Customer Reviews

Janice VanCleave's Guide to More of the Best Science Fair Projects

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I bought both of Van Cleave's "Best Science Fair Projects" books for my middle school child and was not impressed, in fact, I returned the first "Best Science Fair Projects" book as it was simply a waste of time and money. Readers should be advised that the majority of Van Cleave's projects are for very young children in early grammar school years, they are not for children who are planning for science fairs at the middle school or high school level, at least not on a competitive level. Many of Ms. Van Cleave's projects are demonstrations of certain basic science principles and that may be interesting for parents to try at home with their children in their spare time, but how does a child convert any of these into real projects that are supposed to ask a question, investigate the question, and proceed with an experiment to prove or disprove what the child is investigating. I cannot see where a book that contains projects such as "Can You Make a Diagram of an Insects Body" and where the materials required are cutting out the Head, Thorax and Abdomen out of construction paper to make a model insect, I cannot see where this is a project worthy to be called a "best science fair project," much less receive the praise that the other reviewers have given.

This book is just as wonderful as all the rest of Jancie's books. It will make doing a Science Fair Project easy. She tells you step by step what to do and how to do it. There are a variety of projects for you to choose from.

I think this book is great for science project ideas. I used an idea from this book for the 2001 science fair at MacArthur Middle, and I won first prize! My little brother who goes to Maryland City Elementary used a project and he, too, won first prize! I think that this book should be a must in every library and home. Thank-you Janice Vancleave!

...This book is very thorough. It tells you how science fair projects should be presented. It had sample science fair projects. It gave outlines on abstracts, reports, etc.

My only problem with this book was that it was too complex for my daughter to understand on her own. I like my daughter to work on all her projects independently with only minimal guidance from me. There were concepts in this book that were difficult for her to understand, and I had to guide her through some of the ideas and explanations.

On a brighter side, she got an A on her project, and her teacher chose her project to display in the classroom as one of the teacher's favorite projects.

What I liked about this book is that your child can choose a science project by looking at the "Problem" (or the question) in the book. If the question seems interesting, they are motivated to perform the necessary experiments to find the answer. I also liked the display tips in the beginning.

My fifth grade son performed the experiment "Shadows" and won second place at the ... Elementray Science Fair ... The book tells you how to do research, write an abstract and write a report all on an elementary school level. The suggestions on how to do the display were the most valuable.

We are already planning our project for next year. I also have a daughter in the 2nd grade. There are enough projects in this book to last us until they are both our of elementary school. We only have to buy the book once and then use it year after year!