Effects of science fairs on the understanding of and attitudes toward science research

Abstract

Science research has been introduced at the Saint Mary's University (SMU) High School and other science-and-technology oriented high schools in Nueva Vizcaya where students make projects across the following subjects: physics, biology, chemistry and others. This is in response to the call of Fr. Jessie M. Hechanova, the SMU President. In fact, the annual science fair has become an excellent venue to showcase the science research talents of the school or even the province. It aims to develop among the students the consciousness to partake in making innovations through discoveries and inventions using the scientific method (Czemiak, 1996). It further seeks to convene students to deepen their understanding of and attitudes toward science research. Though the latter has been constructively considered over the years it remains seemingly to be a purpose undocumented by research.
Thus, it is for this reason that the objectives of this study were to investigate if there was any differential effect on the science research understanding and science research attitude of the (a) participation to the Provincial Science Fair; (b) success in the Local Science Fair; and (c) role in the Local Science Fair. Furthermore, this study explored if there was any significant difference in the understanding of and attitudes toward science research gender-wise and section-wise.