Science Fair Projects

Choose a Topic Pick a topic that: Will be interesting. You will be able to complete in the required time. Hold onto to handout, check my faculty page, and take notice of the large checklist posted outside our hallway to keep on task!

Title Choose a title that reflects your topic and is snappy or creative For the stretch of it Acid plants Mood and Music

Purpose Write 4-8 sentences describing the purpose. Have the following: Topic Sentence Describing the project What you expect to learn Conclusion

Research Research should be designed to get background information about your topic, before you begin your experiment. Use various sources for your research. Suggested sources: Books Magazines Newspapers Internet

Hypothesis Due: September 22nd with purpose Make your guess Use your research to make an educated guess about how you think your experiment will turn out. Use the “ If the scientist does this __________ then this will happen_____” format. “If-then” statement Example: If100ml of coffee is poured on four pea plants, then the plants will grow taller because caffeine will stimulate the plants. Due: September 22nd with purpose

Procedure Design your experiment Design your experiment so that they only test for one thing. Make sure that you do the same things to all groups of objects being tested. Example: If you are testing plants: Use the same seeds. Plant all of them with the same soil. Put them all in the same amount of light for the same amount of time. The only thing that should be different about the plants is that one received coffee and the other water. Manipulated Variable- coffee vs. no coffee Responding variable- Plant growth Control Variable- everything else the scientist keeps the same.

Procedure To increase the validity of your experiment Make sure to keep a control group. Keep in mind sample size. The more objects in your sample the more valid your experiment. Use multiple trials. (At least three.)

Procedure Write down step-by-step directions on how to do your experiment. Do not leave anything out! Get 8 pea plants ( 100 cm tall). Place 4 pea plants on each tray. Label one set of plants “Caffeine”. Label the second set “Water”. Pour 100ml of coffee( with caffeine ) onto the soil of each plant twice a week. Pour 100ml of water onto the soil of each plant twice a week. Measure each plant with a metric ruler Record data in record book.

Materials Make a complete list of everything you will use in your experiment. Tell how many and how much of each object used. Use metric measures only. Materials and Procedures due: September 22nd

Do your experiment. Have fun ! Collect your data and observations Measurements, pictures, charts, observations Example: Keep a weekly chart of your plant growth include pictures

Make Charts and Graphs Display data using charts, tables, and graphs. Choose the correct graphs for your data. Bar-comparison Pie-percentage Line-change/time

Data Tables All quantitative data tables should be recorded in a data chart. Use a ruler to set this up and make sure it is easy to read! See some examples:

Make Your Board Start your information on the top left panel of the board, move down the left panel, across the middle panel, and from the top down on the right panel. Place pictures of your experiment on your board.

Make your Board

Helpful Resources Science Fair Web Pages http://www.sciencebuddies.org/index_A.htm Best site for help through out project! http://faculty.washington.edu/chudler/fair.html This is a good site explaining the parts of a science fair project. http://edweb.tusd.k12.az.us/jtindell/ A web site for children to use in setting up their science fair project http://school.discovery.com/sciencefaircentral A great site! It has info for parents, teachers, and students. It has project ideas, research tools, and tip sheets for all kinds of projects.

Bringing It Together Reminders Keys for success: Make a time-line and stick to it. Parental support Organization Remember you are handing in the check points which I will correct it is your job to take those checkpoints and turn them into a 3 paragraph report with bibliography of your sources Google and Wikipedia and Yahoo are not sources!