Enrichment · STEM Explorations · Free planner

Start from fair day
and work back.

Enter the fair date and how long the experiment needs to run. The planner lays out every phase from the question to the board, with a checklist for each, room for a review committee if your project needs one, a parent view and a calendar file.

Plan my projectHow the plan is built

A dated plan that fits the time you actually have

Most science fair trouble is time: the experiment starts too late to repeat a failed trial, or the board gets one evening. A backward plan shows the real deadline for each step, while there is still time to adjust.

Plan my project

Space: Enrichment · STEM ExplorationsAvailable

Outcome
A six-phase timeline with start and end dates, milestone checklists, a parent view, a printout and an .ics file for any calendar app.
Who it is for
Students in grades 5 to 12 doing a science fair or research project, and the parents and teachers helping them stay on schedule.
Format
Browser tool. About 10 minutes to set up; then check items off as you go. Works on a phone or a computer.
Access
Free. No account. The plan is saved only in this browser.

Your timeline

Enter the dates, read the plan, check items off. Saved as you go.

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How the plan is built

Fixed time first. Two things do not shrink: the days your experiment physically needs (seeds take as long as they take) and, if your project needs it, the wait for a review committee. The planner sets those aside, adds a cushion to the experiment phase so a failed trial can be repeated, and splits the remaining days among the other phases by weight, each with a minimum.

Approval before experimenting. Fairs that follow the International Science and Engineering Fair rules, run by Society for Science, require review and approval before you start experimenting for projects with human participants, vertebrate animals, potentially hazardous biological agents, or hazardous chemicals, activities or devices. Many school and regional fairs follow the same rules. Check your own fair's rules and deadlines; the planner's default wait of two weeks is an assumption you can change.

Three or more trials. Repeating an experiment shows whether a result holds up. The checklists ask for at least three.

When time is short. If the phases cannot all reach their minimums, the plan says so and suggests a simpler test or a shorter run.

Sources

  1. Society for Science, International Science and Engineering Fair (ISEF) Rules and Guidelines, including the projects that need prior review by a Scientific Review Committee or an Institutional Review Board. societyforscience.org.
  2. Science Buddies, project guide: the steps of a science fair project and the engineering design process. sciencebuddies.org.
  3. Internet Engineering Task Force, RFC 5545: Internet Calendaring and Scheduling (iCalendar), the format of the downloaded calendar file.

Questions, a problem with the tool, or a correction: team@caveatacademic.com

Planning help only. Fair rules, forms and deadlines vary; your fair's rules and your teacher's instructions come first. Dates are calculated in calendar days. Free to use; nothing you type leaves this browser. Caveat Academic Services · team@caveatacademic.com