The speaker talks about their unpleasant experience with science fairs in school, which they think are overhyped and often a waste of time. According to a survey they conducted on Twitter, 58% of respondents didn't have to participate in science fairs, and only 21% of those who did enjoyed it. The speaker describes the tedious process of choosing a topic, formulating a hypothesis, conducting an experiment, and presenting the results. They recall their own projects, including one that investigated the effect of temperature on battery life, and how it didn't yield the expected results. The speaker concludes that the key to a good science fair project is to have a good question about a topic, but they think the whole experience is often more stressful than enjoyable.
Here are the key facts extracted from the text:
1. The author conducted a survey on Twitter to ask if people had to do a science fair and if they enjoyed it.
2. 58% of respondents said they didn't have to do a science fair.
3. 21% of respondents said they enjoyed the science fair.
4. The author had to do a science fair every year from 4th grade to 10th grade.
5. The science fair involved researching a topic, forming a question, conducting an experiment, and presenting the results.
6. Students were required to work individually or in pairs on their projects.
7. The author had to formulate their own question for the science fair project.
8. The science fair project involved writing a hypothesis, conducting an experiment, and presenting the results.
9. The author's first science project was to determine what time of day is the hottest.
10. The author had to research and write a hypothesis for the project.
11. The author had to make a poster board presentation of their project.
12. The author's project was not successful, as the results did not support their hypothesis.
13. The author presented their project in front of the entire class.
14. The science fair was a competition, and the author won a cup of dirt for coming in third place.
15. The author believes that the key to a good science fair project is to have a good question about a topic.
16. One of the author's friends did a project on rockets and won first place.
17. The author suggests that doing a project on rockets is a good idea for the science fair.