Understanding the “Virtual” Science Fair: A Critical Analysis of the Online Competition Experience

• In Event: Roundtable Session 71
  In Roundtable Session: Various Perspectives About Science Teaching and Learning

Abstract

Students have been competing for awards at science fairs for many decades. Nevertheless, there is a relative paucity of published research in this area. To contribute to the literature about science fairs, we conducted an analysis of the documents and videos provided online as part of a major American company’s on-line “virtual” science fair. Findings highlight issues regarding some misunderstandings about the practices of science that may emerge from the structure of the science fair, particularly with regards to the Internal Sociology of Science (Ziman, 1984) and our perceptions that science was being presented as highly rational and isolated from fields of technology and societies. We were left wondering how science fair organizers might respond to dilemmas we noted.

Authors

• G. Michael Bowen, Mount Saint Vincent University

• John Lawrence Bencze, OISE/University of Toronto

• Susan Jagger, University of Toronto - OISE