1. Developing and Maintaining a Successful Science Fair Program Hamilton Invitational Science and Engineering Fair (HISEF) Sponsored by Intel Hamilton High School Chandler Unified School District # 80 Copyright 2009 HISEF - T. Clark

2. Shop Talk Goals Present a unique concept for hosting a district science fair Give novel ideas to involve community support and gain participation Discuss curriculum and other ideas for long term maintenance of your program

3. 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

4. HISEF Background 1998-1999 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.

5. 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.

6. I. Science Fair Component 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

7. Announcing The Event Determine a name for your event Select a date Select a theme (start looking for the guest speaker) Determine who is invited and how many projects each site can send Notify and invite other schools to participate Notify

8. Registration Create a timeline that works for your school and district. Publish this information in September and continue to publish the project due dates, judging criteria and procedures each month. judging criteria procedures

9. 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

10. 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

11. Community Exhibits Police/Fire Department Electric and other Utility Companies Intel Microchip Community Colleges and Universities US Army and Navy City Of Chandler

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

13. 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

14. Advertising to the Public Newspapers Flyers go home with every student Postcards to local community VIP Postcards  School Board Members  City Council  VIPS in Community  Principals

15. Volunteers Determine what areas you will need volunteers  Judges  Set up  Decorating, balloons, table skirts, signage, Check in winners signage  Tag Projects with participation ribbons

16. Judges Find organizations that have grant match programs for volunteer time Work with your financial contributors Community Colleges University graduate and undergraduate programs Local Rotary Club, Lions Club, Kiwanis Club, Lady Sun Birds

17. Judges Continued Retirement Communities Build a Student Alumni Data Base AP Students make great judges for our Elementary Schools Get a Buddy School Science Cadre Members

18. Volunteers Cont.  Direct students and teachers dropping off projects  Welcome visitors  Working booths  Welcoming and directing judges  Registration

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

20. 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.programs

21. Awards Ceremony Create an agenda with all parties involved and what their parts are.agenda 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.awards templates Ask a student in Photography class to take pictures of the winners.

22. Awards and Incentives Every student participant gets:  HISEF Participation Ribbon  HISEF T-Shirt/Backpacks HISEF T-Shirt  Give away items from financial supporters

23. 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 Special Awards are offered by outside organizations Opportunity to move forward and compete at the Arizona Science and Engineering Fair.

24. III. Curriculum and Long Term Management Build student research into your core content science courses Create an Independent Science Research CourseResearch 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

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

26. 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.

27. Long Term Management Preventing Teacher Burnout Conduct a post evaluation of the event with all planning parties involved. 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. (Even if they are not assigning student projects) Develop a team to problem solve issues that seem to cause the most stress.

28. Long Term Management Preventing Teacher Burnout Team develops department reference manuals, criteria, web based lesson plans, etc. for department teachers to use. Team presents solutions to the other teachers for department by in. When hiring science teachers take into consideration their willingness to contribute to the mission. Hold them to their word.

29. Long Term Management Preventing Teacher Burnout Find ways to reward your team and other department participants. Trip to Intel ISEF Brag about your school and district accomplishments in newspapers and give them credit for their hard work Thank you letters from Principals or District Superintendents

30. Questions and Discussion