Son's science exhibition plan is a full weather station, and it's due in December

maple_marigold_361421 Sept 2026

He's in grade 9 and has signed up for the school science exhibition. He wants to build a weather station on our balcony that logs temperature, rain and wind and puts it all on a website. Has watched many videos, has a parts list, very excited 🙂 My worry is the timeline. The exhibition is in December and he has his regular assessments in between. I know it's supposed to be his project and the science teacher will guide him, but I'm the one who'll be soldering at midnight if this goes wrong. Do I let him find out the hard way or nudge him towards something smaller now? His ammamma says let him try, she's always on his side.

3 comments

amber_marigold_353121 Sept 2026
I work in a junior college lab. Every year the Inter students who choose big projects finish only half. The ones who do one small experiment properly do better in the viva. Maybe tell him to do temperature first, then add more if time is there.
coral_kite_87221 Sept 2026
Is the project judged on the final product or on the process? If it's mostly the process and how he explains it, an unfinished weather station with a good record of what went wrong might be perfectly fine. Worth checking with the supervisor before you push him either way.
- maple_marigold_361421 Sept 2026
  Good point. The circular talks about method and explanation at the stall, so probably the process. Will check with his science teacher. He's going to hate hearing that the logbook matters more than the gadget though.
mint_swing_51621 Sept 2026
Junior developer here. The website part alone is a decent amount of work for a beginner, separate from the sensors. If he hasn't made a site before, maybe he logs the readings to a spreadsheet first and builds the website only if the hardware works.
- maple_marigold_361423 Sept 2026
  Update: we sat down with the spreadsheet idea last night. He's agreed to sensors plus spreadsheet first, website as a 'bonus'. Wind is out, he decided the anemometer was too much on his own. Small win.