The recent science fair at St Francis School, Sliema, organised by Maggi Pulis and her team, was yet another successful event.

This was my second visit to this annual fair and I was impressed with the work that students present.

The morning was very hectic with teachers and students from all classes eager to show their projects to peers and guests. The excellent Powerpoint presentations backed by posters presented research from a wide range of scientific fields.

Most of the projects relate to the students' lives or subjects they are passionate about. Sports, music, leisure, make-up, and the environment are hot topics.

This innate interest motivates students to keep working on their project for months and ultimately helps them understand their chosen topics better than they would from a textbook.

Searching for information is a must to present projects of such standard. Finding reliable sources of information is a recurrent issue throughout students' education, and practising research is useful not only for science but also other subjects.

At times, we have little time in our lessons to delve into what real scientific methods should be about. Going through research, building hypotheses and setting up experiments is a major contribution towards understanding science at first hand.

Students must learn to sell their project. They must learn to present their project in a concise and easy way for onlookers to follow and grab visitors' attention.

They must be prepared to answer questions not just from peers but also from teachers and experts attending the fair. Science fairs provide excellent opportunities for students to prove themselves.

When I was at secondary school, whenever I did a science project, it was just a report handed in to be marked. I would have jumped at the chance to be able to take part in a science fair like this.

Mr Schembri is co-ordinator of science for Church schools.