Science Buddies: "Ask an Expert"

heyo i'm a senior and i'm trying to go to state science fair my senior year (i've only ever made it to regionals) and i want to do it on something relating to basketball. i like this project https://www.sciencebuddies.org/science- ... p037.shtml but how do i make it state-worthy

Hi ashlyntullis,

Glad to hear that you’ve found a project you like and that fits with your interests.

Projects in the regional fair in my area are judged on scientific thought, originality, thoroughness, presentation and interview. Scientific thought and originality are more heavily weighted than the other elements. So higher scoring projects include well-constructed experiments, measurements or observations that clearly relate to the experiments and conclusions, and at least some original elements.

Science fair projects in your area may be judged differently. You might want to ask about the elements included and which, if any, are given more weight in the judging. That information may help with what parts of your project that you need to work on a little more to move up to the state fair.

Beyond that, I think the project you’ve chosen is a good experiment. My suggestion is to add something of your own. For example, you might add a statistical analysis of your data. Or you might build on one of the ideas from the “make it you own” section of the project description.

I hope this helps and good luck with your project. Please post again if you have more questions.

A. Norman