Science Fair Lab

A bar along the top shows the nine parts and how far your child has come. Pip coaches each one.

1. Meet Pip: the mystery the experiment answers.
2. See it: what the experiment looks like, as a 3D scene or a picture. The 3D scene and Photo buttons switch between them. The photos were made by a computer, and each says so.
3. Materials: what you need, what it costs, and what needs a grown-up. Tick each thing when it is ready.
4. Predict: your child picks what they think will happen, before they start.
5. Do it: the steps one at a time, with a timer where the experiment needs one.
6. Record: what your child saw or measured.
7. Why?: a moving picture of what happened, explained a frame at a time.
8. Results, and then Project.

Beside the experiment, under Level (a grown-up can change it), are the levels that experiment offers: Science Explorer (K–2), Young Scientist (3–5), Science Investigator (6–8) and Innovation Lab (9–12).

The level changes what is asked. The youngest pick what they saw and pick a claim. Older children measure three tries, with sentence starters and a word bank. From the middle grades they also write a hypothesis, and work out averages and the spread.

The Materials part marks everything that needs a grown-up. The one reaction in the set is baking soda and white vinegar, with goggles and a grown-up. The folded For grown-ups box beside each experiment has its Safety notes, what it teaches, its sources, and whether a reviewer has checked it yet.

The last part turns your child’s own work into a project. Show as a report lays it out as a written report, and Show as a display board as three panels, like a science fair board. Print prints it.

It is built only from what your child entered. Anything left empty says Not filled in yet. Nothing is ever filled in for them.

Your child can add photos of their experiment. Photos and records are kept on that device only, for each child, and are never sent anywhere. The family page lists their projects under Science Fair projects.