Customer Reviews

Championship Science Fair Projects: 100 Sure-to-Win Experiments

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I have looked at several science fair project books and the ones I have seen have some pretty lame experiments. The experiments in this book are really interesting and novel. There are some cool biological experiments about plant and root growth. There is some cool stuff about batteries including lemon batteries (on the cover) and making metal coatings.

I tried the generator but put it on a little windmill rather than making the hydroelectric generator that's in the book. It was pretty cool to make a generator out of knitting needles, cardboard, wire and magnets. The ideas form the basis for all electric motors - that's powerful stuff.

[If you wind the wire around the "wrong" way then you only have to flip the coil over. ]

The experiments are quite advanced (to the ones I've seen in other books) so to back it up on the day then you're going to have to know your stuff. However, the book explains what's going on and gives some more ideas to follow-up.

I have looked at tons of Science Fair project books. Although this book looked the most promising because the experiments were not ordinary, it turned out to be a flop. Full of frustrations and wasted time on everyone's part.

This is one of the most jumbled unorganized, unclear Science Fair project instructions I have ever seen. I was hoping to get a lot out of it for my children (ages 11, 8, and 7) who were getting ready to do Science Fair projects. We picked several to do. One of them was the experiment on generating electricity through a hydroelectric generator. We secured the materials over several days; followed the 3-page instruction and set out to follow each one. It turned out very frustrating for my kids. The instructions were not really step by step. As soon as you follow the first instruction you realize the author forgot to put the information that would have been helpful for the previous step--like coiling 200 yards of wire only to find out the next two steps had you do it clockwise or counterclockwise. The instruction was not very clear. Very unorganized thought process.
As for the magnet, a sidebar for a young elementary student on how to figure out the north and south pole of a magnet would have been helpful.

Secondly, the instruction was not clear how long the whole project would take a child to do. You had to figure that out as you go along. It was not easy to determine on each page. Thirdly, it was unclear whether the project was specific to a particular age group. The level of difficulty was not clear. It would have been helpful as the child was picking each one.

My kids and I tried it. We gave it a try. It had a potential to be a good reference book but it was too unorganized. Not a Champion Science Fair book as the cover would have one believe!

Arlene Meyer
Bikermama

I have looked at tons of Science Fair project books. Although this book looked the most promising because the experiments were not ordinary, it turned out to be a flop. Full of frustrations and wasted time on everyone's part.

This is one of the most jumbled unorganized, unclear Science Fair project instructions I have ever seen. I was hoping to get a lot out of it for my children (ages 11, 8, and 7) who were getting ready to do Science Fair projects. We picked several to do. One of them was the experiment on generating electricity through a hydroelectric generator. We secured the materials over several days; followed the 3-page instruction and set out to follow each one. It turned out very frustrating for my kids. The instructions were not really step by step. As soon as you follow the first instruction you realize the author forgot to put the information that would have been helpful for the previous step--like coiling 200 yards of wire only to find out the next two steps had you do it clockwise or counterclockwise. The instruction was not very clear. Very unorganized thought process.
As for the magnet, a sidebar for a young elementary student on how to figure out the north and south pole of a magnet would have been helpful.

Secondly, the instruction was not clear how long the whole project would take a child to do. You had to figure that out as you go along. It was not easy to determine on each page. Thirdly, it was unclear whether the project was specific to a particular age group. The level of difficulty was not clear. It would have been helpful as the child was picking each one.

My kids and I tried it. We gave it a try. It had a potential to be a good reference book but it was too unorganized. Not a Champion Science Fair book as the cover would have one believe!

Arlene Meyer

This books advertises that it is a good "sure-to win" science fair book. Personally, I found that although this book had a number of interesting experiments, it wasn't really designed for a science fair approach. I would use this book at home with my kids doing simple experiments in the kitchen. I would also use it in the elementary school classroom. So, it does have some redeeming value, but I was disappointed with its Science Fair value.