three Program Components I. Science Fair Event Student accountability II. Community Involvement Mentors Judges Funding Volunteers III. Supporting Curriculum Maintain the program Program success and accountability Research class

History of HISEF School Year “Dare To Dream” No CUSD Schools participated in school science fairs. No CUSD Student has ever been selected to compete at ISEF. In 1999 HISEF was born with the theme “Dare to Dream” 650 students competed in HISEF. 27 students competed at CARSEF; 5 students placed. None were selected to go to ISEF.

We now primarily compete on the National and International Levels, to include such competitions as: Intel ISEF National Junior Science and Humanities Symposium International BioGENEius Challenge Stockholm Junior Water Prize Competition In the last eight years, CUSD has had Forty one Intel ISEF Finalists

I. Science Fair Component Establish a team Develop a purpose or mission statement for your Science Fair Program. Use the science fair event as a pathway to teach students the scientific process and foster young scientist Gain community support and participation Gain interest and participation at the younger grade levels Gain support of your governing board Foster and maintain community relationships

Announcing The Event Determine a name for your event Select a date and venue Start looking for the guest speaker(s) Determine who is invited and how many projects each site can send

Registration Create a timeline that works for your school and district. The Science Fair team should work with school liaisons (cadre members) who help disseminate the information to teachers

II. Community Support Component Make the fair interactive for all age groups. (Parents, siblings, retired communities, local industry) Have your guest and participants experience science. Find ways to involve all types of students Find programs and key individuals in your schools that can contribute to the experience

School Exhibits Technology displays Science Club Student orchestras and choirs (4-12) AP Chemistry Magic Show Robotics Club FFA (Future Farmers of America) Biotechnology Academy

Community Exhibits Intel SRP City of Chandler Police/Fire Department Electric and other Utility Companies Community Colleges and Universities

Inviting Community Exhibits Call/ everyone you want to invite and obtain confirmation. Mail information about the event and a survey sheet to determine needs: Space Electricity Tables Special arrangements Mail final confirmation and a map of their location at the site of the event

Gain Financial Support Determine the cost of your event Market your ideas and arrange meetings with potential industry and their Public Affairs Officers. Write grants to local companies that are known to support public education Determine how much money your district and school are willing to contribute

Advertising to the Public District Webpage Newsletters Local newspapers s School websites

Volunteers Determine what areas you will need volunteers Judges Set up Decorating, balloons, table cloths/skirts, signs, check-in participants Tag Projects with participation ribbons Backpack/prize prep

Volunteers Direct students and teachers dropping off projects Welcome visitors Working booths Welcoming and directing judges Registration – utilize science departments and cadre members

Judges Find organizations that have grant match programs for volunteer time Work with your financial contributors Community Colleges University graduate and undergraduate programs Network, network, network!

Volunteers and Judges Continued Create electronic data bases to keep track of your volunteer Electronically send out information related to the event: Shift Time and Date Job Descriptions Parking Information Judging Criteria Contact Information

Setting Up For the Event When the doors open make sure all judging is complete Have someone make periodic announcements about the different activities and their start times. Greeters welcome visitors and pass out programs for the event.

Awards Ceremony Create an agenda with all parties involved and what their parts are. Involve your school AV department or club to help with the lights, microphones, music, video, etc. Use the awards templates for the PowerPoint and the announcer at the podium. Ask a student in Photography class to take pictures of the winners.

Awards and Incentives Every student participant gets: HISEF Participation Ribbon HISEF Backpacks Give away items from financial supporters

Student Awards We don’t want students to compete for monetary or extrinsic rewards Ribbons Best of Fair Plaques for Physical and Biological Sciences Intel Innovation Award City of Chandler Water Wise Special Awards are offered by outside organizations Opportunity to move forward and compete at the Arizona Science and Engineering Fair. (AzSEF)

III. Curriculum and Long Term Management Build student research into your core content science courses Create an Independent Science Research course Keep key students Interested Allows the teacher and the students to work on authentic research without the pressures of a regular classroom or school work. Increases project quality

Long Term Management Improving Project Quality Provide lesson plans or teacher workshops Provide excellent student models models for both teachers and students Inform everyone including students of your goal Host student workshops at your school or site Teacher Experts host specialized workshops (Example - Microbiology)

Long Term Management Improving Project Quality Evaluate the overall quality of your student projects that are present at the fair. Find one area that really needs improvement over all others. Develop a plan to help teachers increase quality in this area.

Long Term Management Preventing Teacher Burnout Conduct a post evaluation of the event with SF team. Don’t do all the work alone or assign this task to just one individual. Give everyone in your department an assigned duty. They need to be part of the mission.

Contact Information Debbie Nipar AP Chemistry Teacher, HHS Research Facilitator (480) Debbie Crane Honors Chemistry Teacher, HHS HISEF Co coordinator, HS Liaison (480) Jennifer Gutierrez Instructional Specialist K-12 Science Facilitator HISEF Co coordinator, District Liaison (480) * * *

Questions and Discussion