DAIS Science Fair 2013

Everyone has, at some point of their life, experienced a desire to know something that they do not already know the answer to. This can be a complex question such as, ‘Can changes in diet and upbringing compensate for genetic abnormalities?’ or even something as innocent as a child saying, ‘How come humans can’t flap their wings and fly like birds?’ The purpose of a science project is to form a hypothesis based on the aforementioned ‘research question’ and then do research and perform experiments to prove the hypothesis. This data is collected and represented along with a conclusion and the result of the project.



For the past 8 years, our school has held a science fair for the students of 7th, 8th and 9th standards. All students form teams of 2 and start working on their project towards the end of May. We are given circa three months to work on our projects during which we prepare our project using the proper scientific method. We had made sure that the format of our projects adhered strictly to IRIS and ISEF guidelines, the International bodies responsible for science Fairs. All our efforts culminated on 3rd August, the day of our science fair, held in our school auditorium where all projects had been set up the previous day.

Our chief judges were Dr. Kishore Amin, a scientist at the Tata Memorial Hospital and a member of the scientific review committee and Ms. Sharon Kumar, who has been actively involved with IRIS to support the INTEL Education Initiative in India. They saw all of our projects and gave us encouraging advice. Each project was judged by science teachers according to fixed guidelines.



The auditorium was a vibrant medley of project boards of different shapes, sizes, colours and some of the projects had eye-catching models to facilitate a more methodical explanation for their project. Usually, the best projects are recommended by the judges to participate in IRIS (the national level science fair), but as all projects were of a superior quality, the judges told us that all 133 projects were suitable for IRIS!

Of course all student effort would not have a complete success without the inspiration and support that we had from faculty and administrative staff, respectively. The invaluable advice by our judges will be valued by all students.

RESULTS

7th grade

8th grade

9th grade