I have often thought that the notion of a Science Fair is intrinsically a good one but have never set one up. With this book such an undertaking is possible, with 47 projects from which you can choose.

Each project has a clearly stated purpose with an overview that contains the physics you need to get started. A hypothesis, or sometimes two, and a procedure detailing what the student should do follow this. The materials to be used are those you should be able to find at home, and safety guidelines as well as places the student needs adult help are clearly marked. Every project asks the student to write down the results of their experiment and decide whether or not their hypothesis was correct. There are also suggestions for taking each project further.

Some of these projects are standard experiments that you may already do with students in class, for example, making plasticine boats, string telephones and levers. Most are interesting twists on standard experiments such as using a wedge as a simple machine, home-made spinning toys and the experiments with light bulbs. The latter are the only real cause for concern if students were to do these things at home as adult supervision would be essential.

This is obviously an American book, though. Teachers in British classrooms would need to work out how to deal with the references to temperature in Fahrenheit and mass in ounces. Length is usually given in centimetres as well as inches. Translations of soda bottles and bobby pins would also be needed.

This book is designed to be full of ideas and to give structure to projects students can do at home, not to provide ideas that you can transport into the classroom. It does this very well and I would recommend it to anyone thinking of starting up a Science Fair. Alternatively, this is an excellent resource for more interesting homework assignments that would put more responsibility on the student and give them something fun to do.