SCIENCE

ELECTRONS CAN MOVE

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The protons and neutrons in the nucleus are held together very tightly. Normally the nucleus does not change. But some of the outer electrons are held very loosely. They can move from one atom to another. An atom that looses electrons has more positive charges (protons) than negative charges (electrons). It is positively charged. An atom that gains electrons has more negative than positive particles. It has a negative charge. A charged atom is called an "ion."

Some materials hold their electrons very tightly. Electrons do not move through them very well. These things are called insulators. Plastic, cloth, glass and dry air are good insulators. Other materials have some loosely held electrons, which move through them very easily. These are called conductors. Most metals are good conductors.
How can we move electrons from one place to another? One very common way is to rub two objects together. If they are made of different materials, and are both insulators, electrons may be transferred (or moved) from one to the other. The more rubbing, the more electrons move, and the larger the static charge that builds up. (Scientists believe that it is not the rubbing or friction that causes electrons to move. It is simply the contact between two different materials. Rubbing just increases the contact area between them.)

ELECTRICAL CHARGES

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Protons, neutrons and electrons are very different from each other. They have their own properties, or characteristics. One of these properties is called an electrical charge. Protons have what we call a "positive" (+) charge. Electrons have a "negative" (-) charge. Neutrons have no charge, they are neutral. The charge of one proton is equal in strength to the charge of one electron. When the number of protons in an atom equals the number of electrons, the atom itself has no overall charge, it is neutral.

Parts of atom

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So what are atoms made of? In the middle of each atom is a "nucleus." The nucleus contains two kinds of tiny particles, called protons and neutrons. Orbiting around the nucleus are even smaller particles called electrons. The 115 kinds of atoms are different from each other because they have different numbers of protons, neutrons and electrons.

It is useful to think of a model of the atom as similar to the solar system. The nucleus is in the center of the atom, like the sun in the center of the solar system. The electrons orbit around the nucleus like the planets around the sun. Just like in the solar system, the nucleus is large compared to the electrons. The atom is mostly empty space. And the electrons are very far away from the nucleus. While this model is not completely accurate, we can use it to help us understand static electricity.

(Note: A more accurate model would show the electrons moving in 3- dimensional volumes with different shapes, called orbitals. This may be discussed in a future issue.)

What is static electricity?

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You walk across the rug, reach for the doorknob and..........ZAP!!! You get a static shock.

Or, you come inside from the cold, pull off your hat and......BOING!!! Static hair - that static electricity makes your hair stand straight out from your head. What is going on here? And why is static more of a problem in the winter?

To understand static electricity, we have to learn a little bit about the nature of matter. Or in other words, what is all the stuff around us made of?

EVERYTHING IS MADE OF ATOMS

Imagine a pure gold ring. Divide it in half and give one of the halves away. Keep dividing and dividing and dividing. Soon you will have a piece so small you will not be able to see it without a microscope. It may be very, very small, but it is still a piece of gold. If you could keep dividing it into smaller and smaller pieces, you would finally get to the smallest piece of gold possible. It is called an atom. If you divided it into smaller pieces, it would no longer be gold.

Everything around us is made of atoms. Scientists so far have found only 115 different kinds of atoms. Everything you see is made of different combinations of these atoms.

2010-06-17T21:43:00.002+05:30

Enjoy Science

Enjoy science

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If you enjoy science and its applications you may be interested in finding a fun science project to do. There are any number of fun science projects that will be both educating and entertaining for those who conduct them. Many fun science experiments can be conducted on a small budget or utilizing the very items you have in your household currently. Creating and carrying out fun science projects is a great way for teachers and students alike to learn new things in the realm of scientific experimentation. A fun science experiment can be applied to a simple or complicated concept, while maintaining the educational purpose of the project. Here are a few fun science projects that you can conduct safely at home:
1.) Volcano- This is a traditional experiment that has been conducted time and time again. It illustrates on a smaller scale what happens when a volcano erupts. By using chemicals that interact causing the eruption, you are able to recreate the look of a real volcano at home or at school. The two chemicals that are interacting that you will need to do this fun science project are baking soda and vinegar. The two will come in contact and cause the volcano to erupt, spewing its contents over the side of the volcano you build. This is a quick and easy project that will have you mesmerized. It may be a little messy but its a fun science experiment.
2.)Home-Made Silly putty- This is another fun science project that children especially can enjoy. This is also a very simple and inexpensive fun science project that anyone can do. A cup of liquid starch and a cup of Elmer’s glue slowly mixed together will create a chemical reaction that will made the glue become more rubbery in texture. The ultimate result is a substance that is very similar to silly putty and can be used in the same ways. A fun science project, this is definitely one that will put a smile on anyone’s face.
3.) Coke Geyser- This is another simple science project. Simply unscrew a bottle of Diet Coke, attach a small funnel to the opening and pour in mentos candies, then run because there will be an almost instantaneous eruption. The eruption is cause by the interaction of the mentos and the carbon dioxide released by the bottle. This is a cheap way to conduct a science experiment while learning and having a good time.
Any one of these projects can be considered a fun science project. The best part about these is that while learning science you are able to have fun and not spend a lot of money. Understanding simple concepts associated with chemical interaction and reaction can be interesting and these science projects certainly do the trick. Anyone can recreate these experiments at home, but it is suggested that the third project is conducted outdoors or somewhere where it would be okay to create a spewing geyser of diet coke all over the place.

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Physical science

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Physical science is a challenging field of study. Teaching non-biological information and focusing more on theory is the aim of this discipline. Teaching physical science entails non-living systems. Teaching physical science may be in any number of topics. If you are teaching physical science you should first understand the breakdown of the fields that are in the broad category of physical science. Teaching takes a lot of time, patience and dedication. Because of this those teaching physical science must work hard to convey the concepts in their special field of teaching to their students. Physical science teachers can specialize teaching in any one of these fields of study that are listed below. The description of what they will be teaching follows the topic of physical science.

Physical Science Category List

-Astronomy. Teaching this physical science entails study of the planet, stars, galaxies, and the components and properties of each. This is considered a branch of physics. Within this category there are several sub-topics that can be studied specifically.

-Physics. This is a field that strives to understand nature by teaching individuals to apply established principles and concepts. There is quantum, atomic, nuclear and theoretical branches of physics. Usually those who study physics will choose one of these sub-categories to specialize in.

-Chemistry. Another component of physical science would be chemistry or the study of substances, their components and reactions. Teaching this science would provide students with a basic understanding of the elements, composition of substances and interactions that can occur when two substances are combined. These reactions and elements are governed by scientific laws that help to explain their function and process.

-Earth Science. This is a branch of physical science that can be broken down into many other sub-categories. Teaching earth science could be in anything from geological principles of the earth, to meteorological concepts concerning the weather.

Physical science is only the broad definition of what consists of many different topics. Teaching this science, you have several options as to what discipline you would like to specialize in teaching. Any on of these topics will be a challenging field to enter into your lesson plan. The concepts and theories are often difficult to understand at first, but there are ways to help incorporate the facts into a fun and educational lesson plan. You can try to insert difficult concepts into a learning game for your students, in order to help them understand and be able to recall those concepts. The theories that are associated with physics especially, can be extremely difficult to remember and apply. Science principles, laws and theories are similar to any other topic in that practice makes perfect. Students will only be able to retain the information if they are applying the concepts in a way that they can understand their uses. Developing the skills of the students in any of these areas of study will take a lot of time and effort but ultimately make them more aware of the world around them and how the things in it work.

The social aspects

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While performing experiments, scientists may have a preference for one outcome over another, and so it is important to ensure that science as a whole can eliminate this bias. This can be achieved by careful experimental design, transparency, and a thorough peer review process of the experimental results as well as any conclusions.After the results of an experiment are announced or published, it is normal practice for independent researchers to double-check how the research was performed, and to follow up by performing similar experiments to determine how dependable the results might be.

Once a hypothesis has survived testing, it may become adopted into the framework of a scientific theory. This is a logically reasoned, self-consistent model or framework for describing the behavior of certain natural phenomena. A theory typically describes the behavior of much broader sets of phenomena than a hypothesis—commonly, a large number of hypotheses can be logically bound together by a single theory. These broader theories may be formulated using principles such as parsimony (traditionally known as "Occam's Razor"). They are then repeatedly tested by analyzing how the collected evidence (facts) compares to the theory.

Theories very rarely result in vast changes in our understanding. Indeed it may be the media's overuse of words like "breakthrough" that leads the public to imagine that science is constantly proving everything it thought was true to be false. While there are such famous cases as the Theory of relativity that required a complete reconceptualization, these are extreme exceptions. Knowledge in science is gained by a gradual synthesis of information from different experiments and even across different domains of science, more like a climb than a leap. It should be noted that all theories vary in both the extent to which they have been tested and verified, as well as their acceptance in the scientific community. For example, heliocentric theory, the theory of evolution, and germ theory still bear the name "theory" even though, in practice, they are considered factual.

The social aspects

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Mathematics

Main article: Mathematics

Data from the famous Michelson–Morley experiment

Mathematics is essential to the sciences. One important function of mathematics in science is the role it plays in the expression of scientific models. Observing and collecting measurements, as well as hypothesizing and predicting, often require extensive use of mathematics. Arithmetic , algebra , geometry , trigonometry and calculus , for example, are all essential to physics . Virtually every branch of mathematics has applications in science, including "pure" areas such as number theory and topology .
Statistical methods , which are mathematical techniques for summarizing and analyzing data, allow scientists to assess the level of reliability and the range of variation in experimental results. Statistical analysis plays a fundamental role in many areas of both the natural sciences and social sciences.
Computational science applies computing power to simulate real-world situations, enabling a better understanding of scientific problems than formal mathematics alone can achieve. According to the Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics , computation is now as important as theory and experiment in advancing scientific knowledge.^[22]
Whether mathematics itself is properly classified as science has been a matter of some debate. Some thinkers see mathematicians as scientists, regarding physical experiments as inessential or mathematical proofs as equivalent to experiments. Others do not see mathematics as a science, since it does not require an experimental test of its theories and hypotheses. Mathematical theorems and formulas are obtained by logical derivations which presume axiomatic systems, rather than the combination of empirical observation and logical reasoning that has come to be known as scientific method . In general, mathematics is classified as formal science , while natural and social sciences are classified as empirical sciences^.

Scientific community

Main article: Scientific community

The scientific community consists of the total body of scientists, its relationships and interactions. It is normally divided into "sub-communities" each working on a particular field within science.

Fields

Main article: Fields of science

The Meissner effect causes a magnet to levitate above a superconductor

Fields of science are widely recognized categories of specialized expertise, and typically embody their own terminology and nomenclature . Each field will commonly be represented by one or more scientific journal , where peer reviewed research will be published.

Institutions

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Exile on Main Street

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Exile on Main StreetAvatar (Two-Disc Blu-ray/DVD Combo) [Blu-ray]

2010-05-20T17:10:00.002+05:30

Locke was to be proven wrong, however. By the early 1800s, natural philosophy had begun to separate from philosophy, though it often retained a very broad meaning. In many cases, science continued to stand for reliable knowledge about any topic, in the same way it is still used in the broad sense (see the introduction to this article) in modern terms such as library science, political science, and computer science. In the more narrow sense of science, as natural philosophy became linked to an expanding set of well-defined laws (beginning with Galileo's laws, Kepler's laws, and Newton's laws for motion), it became more popular to refer to natural philosophy as natural science. Over the course of the nineteenth century, moreover, there was an increased tendency to associate science with study of the natural world (that is, the non-human world). This move sometimes left the study of human thought and society (what would come to be called social science) in a linguistic limbo by the end of the century and into the next.

Through the 1800s, many English speakers were increasingly differentiating science (i.e., the natural sciences) from all other forms of knowledge in a variety of ways. The now-familiar expression “scientific method,” which refers to the prescriptive part of how to make discoveries in natural philosophy, was almost unused until then, but became widespread after the 1870s, though there was rarely total agreement about just what it entailed. The word "scientist," meant to refer to a systematically-working natural philosopher, (as opposed to an intuitive or empirically-minded one) was coined in 1833 by William Whewell. Discussion of as a special group of people who did science, even if their attributes were up for debate, grew in the last half of the 19th century. Whatever people actually meant by these terms at first, they ultimately depicted science, in the narrow sense of the habitual use of the scientific method and the knowledge derived from it, as something deeply distinguished from all other realms of human endeavor.

By the twentieth century (1900s), the modern notion of science as a special kind of knowledge about the world, practiced by a distinct group and pursued through a unique method, was essentially in place. It was used to give legitimacy to a variety of fields through such titles as "scientific" medicine, engineering, advertising, or motherhood. Over the 1900s, links between science and technology also grew increasingly strong.

Richard Feynman described science in the following way for his students: "The principle of science, the definition, almost, is the following: The test of all knowledge is experiment. Experiment is the sole judge of scientific 'truth'. But what is the source of knowledge? Where do the laws that are to be tested come from? Experiment, itself, helps to produce these laws, in the sense that it gives us hints. But also needed is imagination to create from these hints the great generalizations — to guess at the wonderful, simple, but very strange patterns beneath them all, and then to experiment to check again whether we have made the right guess." Feynman also observed, "...there is an expanding frontier of ignorance...things must be learned only to be unlearned again or, more likely, to be corrected."

History and etymology

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Main article: History of sciences

Personification of "Science" in front of theBoston Public Liabrary

While empirical investigations of the natural world have been described since antiquity (for example, by Aristotle, Thophrastus and Pliny theElder, and scientific methods have been employed since the Middle Ages (for example, by Ibn al-Haytham, Abu Rayhan Biruni and Roger Bacon), the dawn of modern science is generally traced back to the early modern period during what is known as the Scientific Revolution of the 16th and 17th centuries.^[5]

The word "science" comes through the Old French, and is derived in turn from the Latin scientia, "knowledge", the nominal form of the verb scire, "to know". The Proto-Indo-European (PIE) root that yields scire is *skei-, meaning to "cut, separate, or discern".^[6] Similarly, the Greek word for science is 'επιστήμη', deriving from the verb 'επίσταμαι', 'to know'. From the Middle Ages to the Enlightenment, science or scientia meant any systematic recorded knowledge.^[7] Science therefore had the same sort of very broad meaning that philosophy had at that time. In other languages, including French, Spanish, Portuguese, and Italian, the word corresponding to science also carries this meaning.

Prior to the 1700s, the preferred term for the study of nature was natural philosophy, while English speakers most typically referred to other philosophical disciplines (such as logic, metaphysics, epistemology, ethics and aesthetics) as moral philosophy. Today, "moral philosophy" is more-or-less synonymous with "ethics". Far into the 1700s, science and natural philosophy were not quite synonymous, but only became so later with the direct use of what would become known formally as the scientific method. By contrast, the word "science" in English was still used in the 17th century (1600s) to refer to the Aristotelian concept of knowledge which was secure enough to be used as a sure prescription for exactly how to do something. In this differing sense of the two words, the philosopher John Locke wrote disparagingly in 1690 that "natural philosophy [the study of nature] is not capable of being made a science".

Basic classifications

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Scientific fields are commonly divided into two major groups:natural sciences, which study natural phenomena (including biologiccal life), and social sciences, which study human behavior and socities. These groupings areempirical sciences, which means the knowledge must be based on observable phenomena and capable of being tested for its validity by other researchers working under the same conditions. There are also related disciplines that are grouped into interdisciplinary and applied sciences, such as engineering and health science. Within these categories are specialized scientific fields that can include elements of other scientific disciplines but often possess their own terminology and body of expertise.
Mathematics, which is classified as a formal science, has both similarities and differences with the natural and social sciences. It is similar to empirical sciences in that it involves an objective, careful and systematic study of an area of knowledge; it is different because of its method of verifying its knowledge, usinga prior rather than empirical methods. Formal science, which also includes statistics and logic, is vital to the empirical sciences. Major advances in formal science have often led to major advances in the empirical sciences. The formal sciences are essential in the formation of hypotheses, theories, andlaws, both in discovering and describing how things work (natural sciences) and how people think and act (social sciences).

Science

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Science (from the latin scientia, meaning "knowledge") is comprehensive information on any subject, but the word is especially used for information about the physical universe. As knowledge has increased, some methods have proved more reliable than others, and today the scientific method is the standard for science. It includes the use of careful observation, experiment, measurements, mathematics, and replication -- to be considered a science, a body of knowledge must stand up to repeated testing by independent observers. The use of the scientific method to make new discoveries is called scientific reasearch, and the people who carry out this research are called scientists. This article focuses on science in the more restricted sense, what is sometimes called experimental science. Applied science, or engineering, is the practical application of scientific knowledge.

A scientific hypothesis is an educated guess about the nature of the universe, a scientific theory is a hypothesis which has been confirmed by repeated observation and measurement. Scientific theories are usually given mathematical form, and are always subject to refutation if future experiments contradict them.

In the modern world, scientific research is a major activity in all developed nations, and scientists are expected to publish their discoveries in refereed journals, scientific periodicals where referees check the facts in an article before it is published. Even after publication, new scientific ideas are not generally accepted until the work has been replicated.

Scientific literacy is the ability of the general population to understand the basic concepts related to science.

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"Evergreens" keep most of their leaves during the winter. They have special leaves, resistant to cold and moisture loss. Some, like pine and fir trees, have long thin needles. Others, like holly, have broad leaves with tough, waxy surfaces. On very cold, dry days, these leaves sometimes curl up to reduce their exposed surface. Evergreens may continue to photosynthesize during the winter as long as they get enough water, but the reactions occur more slowly at colder temperatures.

During summer days, leaves make more glucose than the plant needs for energy and growth. The excess is turned into starch and stored until needed. As the daylight gets shorter in the autumn, plants begin to shut down their food production.

Many changes occur in the leaves of deciduous trees before they finally fall from the branch. The leaf has actually been preparing for autumn since it started to grow in the spring. At the base of each leaf is a special layer of cells called the "abscission" or separation layer. All summer, small tubes which pass through this layer carry water into the leaf, and food back to the tree. In the fall, the cells of the abscission layer begin to swell and form a cork-like material, reducing and finally cutting off flow between leaf and tree. Glucose and waste products are trapped in the leaf. Without fresh water to renew it, chlorophyll begins to disappear.

The bright red and purple colors come from anthocyanin (an-thuh-'si-uh-nuhn) pigments. These are potent antioxidents common in many plants; for example, beets, red apples, purple grapes (and red wine), and flowers like violets and hyacinths. In some leaves, like maple leaves, these pigments are formed in the autumn from trapped glucose. Why would a plant use energy to make these red pigments, when the leaves will soon fall off? Some scientists think that the anthocyanins help the trees keep their leaves a bit longer. The pigments protect the leaves from the sun, and lower their freezing point, giving some frost protection. The leaves remain on the tree longer, and more of the sugars, nitrogen and other valuable substances can be removed before the leaves fall. Another possible reason has been proposed: when the leaves decay, the anthocyanins seep into the ground and prevent other plant species from growing in the spring.

HOW PLANTS PREPARE FOR WINTER

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LEARN MORE ABOUT:

HOW PLANTS PREPARE FOR WINTER

All summer, with the long hours of sunlight and a good supply of liquid water, plants are busy making and storing food, and growing. But what about wintertime? The days are much shorter, and water is hard to get. Plants have found many different ways to get through the harsh days of winter.

Some plants, including many garden flowers, are called "annuals," which means they complete their life cycle in one growing season. They die when winter comes, but their seeds remain, ready to sprout again in the spring. "Perennials" live for more than two years. This category includes trees and shrubs, as well as herbaceous plants with soft, fleshy stems. When winter comes, the woody parts of trees and shrubs can survive the cold. The above ground parts of herbaceous plants (leaves, stalks) will die off, but underground parts (roots, bulbs) will remain alive. In the winter, plants rest and live off stored food until spring.

As plants grow, they shed older leaves and grow new ones. This is important because the leaves become damaged over time by insects, disease and weather. The shedding and replacement continues all the time. In addition, deciduous trees, like maples, oaks and elms, shed all their leaves in the fall in preparation for winter.

new

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WORD SCRAMBLE
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WHY DO LEAVES CHANGE COLOR IN THE FALL?

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I CAN READ

WHY DO LEAVES CHANGE COLOR IN THE FALL?

Plants make their own food. They take water from the ground through their roots. They take a gas called carbon dioxide from the air. They turn water and carbon dioxide into food and oxygen. Oxygen is a gas in the air that we need to breathe.
Plants make their food using sunlight and something called chlorophyll. Chlorophyll gives leaves their green color.

Winter days are short and dry. Many plants stop making food in the fall. The chlorophyll goes away. Then we can see orange and yellow colors. These colors were in the leaves all summer, but the green covered them up.

Some leaves turn red. This color is made in the fall, from food trapped in the leaves. Brown colors are also made in the fall. They come from wastes left in the leaves.

Why Do Leaves Change Color in the Fall?

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We all enjoy the colors of autumn leaves. Did you ever wonder how and why a fall leaf changes color? Why a maple leaf turns bright red? Where do the yellows and oranges come from? To answer those questions, we first have to understand what leaves are and what they do.

Leaves are nature's food factories. Plants take water from the ground through their roots. They take a gas called carbon dioxide from the air. Plants use sunlight to turn water and carbon dioxide into oxygen and glucose. Oxygen is a gas in the air that we need to breathe. Glucose is a kind of sugar. Plants use glucose as food for energy and as a building block for growing. The way plants turn water and carbon dioxide into oxygen and sugar is called photosynthesis. That means "putting together with light." A chemical called chlorophyll helps make photosynthesis happen. Chlorophyll is what gives plants their green color.

As summer ends and autumn comes, the days get shorter and shorter. This is how the trees "know" to begin getting ready for winter.

During winter, there is not enough light or water for photosynthesis. The trees will rest, and live off the food they stored during the summer. They begin to shut down their food-making factories. The green chlorophyll disappears from the leaves. As the bright green fades away, we begin to see yellow and orange colors. Small amounts of these colors have been in the leaves all along. We just can't see them in the summer, because they are covered up by the green chlorophyll.

The bright reds and purples we see in leaves are made mostly in the fall. In some trees, like maples, glucose is trapped in the leaves after photosynthesis stops. Sunlight and the cool nights of autumn cause the leaves turn this glucose into a red color. The brown color of trees like oaks is made from wastes left in the leaves.

It is the combination of all these things that make the beautiful colors we enjoy in the fall.

2009-12-14T19:18:00.003+05:30

* Some of those kids (maybe yours someday) qualify for the international competition at the annual Intel International Science and Engineering Fair. Here the level of cash prizes is significant. In addition, those whose projects qualify for international competitions are judged by the best in the world: top scientists and people from industry. Imagine your child having his or her project judged by a Nobel Laureate. These kinds of things do immeasurable good for the confidence of the student and certainly encourage them further in all of their activities.

These are just of few of the many different benefits of science fair projects. Even if you, as a parent, secretly dread the idea, your help and encouragement with this endeavor will provide life-long advantages for your children.

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* A science fair project is an experience that can be challenging and self-validating. Many students actually do important research and discover previously unknown facts.

* Many science fairs offer cash prizes, which can be a significant incentive for some people. They also help open the doors of academic opportunity for students. Winners at regional fairs receive recognition for their work, and gain the right to participate at state-level and higher-level competitions.

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* Participating in science fair projects help develop a feeling of confidence and competence among students, and fosters a spirit of scientific inquiry. Projects usually involve scientific questions that the student is interested in, and a specific topic they have chosen for themselves. Participants must research their question, learn and apply the scientific method to create a valid experiment, and think about the meaning of their results. Some kids get so immersed in their project that they forget about other factors like prizes or the fact that they are actually learning new skills. Science fairs are also a way for students to demonstrate motivation, self-learning, critical thinking, ethics and other important skills and traits.

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* A science fair project is an activity that integrates almost every skill or art children have been taught. Students must learn how to apply their existing abilities to new areas, as well as learn many new skills. A science fair project can involve reading, logical thinking, writing, grammar and spelling, math, statistics and data analysis, computer science, and graphic arts, as well as scientific methodology. If a student participates in a formal competition, then they will also practice public speaking, and learn how to explain and defend their work in front of a panel of judges.