At each science fair, students present their project using a Display Board. It is generally expected a student would also be ready to show the following to the judges:
- Copies of the Abstract (a brief description of the project) if any judges want a copy
- Scientific Journal (typically a composition notebook written in pen, with no erasure) keeping track of ideas, measurements, data, conclusions, etc.
- A Project Report summarizing the project
The display board and project report generally include some combination of the following:
- Question asked
- Hypothesis
- Summary of Materials used
- Methods – a summary of the process followed
- Controls and Variables – summary of which inputs to the experiment were held constant or were varied
- Data and Results
- Conclusions
- Future Studies – a summary of prospective ideas
- Some students will also place their abstract on their display board
Remember, for almost all experiments, it is important to demonstrate that one variable was changed at a time as measurements were taken (this may not apply for certain engineering projects). Below are pictures of sample science boards from various past projects – please click on any picture to start a slideshow:
