Your topic should be something that interests you and causes you to ask questions or stimulates your curiosity. You could use science or engineering to solve a problem in your school or community.  Ask questions about the topic. Do you know the answers? Does someone else know the answers?  The possibilities are endless!

What is already known about this topic? What questions are other people asking? What has yet to be discovered? Utilize background research resources in your school, library, online, or ask the experts.

Ask your essential question and form your hypothesis. Boil your ideas down to a single question or problem. Write a hypothesis or begin to sketch out a design solution.

Students should register their project on Scienteer, a web-based science fair project submission and review system. Your teacher will provide you a registration link that is specific to students at your school.  If your teacher does not have the registration link, ask your teacher if they have completed the School Registration form.

Submit the required forms, online, using Scienteer. Scienteer works by asking students to answer a questionnaire about their project. Scienteer then determines which forms are needed based on the student’s answers. Students then fill in a series of web forms, which will automatically populate the official Maine State Science Fair forms.

Projects NOT involving hazardous materials, hazardous biological agents, human subjects, or vertebrate animals may begin at any time — prior review by the Maine State Science Fair Scientific Review Committee is not required. However, if your project DOES involve hazardous materials, hazardous biological agents, human subjects, or vertebrate animals it is subject to prior review by the Scientific Review Committee. You will be electronically notified that you may proceed.

Begin experimentation. Record all data in your Data Notebook.

Once you have completed your experiment and recorded all data, submit the abstract form through Scienteer.

Create your display. See Display Rules for what is fair game and what is not allowed.

Travel to the Maine State Science Fair, set up your display and compete!