Should There Be Middle School Science Fair Projects for Girls?

You can talk round in circles on this topic but the bottom line is you have to look at the kids and where they are in their development. So, the question becomes do you use science fair projects for girls that are different than the ones for boys? Fact of the matter is that middle school kids are into their own heads, and worry about trying to fit in with the crowd. Peer pressure is at its highest. Science often has the look down your nose because it is too geeky, So some middle school science projects for girls might avoid the geek label because it would be about something they like, so might be just the thing.
This is not to say girls are not into science. Lots of girls like doing cool science fair projects, but there are some who will put that interest aside in order to fit in with the cool crowd. Others feel that science is for geeks, so if you make it practical for things that interest a middle school girl, you can help get past that. With the new drive to improve math and science eduction for everyone, you need to do what you can to get kids motivated to look at science as part of their lives and not a boring school subject.
Here are three ideas thoughts about dealing with science fair projects for girls only and ways around the issue.
  1. To avoid the "not cool" thing, he teacher could flat-out assign projects. Then there is less chance of peers commenting on your interests as everyone has a project to do that may or may not be classified as cool. The teacher would have to have a good solid list projects that have been popular in the past.

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  2. Do projects in teams. The team works at school and some individual parts are done at home. Cooperative learning has been pretty successful in schools when organized right. The problem with this one is the girls (or boys) with the least interest in science may not hold up their end or take the easier jobs and not learn as much as they would if they did a project on their own.

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  3. Assign middle school science fair projects for girls typical interests. Food, make-up, hair products, and animals usually are safe topics. Even technology as a theme could spark an interest for behavior science projects. By tapping into an interest already there, you have a better chance of sparking their interest.
In middle school they spend a lot of time teaching the process, using the scientific method. Often the science fair is not even on a subject they studied in class, like evaporation or geology. They like you to look around and ask, "I wonder what would happen if we did this instead of that?" This way you will get all kinds of science fair projects for girls and boys that better fit their own lives and will be about the things they like.
I maintain a website with some additional information on One Day Science Projects where there are valuable resources for quick and easy science fair projects [http://onedaysciencefairprojects.com/].
I also review a hair product experiment on that would make a great science fair projects for girls [http://onedaysciencefairprojects.com/science-fair-projects-for-girls] that gives you an idea about how this works.

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