Insect
Fair
The Monarchs in the Classroom Insect Fair (formerly
called the "Monarch Fair") is based on a Science Fair model, with many of the projects
centered on monarch butterflies.
The Insect Fair encourages students to engage in all steps of the research process,
including the important final step of data presentation.
Current Year Fair Info |
Past Sample Projects | Past Abstracts
| Past Participating Schools
Who is Eligible?
Students working individually, in small groups, or as whole classes can submit projects.
Home-schooled students or children working with their parents or other adults during
the summer can (and are encouraged to!) submit projects.
What Kinds of Projects are Eligible?
Eligible student research includes indoor (classroom or home) and outdoor projects.
The projects can be experiments in which students manipulate variables, or observational
studies. Both kinds of studies are important and interesting. For example, if students
wanted to study if monarch larvae grow better on swamp milkweed or common milkweed,
they would need to do a controlled experiment in which one group of larvae received
swamp milkweed and another received common milkweed. If they wanted to study how
much weight larvae gain per day, they could simply weigh larvae every day. If your
class is raising monarch larvae or tagging wild monarchs, there are lots of potential
research questions that they could investigate.
The students at this fair have worked
hard to answer a question of their choosing. In some cases, their results are definitive;
in other cases their questions remain unanswered. All of them have learned a lot
about how science works. Many projects are the results of collaborations with other
students or -- in some cases -- whole classes.
Click here for
sample research topics, or check out other projects
on the site.
How Do We Do a Project?
This website includes many suggestions for carrying out research
projects. For a step-by-step guide to taking Middle School students through the
whole research process, from coming up with questions to presenting a research report,
see our Research Lesson Plans section.
You can also check out actual project reports by Elementary,
Middle, and High School Students. Here is a list of
past participating Schools.
How Do We Submit a Project?
Your report should include the following parts in this order: title page, abstract,
introduction, methods, results, discussion or conclusion, acknowledgments, and bibliography.
For details on writing the report, with examples of each section, see our
Writing a Scientific Paper section. We now accept complete projects online.
After signing up for the fair, teachers can Login to
their accounts to submit student projects.
Special Thanks
Several funding agencies have supported Monarch in the Classroom
programs, but the Medtronic STAR Foundation deserves special thanks for its
support of this Insect Fair. They provided financial support for a summer workshop,
instructional supplies, and the reception that is part of the fair.
