For Teachers - Science Fair Foundation British Columbia

For Teachers

Resources to enable educators to incorporate inquiry-based STEAM activities in their classroom.

2021/22 Programming

This year the Science Fair Foundation BC is offering some important programs that will support the work you do in the classroom and give students a little extra help.

You can share this printable summary of our 2021/22 programming with students and parents or post it in your classroom.

Free Workshop Series: How to do an awesome STEM project
Open now

In this monthly, online workshop series, science fair organizers will help guide students through the 2022 science fair season. Through discussion and hands-on activities, we’ll explore some of the key aspects and sticking points of science fair projects: ideation, setup, the scientific method, ethics and safety, analyzing results, and communicating findings in a clear and compelling way. We’ll also hear from past science fair participants and see examples of excellent STEM projects.

Students, parents and educators are welcome. Learn more here.

Discovery Foundation STEM Project Grant
Opens November 1

Created for youth looking for more financial support in their pursuit of STEM inquiry, the Discovery Foundation STEM Project Grant is inviting BC and Yukon students between the ages of 9 and 18 to apply for funding that will help them build their STEM project, or compete in a Science Fair Foundation BC event. Grants of between $50 to $200 will be awarded to successful applicants who can demonstrate the grant money will substantially contribute to their understanding of and development in STEM. Learn more here.

Ask-An-Expert Mentorship Program
Opens December 1

This year we will be moving away from a traditional, one-to-one mentorship program model and allowing students to ask questions about their STEM project at any time between December 1, 2021 and mid-April 2022. The intention is to give students access to a range of expertise when they most need it. Mentors will have knowledge in science fairs and a range of science topics, and include science fair organizers, alumni and industry experts. Learn more here.

We Want to Hear from You

The Science Fair Foundation BC is interested in working more closely with teachers to identify and develop supports for science fair programming in the classroom. If you have ideas or would like to be involved, please get in touch.

Contact us at info@sciencefairs.ca.

Other Resources

Looking to start up science fairs in your classroom? Refer to the list of resources below!

We are always looking to improve our resources, so if you have any specific questions or requests, please send us a quick email at info[at]sciencefairs.ca.

		Guide to Completing Your Science Fair Project A step-by-step guide to help your students through their science fair project. This includes K-9 curriculum correlations. version francais>
Science Buddies		STEM lesson plans and project ideas.
Steve Spangler Science		Experiments to inspire your class.
		100 Timely Topics for Science Fair This list, categorized by project type (Experiment / Innovation / Study), provides ideas of topics that students can choose to explore with in their science fair project. Written by Morgan Whitehouse (SD73), Last Updated: December 2019
		Science Fair Project Assessment Rubric Each row of this rubric is meant to be a step in the process of guiding the student through the process of designing their project: evaluate as the project progresses, once a row has been filled the student can move onto the next step, there is no need to revisit a previous row. This rubric is designed for assessing projects within classrooms. Science Fairs at the Regional and Canada-Wide level use a ranking rubric to evaluate projects: while the ranking is helpful for choosing projects to progress to the next level of competition, it is not necessarily a good tool to assess science fair projects individually. Written by Albert Chang (Crofton House), Last Updated: October 2019
		Post-Project Competencies Reflection Worksheets Worksheets for students that have completed a science fair project: - Self Assessment of Curricular Competencies - Self Assessment of Core Competencies - Career Life Exploration & Connections - Integrating First Peoples' Principles of Learning Written by Morgan Whitehouse (SD73)
		Secondary Science Curricular Competencies Learning Map A standards-based assessment for Science Fair, using the Emerging/Developing/Proficient/Extending levels of competency. Written by Morgan Whitehouse (SD73)
		Science Celebration by Len Reimer A resource book for a non-competitive approach to science fair projects
		Science Fair Ethics Requirements (Click Here for interactive flowchart) Ensure that students follow Youth Science Canada's ethics guidelines. Projects in violation of these ethics requirements may be subject to disqualification at higher levels of competition.

The Smarter Science Framework

Smarter Science is the training tool developed by Youth Science Canada (YSC). It is a Canadian framework for teaching and learning science process skills and for developing the skills of inquiry, creativity, and innovation in a meaningful manner for students from Grades K-12.

Teachers are coached on techniques for teaching the processes of inquiry and technological problem solving. The inquiry-based approach of this framework lends itself naturally to self-directed project-based science.

A key feature of Smarter Science is its open-source nature. All resources developed by cooperating jurisdictions and contributed by teachers can be accessed online, at no cost, through www.smarterscience.ca. Resources may be freely reproduced and distributed under Creative Commons licensing.

The Science Fair Foundation BC is no longer stocking Smarter Science Posters. Please click here to order posters directly from Youth Science Canada.

		Introducing the Smarter Science Framework Learn more about the Smarter Science Inquiry Framework. Interested in hosting a workshop? Contact us today!
		Smarter Science: Generating Questions Worksheet Jumpstart students' inquiry-based learning using this worksheet.
		Smarter Science Steps to Inquiry Levels 1 to 3 Posters to help educators walk students through the steps to come up with a specific question and design their experiment. Download: Level 1 / Level 2 / Level 3
		Smarter Science Curricular Competencies by Grade Level (K - 9) Find out how inquiry-based learning satisfies curricular competencies.