How to Display Middle School Science Fair Projects

Use a standard-sized display board to display your science fair project.

Science fairs are part of nearly every public school student's education. By devising and executing a science project, students learn about the importance of the scientific method. After you conduct the experiment and record the results, the final part of the science fair project is the presentation. If you want to garner attention for your project, you will want to accompany your presentation with a prominent display

Things You'll Need

• Three-panel display board
• Double-sided tape
• Construction paper
• White paper
• Scissors
• Computer
• Printer
• Camera (optional)

Instructions

1. Purchase a standard, 36-by-48-inch, three-panel display board. These boards are available at office supply and craft stores.

2. Identify the areas on the board you will use for each part of your project display. You will want to provide separate space for each step of the scientific method: the question, background research, hypothesis, experiment and conclusion. Placement of the project elements is a key to a successful display. Consider making the question a banner that spans all three panels at the top of the display board. Save the middle, most prominent portion of the display board for details about your actual experiment, while reserving the left side for the hypothesis and project setup and the right side for your conclusion.

3. Type up the elements of your display on a computer. Be sure the font is easily readable from afar. Each step of the scientific process should be on a separate page. Print out these pages on white paper. Trim the excess paper so you are left with only the words.

4. Cut out pieces of construction paper that are slightly larger than each piece of paper that contains the details of your project. Using double-sided tape, tape the white pages to the construction paper so that the construction paper serves as a boarder for each piece of paper. Using double-sided tape, tape these to the display board.

5. Label the areas of the display board with the appropriate titles. For example, you may want labels that say "Hypothesis," "Materials," "Procedure," "Results" and "Conclusion." You can type these labels in a large font and print them, you can write them by hand or you can use stencils.

6. Bring along a part of your experiment to show in conjunction with your display board. For example, if your experiment involved paper airplanes, you will want to showcase the various paper airplanes you used in your experiment in front of your display board. For some experiments, you may not be able to bring in actual pieces of the project. In such instances, take pictures of the project and display them on the central panel of the display board.

Tips & Warnings

• There is no one way to display a science project. Inject your own creativity into your display.

References

• Science Buddies: Science Fair Project Display Boards
• Science Buddies: Steps of the Scientific Method
• "The Complete Handbook of Science Fair Projects"; Julianne Blair Bochinski; 2003