Mentor Training

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Mentor Training 3 Wednesday, November 18    

• Forming Testable Questions, Hypotheses, IV,
  DV, Setting up controls, Project
  ideas,  project procedure guidelines, research
  notebook

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In Mentor Binder Project Special Forms

• Please turn now to pages 16-17 of your binders
  and look them over thoroughly before you and your
  buddy become set on a project idea!
• These pages set out restrictions and limitations
  on what you can test. Instead of having your idea
  rejected, look these pages over carefully before
  you settle on a topic!
• Some restrictions include experimenting on
  animals, taste-testing with humans, etc.

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Forming Testable Questions

• A question should be testable, or able to be
  answered by experimentation.
• What would you like to find out about your topic?
  What can you discover by performing your
  experiment? What are you trying to accomplish?
•  Example What is the effect of exercise on heart
  rate?

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Forming Testable Questions

• 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?"

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Forming Testable Questions

• 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.
• You do not want to have a project where there are
  multiple variables- this is outside the scope of
  a 5th grade science fair
• If you cannot design a fair test, then you should
  change your question.

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Forming Testable Questions

• Your science fair project question should involve
  factors or traits that you can easily measure
  using a number that represents a quantity such as
  a count, percentage, length, width, weight,
  voltage, velocity, energy, time, etc.
• Or, factors or traits that are easily identified,
  like colors.

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Forming Testable Questions

• The experiment should measure changes to the
  important factors (variables)
• Or, just as good might be an experiment that
  measures a factor (variable) that is simply
  present or not present.
• For example, lights ON in one trial, then lights
  OFF in another trial, or USE fertilizer in one
  trial, then DON'T USE fertilizer in another
  trial.
• Do not choose an experiment where you can not
  measure the results!

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Questions to AVOID

• Any topic that boils down to a simple preference
  or taste comparison. For example, "Which tastes
  better Coke or Pepsi?"
• Such experiments don't involve the kinds of
  numerical measurements extremely subjective
• Astrology or ESP
• No scientific validity.

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Questions to AVOID

• Any topic that requires measurements that will be
  extremely difficult to make or repeat, given your
  equipment.
• Example measuring nano-particles or building a
  complex structure
• Any topic that requires dangerous, hard to find,
  expensive, or illegal materials.
• Violates the rules of the science fair.

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Questions to ask Buddy

• Do you like building or repairing mechanisms and
  machines?
• Do you enjoy gardening and working with plants?
• Are you curious about laws like gravity and
  electromagnetism that govern the physical world?
• Do you like learning about what makes us healthy
  and what makes us sick?
• Do you want to learn about microscopic life
  (bacteria, germs, algae)?

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How to Form a Hypothesis

• A hypothesis is an educated guess about how
  things work.
• Most of the time a hypothesis is written like
  this "If _____I do this _____, then
  _____this_____ will happen." (Fill in the
  blanks with the appropriate information from your
  own experiment.)

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How to Form a Hypothesis

• Your hypothesis should be something that you can
  actually test, what's called a testable
  hypothesis. In other words, you need to be able
  to measure both "what you do" and "what will
  happen."

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How to Form a Hypothesis

• independent variable - the thing that is changed
  by the scientist.
• dependent variable - the variable you observe
• changes in the dependent variable depend on
  changes in the independent variable.
• Controlled variables are quantities that a
  scientist wants to remain constant,

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Examples of variables

• The Testable Question is Does heating a cup of
  water allow it to dissolve more sugar?
• Independent Variable Temperature of the water
  measured in degrees Centigrade
• Dependent Variable Amount of sugar that
  dissolves completely measured in grams
• Control Variables Stirring, Type of sugar

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Examples of variables

• Testable Question Does fertilizer make a plant
  grow bigger?
• Independent Amount of fertilizer measured in
  grams
• Dependent Growth of the plant measured by its
  height
• Growth of the plant measured by the number of
  leaves
• Control
• Same size pot for each plant
• Same type of plant in each pot
• Same type and amount of soil in each pot
• Same amount of water and light
• Make measurements of growth for each plant at the
  same time

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How to Form a Hypothesis

• "If a particular independent variable is changed,
  then there is also a change in a certain
  dependent variable."
• Null Hypothesis If a particular independent
  variable is changed, then there will not be a
  change in a certain dependent variable."
• Remember, you must be able to measure the
  variables in the hypothesis for it to be testable

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Project Ideas

• ALL experiments must be approved by Mrs.
  Carothers BEFORE beginning the experiment. If
  there are any requests for equipment, help with
  the procedures for these experiments, or any
  other questions, contact your mentor trainer AND
  Mrs. Carothers at pcarothers_at_mvhigh.net In the
  subject line put
• SA project procedure materials- If seeking
  approval for project
• SA project materials request- If seeking
  materials sources or to borrow.

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Project idea sites

• http//pbskids.org/dragonflytv/scifair/index.html
  
• http//www.tryscience.org/experiments/experiments_
  home.html
• And look in the mentor binder on the project idea
  page for additional idea sites to try. Not only
  are there ideas but there are procedures etcat
  several of these.

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Experimental Procedure

• A step-by-step list of everything you must do to
  perform your experiment. Think about all the
  steps that you will need to go through to
  complete your experiment, and record exactly what
  will need to be done in each step.
• tell how you will change your one and only
  independent variable and how you will measure
  that change
• how you will measure the resulting change in the
  dependent variable or variables

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Experimental Procedure

• If applicable, explain how the controlled
  variables will be maintained at a constant value
• specify how many times you intend to repeat your
  experiment, so that you can verify that your
  results are reproducible.

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Research Notebook

• the research notebook should read almost like a
  diary from day one to the end of the project
  including dates, times, and thoughts and
  processes
• Should have all forms including those for
  hazardous material, bacterial, etc
• Should contain experimental procedure

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Research Notebook

• Your buddy must have their research notebook at
  all the buddy meetings and during experimentation
• Your buddy must record everything done with the
  experiment inside the notebook.
• Encourage your buddies to use complete sentences
  and data tables

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Next Mentor-Buddy Meeting!

• Required Meeting 2 MONDAY, December 7,
  330-530. It is a cookie exchange!
• Bring One dozen (12) cookies for your buddy!
  Preferably homemade, please. They will bring a
  dozen cookies for you too!
• What is due Project idea, testable question.
  Buddy must have a research journal- remind them
  of this in email!
• Continue to send your buddy weekly emails and
  always COPY TO
• Buddy parent, AND p.carothers_at_mvsciencealliance.or
  g membership_at_mvsciencealliance.org
  mentor_training_at_mvsciencealliance.org.

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