Many students in high school have many different interests. Whether being a part of multiple different extracurricular competition clubs or activities, every high school student is learning what they are interested in. With the multitude of interests, how can you settle on one specific, niche idea for a science fair project?
ScienceFair helps students develop project ideas through structured background research, guided ideation, and expert mentorship, focusing on originality, feasibility, and competition readiness rather than assigning topics.
How ScienceFair Coaches Help Students Turn Broad Interests Into Research Ideas
I’m Kara Gaiser, a ScienceFair Coach and Mechanical Engineering student at UC Berkeley, focused on the aerospace industry with experience at NASA and space startups. In high school, I competed in all levels of science fairs from regional to Regeneron ISEF, where I am a two-time Grand Award winner.
I, too, was in this exact situation in high school, trying to decide what specific niche I was interested in for the science fair, and how it would compete with other novel projects. Here, I’ll dive into what we as coaches look for in a project idea, how we support you to come up with the project idea, and nurture your curiosity.
Why Background Research Is the Most Important First Step
Having many different interests is a good thing- it means you’re a curious thinker, passionate about different topics, and that makes you a good researcher! What makes you a great researcher is learning how to make strategic, thoughtful decisions based on your prior background research.
As a coach, I urge my students to conduct background research from the very beginning, way before narrowing your thoughts down to a single research topic, to avoid any biases. For example, with the recent AI technology industry boom, many students find pivoting to researching AI appealing because it’s everywhere in the news, media, and startup industry.
However, this mindset sections you off from other potential, novel ideas that could be the next AI. Plus, especially for a science fair project, AI is heavily saturated, so you will likely be competing with many other students who have the same mindset. (I’m not saying you can’t incorporate AI into your topic of research- it’s about doing so strategically, where AI makes sense! Not just for the sake of “AI”.)
What is background research?
Background research is a low-stakes, high-importance part of the research process, where you digest as much information as possible on the current market, products, research, and interests in a specific area.
This means going down YouTube rabbit-holes and clicking through citations of credible research papers to understand how your area of interest has evolved. You do not need a specific area of interest for this; even just searching “astrophysics” on YouTube can get you thousands of informational videos on more specific topics, which naturally can help you narrow down your ideas!
This process should be ongoing throughout your research, but I recommend dedicating a few days to a few weeks purely for background research and topic generation
Most importantly, throughout this process, have a running notes document of all the links and papers you visited. This will help you later when developing your research citations!
Also, write down very specifically where industry markets are saturated, versus if you find a gap in research. This gap is something you can explore and adds leverage to the “why” behind your project!
How Mind-Mapping Helps You Choose Between Project Ideas
Mind-mapping is another method I recommend for later in your background research stages. This is incredibly helpful to visualize your thoughts in the form of lines and text bubbles.
This is where you’d ultimately help decide between a few different ideas and compare the impacts and your interests between topics.
What Makes a Strong Science Fair Project Idea?
A strong science fair project needs to be:
Original
Relevant in the real-world
Technically deep
The research question needs to be clear and scoped so that it can feasibly be done in a year or less, and deliver on your project's objectives.
Taking your ideas and our knowledge of what makes a strong science fair project, we guide you to build the strongest research question possible.
What ScienceFair Coaches Do (And Why We Don’t Give You a Topic)
ScienceFair coaches are here to guide you through the ideation process, not hand you a specific project idea to do.
All the ScienceFair coaches have competed in highly competitive competitions like Regeneron ISEF, Regeneron STS, JSHS, and Davidson Fellows. We all understand how important it is to be passionate about your research to actually do well in competitions.
Your effort in your project shows immensely when you are genuinely interested in the area of study, versus if you were just handed the project.
The actual science fair judges also grade your project on this, too! So it is incredibly important to us that the final idea comes from you, and you alone.
How ScienceFair Coaches Support the Ideation Process
Some examples of how we can help through this ideation process are:
Guiding you through the process of background information and finding credible sources, especially if you are unfamiliar with that process.
Providing you with a “starting point” for background research and literature reviews.
The ScienceFair coaches, especially if we have done research in similar areas that you are interested in, may know specific scientific journals or archives that could be helpful for you.
Evaluating the impact and feasibility of your research idea, given your projected timeline and resources.
Pair you with a research coach specialized in your areas of interest
Help develop a detailed timeline and plan to conduct your research.
We are ultimately here to help you succeed with a research project you love, are proud of, and are willing to put lots of effort into.
Through these initial stages of background research, to finalizing an idea and its impacts, us ScienceFair coaches, are here to assist your ideation process from beginning to end, and also provide a seamless transition into beginning your data collection and research plan.
Work With a ScienceFair Coach
ScienceFair provides unique, elite science fair coaching with past winners. Our coaches support you from ideation to presentation, and are here to guide you at every step of the way.
Schedule a consultation call to connect with one of our academic advisors and build a winning science fair project today.
