Also this month:

* NC A&T Food Scientist Explains Irradiation

* Encroaching Urban Areas Can Equal Success to Area Farmers

* USDA Administrator Visits NC A&T Campus

* NC A&T Landscape Architecture Receives Grant, Coordinates Symposium

* Extension Specialist Advises on Traveling with Children

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Mitch Arnold, news editor

"Science fair projects should be fun learning experiences," said Dr. Robert Williamson, a natural resources specialist with the North Carolina A&T State University Cooperative Extension Program. "If parents research the situation and help their children approach it in the right way, working on a project can give a young person an excellent opportunity to better understand how science relates to everyday life."

According to Dr. Ellen Smoak, a clothing and textiles specialist with the NC A&T Cooperative Extension Program, perhaps the greatest challenge is finding an appropriate science fair project idea. Smoak suggests that parents and children start by first thinking about a topic which interests the child.

"Clothes, cars, cosmetics, cameras . . . any topic you can think of can become an idea for a science project," said Smoak. "The topic doesn't have to be from science class."

Next, Smoak suggests that the child explores their topic for a problem or something they don't understand.

"Explore your topic until you come across something you don't understand, or something you would like to know more about," said Smoak. "Most science fair projects involve research and testing to arrive at specific conclusions."

Williamson adds that parents should help their children pick an appropriate format for the project, by recognizing the differences between demonstrations and research project.

"A project that does not investigate some type of problem is a model or demonstration," said Williamson. "For example, building a model volcano just to show how one combination of chemicals can cause a reaction is not a research project. Unless there is a specific category in the science fair for demonstrations, do not expect them to be ranked as highly as true research projects."

Smoak indicates that one of the secrets to a high-quality science project is understanding and making good use of the scientific method, a series of logical steps used to answer questions and solve problems. The scientific method begins with identifying a purpose for the experiment, and proceeding from there with a hypothesis, experimentation and results, before drawing a conclusion.

"The scientific method will help you every step of the way through your project," said Smoak. "And once you learn to use this decision-making process, you will see that there are no wrong ideas, wrong experiments, wrong results, wrong conclusions or wrong answers."

A "Science Fair Project Guidebook," developed by Drs. Williamson and Smoak, is available from the NC A&T Cooperative Extension Program, (910) 334 7956.