Irving School's Academic Fair
  
Parent and Student Support: Observations

About the Fair

About the Egg-Drop Contest 

Fair Rules

Registration

Types of Projects

 Collections 
 Demonstrations 
 Models 
 Observations 
 Experiments 
 Research Projects 

Choose a Topic

Develop a Question

Answer the Question

Present at the Fair

Schedule for Day of Fair

Frequently Asked Questions

Links

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Projects Based on Careful Observations

Some questions can be inspired by and answered through careful observations of the natural world.  Your child may choose to observe the  tiny animals that live in a jar of pond water, how a plant changes changes as it grows, or how a tree bud opens.  A project based on observations could include:

• Watching for long periods of time, or for shorter periods interspersed over longer intervals of time. 
    

• Describing what you see in writing in a notebook devoted to your project.
    

• Recording dates, times, counts, measurements and other data in the project notebook when they are appropriate.
    

• Sketching what you see in the notebook.  Your sketches can interpret your observations.
     

• Photographing what you observe, and then analyzing and displaying your photographs.
     

• Analyzing your results.  Your can organize, classify, compare, and contrast your observations as you try to figure out what they mean.

Children may also do research in the library and on the Web to help them understand what they've observed.

• Go here to link to websites about conducting research projects.
    

• Go here to link to sites that help you evaluate information you find on websites.

The key step will be to make sure your child's observations answer an interesting question.  

     Go here to learn more about developing a question.

     Return to the Types of Projects page.