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Parental Helping with Science Fair Projects: a Case Study

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Canadian Journal of Science, Mathematics and Technology Education Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Considering the number of students who participate in them each year, science fairs are an under-researched area of science education. As part of a broader research agenda examining and conceptualizing science fairs, in this study we interviewed parents who had children who had participated in science fairs and were now in university. Parents discussed their role in working with their children, what understandings of science were held and were developed through these activities, and how they perceived the overall science fair experience that their child (or children) had. Using three representative cases, from a phenomenological perspective, we describe assistance ranging from providing some technical support and encouragement to a parent who hired graphic designers to create the poster for the science fair. Implications of these interviews may be useful for schools and science fair organizers/judges.

Résumé

Compte tenu du nombre d’étudiants qui y participent chaque année, les expo-sciences sont un domaine sous-étudié de l’enseignement des sciences. Dans le cadre d’un programme de recherche plus large visant à analyser et à conceptualiser les expo-sciences, nous avons interviewé pour cette étude des parents dont les enfants, maintenant à l’université, avaient participé à des expo-sciences à l’école. Les parents discutent de leur rôle dans le travail réalisé avec leurs enfants, du niveau de compréhension des concepts scientifiques acquis et développé grâce à ces activités, et de leur perception de cette expérience globale de l’expo-science vécue par leurs enfants. Au moyen de trois cas représentatifs, nous décrivons, d’un point de vue phénoménologique, des formes d’aide parentale allant des encouragements au soutien technique, jusqu’à l’embauche de graphistes pour réaliser l’affiche de l’exposition scientifique. Les implications mises au jour par ces entrevues pourraient s’avérer utiles aussi bien pour les écoles que pour les organisateurs et les juges des expo-sciences.

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Notes

  1. A recent controversy in science publishing illustrates this. Problems in data sets published by a particular researcher were identified and they started being discussed in PubPeer (https://pubpeer.com/search?q=Pruitt) and by various scientists, including those who were part of the original publications, in online posts and blogs (Bolnick,, 2020; Laskowski,, 2020; Pennisi,, 2020; Fox,, 2020). When these blogs were posted, 3 papers had been withdrawn.

  2. In reporting this, we acknowledge that these are not ‘typical’ students, nor are the parental experiences ‘typical’ for all parents. However, they were ‘typical’ students who completed voluntary science fair projects at this high school (reported by an administrator at this high school to (Bowen & Bencze, 2009a) at the time of the study).

  3. Collectively decided on by the authors using education and (type of) employment as an indicator. Responses of the three interviews chosen for presentation are reasonably consistent with those with similar SES for other participants, with ‘number of science fairs participated in’ being an exception where there was no pattern.

  4. We should note here that this is far from an isolated incidence. During our judging of the CWSF, many students mentioned that they had used professional firms to prepare their posters, sometimes spending many hundreds of dollars in the preparation of their posters (see Bencze & Bowen, 2009).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Mount Saint Vincent University, Halifax, NS, Canada

    G. Michael Bowen

  2. University of Alberta, Edmonton, AB, Canada

    Bonnie Stelmach

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  1. G. Michael Bowen
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  2. Bonnie Stelmach
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Correspondence to G. Michael Bowen.

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All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional and/or national research committee and with the 1964 Helsinki declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards.

Conflict of Interest

The lead author (Bowen) has experience as a judge at school-level/regional, national (USA and Canada), and international science fair competitions. He also is a board member of Nova Scotia Youth Experiences in Science which is a non-profit organization that supports science fairs in his home province. None of these leads to any conflicts of interest for him.

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Bowen, G.M., Stelmach, B. Parental Helping with Science Fair Projects: a Case Study. Can. J. Sci. Math. Techn. Educ. 20, 342–354 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s42330-020-00087-6

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