If you’ve ever dreamed of presenting your scientific work on a grand stage like the Google Science Fair, or even a local science fair, congratulations. You’re about to begin an exciting journey of exploration and innovation.
What is the Google Science Fair?
The Google Science Fair was an online science and engineering competition open to students ages 13 to 18 around the world, encouraging them to change the world through scientific inquiry and problem solving. It was sponsored by Google, Lego, Virgin Galactic, National Geographic, and Scientific American, and ran annually from 2011 through 2018.
The competition aimed to find the next generation of scientists and engineers, inviting students to submit ideas to change the world. Previous winners tackled issues like the early diagnosis of breast cancer, improving music listening for people with hearing loss, and cataloguing the ecosystem found in water.
Prizes included a $50,000 scholarship from Google, a trip to the Galapagos with National Geographic Expeditions, experiences at CERN, Google, or the LEGO Group, and a year of digital access to the Scientific American archives for the winner’s school. Scientific American also awarded a $50,000 Science in Action prize to one project that made a practical difference on a social, environmental, or health issue.
Unfortunately, the Google Science Fair was last run in 2018, and there have been no plans to bring it back.
What to Do Instead
If you’re interested in science fairs, look into other competitions. ISEF stands out, since its prizes and prestige are significant. It’s also worth entering local science fairs, which may be easier to win. To do well, it’s a good idea to find a mentor who can help with your project.
Finding a Mentor
The best way to get into research is to find a mentor who’s willing to support your goals, and the best way to do that is to cold email researchers.
You don’t have to attend an Ivy League or other prestigious university to do research. In fact, the more prestigious the university, the more likely its professors are already focused on their own undergraduates who want to do research. The most important advice here is to start early, since good research takes time.
Here’s a guide I wrote on how to prepare effective cold emails:
Foundational Work
Start by choosing a subject that sparks your curiosity. Once you have a broad area, narrow it to a specific research question you can explore in depth within your paper’s constraints. You want your paper to be comprehensive but readable, so pick a specific niche. Use credible sources like academic journals, scholarly books, and reputable websites to gather evidence. Preprint servers and open access journals are free, which makes finding research easier. Document every source you read, since that makes citing everything much easier later.
BibTeX is great for organizing and generating citations for research papers.
Literature Reviews
The literature review is the foundation of your research project. It’s where you become an expert on your topic by exploring what others have already discovered. This helps you find gaps in existing research and land on an idea specific enough to write a paper about. Here’s how to approach it:
- Brainstorm keywords: identify key terms related to your topic. They’re your way into relevant sources.
- Hit the library (or database): use your school library’s resources and online databases to find academic journals, articles, and books. Look for credible sources from universities, research institutions, or reputable organizations.
- Read and take notes: skim as you read, focusing on the points relevant to your work and glossing over the rest to save time. Pay attention to the arguments different researchers make and any interesting connections between their work.
- Stay organized: note-taking apps, index cards, or a simple notebook all work. Organized notes make it much easier to find information when you’re writing.
Preparing Your Science Fair Presentation
You might think judges care only about the content of your work, but doing sophisticated research is only half the battle. How you present it has a significant effect on your final score.
You want to convince the judges not only that you’ve done sophisticated research, but also that there’s an important reason to care about your work.
Tips to craft your story
- Memorability: our brains tend to forget stand-alone facts, and a complex project has a lot of them. Put those facts into an interesting context or weave them into an engaging story, and they’re much easier to remember.
- Show your passion: presenting with enthusiasm shows the judges your genuine interest and investment. Judges love to see passion, and showing it earns you a favorable impression.
- Clear communication: storytelling is a time-tested way to present important ideas. If a judge can engage with and clearly follow the “storyline” of your presentation, you’re more likely to make an impact.
Wenshu, another blogger at Rishab Academy, wrote a more detailed guide that these tips come from.
Conclusion
Doing well at a science fair takes focus, organization, and a commitment to clear communication. By following the steps in this guide, you can build a well-structured, informative presentation that conveys your research findings effectively. The process is a valuable learning experience that sharpens your research, analysis, writing, and communication skills.
More advice
Once you’ve gathered your findings and figured out how to convey them, you’ll need to make a poster. Check out Rishab’s template, which saves a lot of time on poster boards and is completely free to use.
About Eashan Iyer:
I am a founding member of The Qurios Institute and an incoming student at Brown University. In 2023, I co-authored a research paper in the field of theoretical physics. I am also an Eagle Scout and a senior at The Academy for Mathematics, Science, and Engineering in Rockaway, NJ. Learn more about me on LinkedIn.
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