1. Pick a topic for your science fair project
One of the most important considerations in picking a topic for your science fair project is to find a subject that you consider interesting. You'll be spending a lot of time on it, so you don't want your science fair project to be about something that is boring.
Once you find a general topic that interests you, write down the question that you want to answer. A scientific question usually starts with: How, What, When, Who, Which, Why, or Where. For example, if you are interested in robots, your question might be "How much current does a robot's arm use to lift a weight?"
Can you design a fair test to answer your question? A "fair test" requires that you change only one factor (variable) and keep all other conditions the same. If you cannot design a fair test, then you should change your question.
Your science fair project question should involve factors or traits that you can easily measure using a number. Or, factors or traits that are easily identified, like colors.
Is your experiment safe to perform?
Do you have all the materials and equipment you need for your science fair project, or will you be able to obtain them quickly and at a very low cost?
Do you have enough time to do your experiment before the science fair? For example, most plants take weeks to grow. If you want to do a project on plants, you need to start very early! For most experiments you will want to allow enough time to do a practice run in order to work out any problems in your procedures.
Does your science fair project meet all the rules and requirements for your science fair?

2. Steps to a Science Fair Project
Question
Research (at least 5 sources; be sure to write bibliographic information as you research)
Problem/Purpose
Hypothesis
Materials
Procedures
Data Analysis
Write a Research Plan (use all of the information listed above)

3. Experiment and collect data
Analyze the collected data (put data into an Excel spreadsheet and create a graph of the averages of data)
Results
Conclusion
Acknowledgements
Bibliography
Write Abstract – use required form from Science Fair website
Triboard

4. Useful websites – all required forms can be found on websites:

5. Complete REQUIRED Forms before beginning experimentation :
Student Checklist (1A)
Research Plan (typed plan of your project attached to Student Checklist 1A)
Approval Form (1B)
Checklist of Adult Sponsor(1)

6. The research paper consists of 10 pages:
Title page
Introduction
Problem/Purpose
Hypothesis
Materials
Procedures
Results
Conclusion
Acknowledgements
Bibliography

7. Typing your report
It is a good idea to open a new document for each page of the research paper. This makes it easier to print at the end so that you don’t have to use the enter key to make each page print separately.
Type the title of each page in a fairly large print.
Use 12 font for the body of your paper using double spacing.
For the most part, after typing the research paper, you can enlarge the print of the pages, turn the page to landscape and print the pages needed for the triboard. ( It may be a good idea to copy and paste these pages to a new document before enlarging the print and turning to landscape to print for the triboard.)

8. (Title Page) The Heat Capacity of Sand and Water
Susie Helpful
(Tom Morrow, Elmo, and Flounder)
6th Grade
Veterans Memorial Middle School
Mrs. Cox

9. Introduction
(The introduction is a paragraph summarizing the background information that you obtained from doing your research.)
Heat
Temperature
Wind
Sun’s energy
Water
Sand
Sea Breeze
Land Breeze

10. Problem/Purpose
(What specific question is being addressed. Pick ONLY one!)
-The purpose of this experiment is to see which material, (sand or water), retains its heat the longest.
-The purpose of this experiment is to see which material, (sand or water), heats up the quickest.
-The purpose of this experiment is to see which material, (sand or water), cools down the quickest.
-The purpose of this experiment is to see which material, (sand or water), reaches the highest temperature.
This is important to the testers so that they can understand what happens at the beach on a sunny day.

11. Hypothesis (Pick the ONE that matches your problem)
If heat is added to sand and water, then the (sand or water) will retain its heat the longest.
If heat is added to sand and water, then the (sand or water) will heat up the quickest.
If heat is added to sand and water, then the (sand or water) will cool down the quickest.
If heat is added to sand and water, then the (sand or water) will reach the highest temperature.

12. Materials 2 styrofoam bowls 200 mL water 200 mL sand 3 thermometers
1 stopwatch
1 ring stand
1 plastic shoebox
1 lamp
1 basking bulb watt

13. Procedures Fill one bowl with 200 mL of water
Fill one bowl with 200 mL of sand
Position heat lamp 30 cm above both bowls
Record starting temperatures of water, sand, and air.
Turn on heat lamp
Record the temperatures of water, sand, and air every minute for ten minutes.
Remove heat lamp
Continue recording temperatures for another ten minutes.

14. Results
(Write in paragraph form the results of the experiment. Include the averages of the air, sand, and water. Also write about anything you observed during the testing process.)

15. Conclusion
(Briefly summarize your results in a paragraph. Include if your hypothesis was supported or rejected. Make sure that the accept or reject the hypothesis that you used)
The testers accept the hypothesis – the sand did retain the heat the longest. According to the results, the average temperature of the sand was 30oC which was higher than the average temperature of the water which was only 27oC. Along with the information found while researching this topic, the experiment proved to be very successful and a good learning experience. Now I know what to expect when I am at the beach.

16. Acknowledgements
( Write this information in paragraph form. Include credit assistance received from mentors, parents, group members, teachers, etc.)
A special thank you goes to group members Mickey, Minnie, Donald, and Daisy for working on this project. Thank you also to Mrs. Cox for providing the materials for testing and the research books that were used in class.

17. Bibliography
(This must be done in correct MLA form. Include books, websites,magazines,etc.) Horton, Patricia, Werwa, Eric, PhD, and Zike, Dinah. Glencoe Science The Nature of Matter. New York: McGraw- Hill, Mullen, Kieran. “Temperature.” The World Book Encyclopedia. Chicago: World Book, Inc, 2007.

18. (Science Fair Display Triboard) Title of Project
Graph or Graphs
Question
Materials
Procedures
Purpose/Problem
Results
Pictures
Data Table
Hypothesis
Conclusion