What is a science fair? A journey of scientific inquiry Students answer a scientific question by conducting an experiment. The process ends with a showcase event that shows students that their work matters to the school community.

Problem Research Hypothesis Materials/ Procedures Data Collection Data Analysis Results Conclusion

 Problem statement:  What you need to research.  In the form of a question.  What is the effect of _______________ on _________?  Topic:  What the project is about.  What is the focus of the research.  Title:  A catchy phrase that will go on the back board.  Should not be the problem statement.

 Problem Statement: What is the effect of fertilizer on tomato plant growth?  Title: Tall Tomatoes  Topic: Botany, Life Science, Plant growth, fertilizer

 The questions you need to answer before you can come up with an educated guess.  Using resources to answer these questions.  Make sure to document all resources used appropriately.

 Use MLA format for citing within the paper and for the bibliography.  Bibliography is the same as a work sited page.  edu/owl/resource/675/1/ edu/owl/resource/675/1/  Easy bib Easy bib

 An educated guess that is made after research has been done.  Always in the following format:“If……then…..because……”  After the “If” is the independent variable  After the “Then” is the dependent variable  After the “because” is the research

 HYP: If one group of tomato plant is given fertilizer and the other is not, then the group with fertilizer will grow larger because...

 Independent variable a.k.a. manipulated variable. = It is the one thing that is purposely changed in the experiment.  Dependent variable a.k.a responding variable = what changes as a result of the independent variable.

 IV: amount of fertilizer given  DV: The height of the tomato plant.

 A list of all the things that need to be kept the same throughout the entire experiment.

 The species of tomato plant, the type of soil used, the amount of soil used, the size of the pots used, the location of the tomato plants, the amount of sunlight each tomato plant receives, the amount of water given to each tomato plant, and the time of day water is given.

 What would be considered the “normal” conditions within your project.  What you are measuring it against/standard of comparison.  Control group: the group that is not exposed to the independent variable.  Experimental group: the group that is exposed to the independent variable.

 Plants “normally” grow in soil with water.  Control group: plants in normal soil.  Compared to experimental group which is receiving fertilizer.

 List of everything needed for experiment.  Make sure that amounts of items needed is specific and in metric units.

 Step by step instructions for experiment  Needs to be specific.  Number each step in the order they are to be completed, no paragraphs.  This step is necessary so other scientists can replicate the experiment.

 Must conduct the experiment multiple times.  Minimum of three times up to maximum of ten times, depending on cost, in order to gather enough data.

 Qualitative (words) data can be collected in a journal.  Quantitative (numbers) data can be collected in a table.  Make sure that any data collected is done so in metric units.

DaysPlant 1Plant 2Plant 3Plant 4Plant 5Plant 6 1GreenHalf green Brown leaves Green with 2 tomat- oes Green with 4 tomat- oes 2Leaves turning yellow Half of the leaves green Turning yellow Green, 3 tomat- oes Green, 4 tomat- oes Green, 5 tomat- oes 3 4

DaysPlant 1Plant 2Plant 3Plant 4Plant 5Plant cm tall 230 cm tall 31 cm tall 30 cm tall 33 cm tall 34 cm tall 330 cm tall 29 cm tall 34 cm tall 35 cm tall 4 5

 cm  L  mL  g

 Graph the results of the quantitative data  Sometimes takes several graphs

 You should place your independent variable on the x-axis of your graph and the dependent variable on the y-axis.  Be sure to label the axes of your graph— don't forget to include the units of measurement (grams, centimeters, liters, etc.).  If you have more than one set of data, show each series in a different color or symbol and include a legend with clear labels.  Graphs may be created by hand.

Ind. Var. Dep. Var.

 Looking at graphs and determining the trends  What does the data tell you?

 CONCLUSION - This is a summary of your project that consists of the answer to the following 7 questions. CONCLUSION 1. What is the problem we are trying to solve in this experiment? 2. What was the hypothesis? 3. What were the major findings? (look at your data and generalize the results) 4. Compare your data to your hypothesis: Does your data support your hypothesis? Why or Why not? 5. What possible explanations can you offer for your findings? 6. How could you improve your experiment if you did it again? 7. Explain why your research was important, how is it relevant to real life situations?

Abstract Text  Single spaced  250 words or less  12 point type  Paragraph format The Abstract should include the following: 1.Your projects problem statement. 2.The hypothesis. 3. The constants. 4. The independent and dependent variable. 5. A summary of the procedures used. How you went about measuring and observing your dependent variable. 6. The results and data you collected from your experiment. 7. Was your hypothesis accepted, why or why not? 8. A conclusion statement. 9. If you could do this experiment again in the future, what would you do differently?

 Please no personal pronouns anywhere in the project.  Example: I, me, you, we, he, she, my, it, they, them

PROBLEM STATEMENT HYPOTHESIS ABSTRACT DATA TABLE GRAPHS RESULTS CONCLUSION TITLE INDEPENDENT VARIABLE, DEPENDENT VARIABLE, CONSTANTS PROCEDURESMATERIALS PICTURES No food, chemicals, models, or pictures of people on the board or in front of it. No staples, thumb tacks, etc. on the board.

 The middle school participants can apply for a scholarship to the Summer Research Opportunity (SRO) for 2 weeks at FGCU in the summer.  30 awards valued at $400 each.  Argonauta scholarship is usually $500  Newton Scholarship is $4,000  Edison College scholarship is about $2,000 (usually 20 to 30 awards)  FGCU scholarship is about $5,000 (usually 30 awards)

       x.asp x.asp   

 Go to  Scroll down until you see “Teacher Websites” on the left hand side of the page.  Click on “Teacher Websites”  Click on the teacher’s name that you wish to view.  You should then be on their website and able to navigate within that site.

 Thank you for your time.  Questions?