ABSTRACT
One of the most common ways that inquiry is introduced to the general school curriculum is through the involvement of students in science fairs, and there are hundreds, even thousands of these from the classroom level to international. A science fair is an exhibition of students’ scientific experiments or investigations that they have completed over the course of the school year. Science fairs are the most widespread type of knowledge fair; however, social science fairs, such as history fairs, are becoming increasingly popular. There are many handbooks that are available to teachers about how to conduct science fairs and science projects (e.g., Cothron, Giese, & Rezba, 2000; Finkelstein, 2002; National Science Teachers Association, 2003), but the literature does not provide any warnings about some of the pitfalls that lie in the way.
