Your contributions to our Lakeridge Ask Campaign and PTA volunteers help support this program for our students.

 

 

 

ABOUT the lakeridge Science Fair 

 

Challenge Your Mind, Satisfy Your Curiosity.
The goal of the Lakeridge Science Fair is to inspire and nurture scientific curiosity. Our event is a celebration of science. Either as a presenter or as a spectator, we guarantee you will learn something new and have fun doing it too.

The Lakeridge Science Fair is a noncompetitive event designed to encourage students to experience the fun true nature of science: to ask questions and find the answers yourself! Every student will have a chance to present their project and discuss their findings.

Our goals for the Science Fair are:

• Show kids that science can be fun and exciting.
• Show kids that they can ask questions about anything and discover the answers by themselves.

Benefits to our students are:

• Encourages independent thinking and a chance to think “outside the box”
• Opportunity to investigate and explore a new idea
• Builds presentation and data collecting skills
• Gets students acquainted with scientific terms and thought processes

 What is the process for Science Fair participation:

• Students brainstorm an idea. The project can be done solo or with a partner. Need inspiration, click here.
• Register for the Science Fair! If doing a partner project, only one person needs to complete the registration.
• Between the time of registration and the Science Fair (around 6 weeks of time):
  • Conduct the science experiment or project. 
  • Complete a poster board to show off all the hard work. Click here for a guide on how to complete the poster board. 
• At the Science Fair, students will be assigned a time to present their projects to a judge.

• A Science Fair certificate and medal will be awarded to each child following their presentation.

• While at the Science Fair, visit other students and learn about the project they completed. 

2024 details

Date: Thursday, May 2nd

Time: 5-7pm, 4:30pm check in

Location: IMS

Who is eligible? All students are welcome to enter the Science Fair, Kindergarten through 5th grade.

Cost: There is no cost to participate; however, students have the option to purchase a tri-fold poster board ($15) and/or t-shirt ($20) during the registration process. 

Registration closes on April 2nd

We will have the “Infamous Egg Drop” and visits from local businesses like Mathnasium and WiseCamp who encourage fun learning through Math and Science. 

Judges & volunteers 

The Lakeridge Science Fair cannot occur without day-of-event parent volunteers. We ask that each participant have a parent or adult volunteer for one role during the event*. We encourage parents to volunteer to be a judge. This is a fun way to get to know your child's peers. No technical or science background required! 

Parent Volunteer Opportunities include:

• Science Fair planning committee
• Judging Science Fair projects (We encourage parents to volunteers as a judge. It is fun way to get to know your child’s peers.)
• Help with set-up
• Help with check-in
• Assist with Egg Drop
• Help with food service during the event
• Help with clean-up after the event

*Parent sign-up is included in the student registration.

Contact

Questions? Contact a member of the committee at sciencefair@lakeridgepta.org.

HELPFUL LINKS

The following pages on the Lakeridge PTA website contain additional information to help you and your scientist plan for the Science Fair:

Creating an Experiment

Experiment Ideas

Science Fair Rules

FAQs

parent testimonials

• "My kids learned a ton when they did their projects.”
• “My kids are inspired to try it next year. They had a blast just going and looking at the entries.”
• “My child explained her project at least 20 times that evening and got better and better at her explanation and demonstration each time.”
• “I watched my child’s discussions with the judge and couldn’t help but think that he was improving his verbal communication skills and building his self-confidence.”
• “My child commented on the way home that the science fair was a lot more fun than he had expected.”
• “We learned more about science and the process of conducting an experiment. We also had dinner, petted a corn snake, watched the Pacific Science Center show, and had some treats from the bake sale. Needless to say, our experience exceeded any expectations that I and my family had coming into the evening!”
• “Our son loved the non-competitive aspect and listened intently to his judge’s feedback.”
• “I loved the vast array of ideas that the kids came up with and their enthusiasm to share them.”

history of the lakeridge science fair

• 2004: The first Mercer Island Science Fair started at Island Park Elementary School.
• 2007: This event was expanded when Lakeridge and West Mercer Elementary Schools joined forces to form the first All-Island Science Fair. This event attracted close to 300 entries and over 1000 spectators.
• 2008: The second All-Island Science Fair was held at the Mercer Island High School on a Saturday, where almost 250 students presented close to 180 exhibits.
• 2009: We decided to operate three separate Science Fairs at each of the three elementary schools to provide a cozier setting for the students.
• 2011: We outgrew our school and moved to Islander Middle School.
• 2021: While the traditional Science Fair did not take place, an educational Science Week took place! Science leaders and teachers from our community held interactive Zoom presentations for students.
• 2022: The Science Fair returned after a two-year absence! Over 180 participants presented more than 120 projects at Islander Middle School. Students also flexed their science knowledge at the infamous egg drop.
• 2023: Lakeridge Students had an opportunity to share their interests, create, and experiment during our Science Fair held at Islander Middle School.  We had over 125 projects and we had special guests from Mathnasium and Wise Camp be a part of this event.