“What Makes a Good Science/Technology Project” Derresa Davis-Tobin

Inquiry Projects A good science research project is a journey of investigations, discoveries experimentations driven by curiosity. New knowledge is created or discovered Students design projects that provide quantitative data that is analyzed and applied Students are advised that getting the right answer is not the purpose of the project

Non- Inquiry Projects Projects not served by the scientific method Objectives are different Criteria to arrive at an answer/solution is different

Engineering Projects Engineers create things that never were - First identify the goals - then the developmental process - evaluate the improvements

Engineering projects Define a need or how can I make this better Develop or establish the design criteria Do background research Prepare preliminary design Build a test prototype Retest and redesign Present results (Taken from INTEL)

Computer Science Projects Involves creating and writing new algorithms to solve a problem or improve an existing algorithm

Mathematical Projects These involve proofs, solving problems or to explain scientific concepts and ideas

Theoretical Projects Involves a thought experiment, development of new theories, and explanations or the design of a mathematical model

Inquiry Based Projects Does not necessarily start with a question but an observation Information Gathering - read books, magazines or seek professionals in the field - Look for unexplained or unexpected results - keep track of where you get the info ( a notebook is very impt to have)

Form a Hypothesis This should be an if… then…. Statement Best explained through a controlled experiment - allows the setting of a standard and the changing of only one variable at a time to see how the variable might affect the original condition(standard)

Formulate a question Ask Why,or What if.. This should form the basis of the title which should be short and summarize what the investigation is all about It is impt that this question be testable-data can be obtained to find an answer Answer should not obtained from research

Identify the Variables Based on your gathered information make a guess what types of things affect the study Dependent and independent variables --- dependent variable is ---Independent variable

Design experiments to test your hypothesis The control is a neutral “reference point” Experiments are often done many times to guarantee that what you observe is reproducible or to obtain an average result (data collection)

Materials and Procedure Make a list of materials, cost and prepare them Do the experiment and record data If you are not making any measurements you are probably not doing a science project Record your observation Keep careful notes and recordings Analyze data to see if there are patterns in the data Arrive at conclusions based on empirical evidence from the experiment Prepare report and exhibit Review and discuss the findings with peer group Record new questions that arise

Conclusions Do any calculations from your raw data Using the trends in your data and observations to come to a conclusion. If your hypothesis is incorrect what could be the possible answer/problem Summarize any difficulties or problems you had doing the experiment Do you need to change the procedure and repeat the expt? What would you do differently next time List other things you learned

Getting Started Students need to develop a genuine interest in the topics selected Research topics. Organize every thing around the topic Make a time table Plan,Plan, Review data