Note Book

Chili · Post by **Chili** » Thu Dec 07, 2006 12:48 pm

Hello,

Is the lab notebook usually displayed, along with the board and research report, or is that up to each school/fair? Thanks.

tdaly · Post by **tdaly** » Thu Dec 07, 2006 1:59 pm

I reccomend displaying your lab notebook alongside you display board. Judges are interested in looking at the notebook and often use it in the judging process.

Chili · Post by **Chili** » Thu Dec 07, 2006 2:06 pm

Thanks, Terik. The reason I asked is because I bought a blue notebook for him and now it won't coordinate with my child's color scheme for his board. Is that a biggie or how could we get around that? Thanks again.

methionine · Post by **methionine** » Thu Dec 07, 2006 4:37 pm

Wow, do you really even need to color-coordinate your log book with your presentation board? I never knew they were that critical...

carolinethorn · Post by **carolinethorn** » Fri Dec 08, 2006 8:32 am

The judges will look at whats inside the notebook, the colour of it does not matter. They want to see the original observations so copying it from the blue notebook into another coloured one would actually be a bad thing. Think about the scandals in the news lately about scientists faking results - how the community keeps a check on that is by looking at the original records and notebooks.
-Caroline

ChrisG · Post by **ChrisG** » Fri Dec 08, 2006 9:05 am

Strangely, there is a published journal article discussing the tendency of badly-coordinated colors (clothes in this instance) to attract fewer viewers to a scientific presentation.
http://www.cmaj.ca/cgi/reprint/169/12/1291
There is also some related discussion here, under "Presenting your poster"
http://www.swarthmore.edu/NatSci/cpurri ... advice.htm

I do believe that odd little details can affect a viewers perception of a scientific presentation or article. For example, minor typos do not really affect the scientific content of a presentation, but they may give a viewer a first impression that, because the scientist was not careful with proof reading, they might also not have been careful with their research. That said, there are obviously plenty of successful career scientists who do not bother to coordinate their colors, and who do not balk at a few typos.

Unless it is a really horrible color contrast, I doubt it will make a substantial difference to the judges of a science fair. On the other hand, if your child feels ill-at-ease that the colors don't match, it might be worth giving him/her some peace of mind by putting a removable cover on the lab notebook that matches the presentation board color. As Caroline said, certainly don't re-copy all the notes.

Good luck!
Chris

MelissaB · Post by **MelissaB** » Fri Dec 08, 2006 9:20 am

I don't think it matters, but if you're worried you could always buy a matching three-ring binder, take out the rings, and set the notebook inside it (much like ChrisG's suggestion of buying a cover for it). Without knowing exactly what sort of notebook it is, it's hard to make suggestions.

methionine · Post by **methionine** » Fri Dec 08, 2006 2:50 pm

My notebook is EXTREMELY neat -- as in, so neat that some people probably wouldn't even believe that it was the original notebook (although it is)... is that a problem?

tdaly · Post by **tdaly** » Sat Dec 09, 2006 10:55 am

The fact that your notebook is original is what matters. Display your original notebook no matter what.