Office of Science PreK-12

The website is meant to provide a kid-friendly tool to support students as they engage in scientific inquiry. We hope parents find it engaging as well. If you child is self-motivated, you might bookmark the web site, print the handouts, and then let him or her explore independently. On the other hand, if you child needs more guidance, you may wish to do the orientation and the first exploration together. Then you could sit down and have a discussion with your child to jointly come up with a plan and schedule. The website is meant to be flexible enough so that it can be used in its entirety or just a piece or two. It is totally up to you and your child.

Your Role

As a parent, your role is to support your child, but let him or her do the investigation. Your child will choose a topic, do some research, plan and conduct an investigation, record data, and create a display. You will need to accept or approve his or her proposed project based on its expense, the time available, and/or the availability of necessary materials. An ideal project will challenge your child but not overwhelm him or her. Students producing award-winning projects will be eligible to enter the county-wide Elementary Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics Fair.

You can help by supplying the necessary materials, supervising activities to ensure your child is safe, providing transportation, asking questions, and giving advice if solicited. When your child writes the report to accompany the project, you may offer to proofread the written report or make suggestions for improvement. In addition, you should occasionally check on the progress of the project to ensure that it is proceeding on schedule.

For some students, this may be the largest project he or she has ever attempted to do independently. If so, he/she will need your help with managing his/her time and staying focused. A typical project will take six weeks to complete. Review this list of tasks. Talk with your child about how long each task may take and what preparation or supplies will be needed for each one. Together come up with a plan (and budget if necessary). Encourage your child to start early, devise a reasonable plan, work on the project regularly, and finish on time.

If your child gets stuck with any particular task, use this Virtual STEM Fair Portal to go over how to complete the task. If you are seeking a solution to a particular question, feel free to use the Question and Answer (Q &A) Page.

As your child is working on their STEM fair project, he/she should be updating their logbook (a spiral notebook). Purchase this important item for them early and clearly label the cover with your child's name so that it can easily be returned if it were to be lost.

Young students need to learn attention to detail in their work. Have your child use the checklists (scoring tools) to check their work. The scoring tools are available at the end of the handout for each exploration (tutorial). Use these checklists to provide feedback for your child at each step of the process, but let your child do the work him/herself. Feel free to consult with your child’s teacher if you need any further guidance.

Website Organization

The framework for the website is that you are walking into the eLabsInc company. eLabsInc is conducting a contest for future scientists. There are three main sections to the website (Directions, Explorations, and Resources).

The Directions section (where you are now) provides information about how to use the website. Since there are two different audiences (students and parents), the website provides introductory guides for each audience. Common material (i.e., frequently asked questions, technical requirements, and an orientation tour) are available as hyperlinks from each guide.

The heart of the website is a series of ten presentations (i.e., explorations) on each stage of the STEM fair process. The presentations are interactive and include a handout for student use. Since the presentations are web-based, hyperlinks to related resources across the Internet are available as well. A typical exploration will take a student about an hour to complete. It is recommended that students take the orientation tour before embarking on their first exploration.

The Resources section contains recommended links, documents, a glossary of pertinent terms, and two general purpose explorations (on researching and writing).

Get Started

If this is your first visit to the website, check out the technical requirements before you begin.
Then, take the orientation tour.
When you are ready, choose one:

I want to start at the beginning.	I want to jump right into a particular area.	I'm having a specific problem.

Start by Finding a Topic	Go to a Specific Exploration	Go to the Question & Answers