Science Fair

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Science Fair

• What is it all about?

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Choosing a project

• Look at lists of science categories
• pick one that you are interested in
• narrow that down to a project

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Choosing a project

• Use your experiences
• Remember a time you noticed something and thought
  "I wonder how that works?" or "I wonder what
  would happen if..." then turn that into a
  project.
• Check the science section of the school library.
  Browse and look at book titles, then look inside
  the ones that look interesting to you.
  
• Thumb through encyclopedias and magazines. Good
  magazines for ideas are National Geographic,
  Discover, Omni, Popular Science, Popular
  Mechanics, Mother Earth News, High Technology,
  Prevention, and Garbage. Perhaps go to the
  downtown Library.

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Choosing a project

• Think about current events.
• Look at the newspaper.
• People are hungry in Africa because of droughts -
  a project on growing plants without much rain,
  which types grow ok with little water?
  
• Or the ozone hole over Antarctica - how can we
  reduce ozone? -a project on non-aerosol
  
• Ways to spray things. Or oil spills. How can we
  clean them up? -a project on how to clean oil out
  of water

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Choosing a project

• Watch commercials on TV. Test their claims.
• Does that antiperspirant really stop wetness
  better than other ones?
  
• What are the real differences between Barbie and
  imitation Barbie dolls?
  
• Can kids tell the difference between coke and
  Pepsi if they don't know which they are drinking?

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How to do a project

• Parts you need

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Causal Question

• Ask a question that you want to know the answer
  to.
  
• The Causal question is the single most important
  part of the scientific method. Every part of your
  project is done to answer this question.

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Research your Question

• Find out what you can about your topic.

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Form a Hypothesis

• An educated guess based on some prior knowledge!
• formed as a statement, that you propose to be the
  answer to the research question.

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Experiment

• Design an experiment to test you guess.
• Change only one thing at a time.
• Keep one experiment without changing anything.
  (called control)

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Experiment

• Repeat the experiment at least 3 times!
• This shows validity

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Data

• Journal All scientists keep a record of their
  observations in some form of a journal. The
  journal will begin with the date and time the
  experimenter collects the data.
• Sometimes data will include environmental values
  such as humidity, temperature, etc.
  
• Entries must be written clearly and with detail
  of description so that another scientist can read
  the journal, simulate the conditions of the
  experiment, and repeat the experiment exactly.

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Data

• Record all numerical measurements made.
• Data can be amounts of chemicals used, how long
  something is, the time something took, etc.
  
• If you are not making any measurements, you
  probably are not doing an experimental science
  project.
  
• Repeat the experiment at least three times for
  valid results.

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Data

• The data are the values written down as the
  experiment progresses. Example
  
• 11/15/04Control Plant7.4 mm 
• Test Plant16.2 mm 
• Test Plant24.9 mm 
• Test Plant37.2 mm
• 11/22/04Control Plant7.8 mm 
• Test Plant15.9 mm 
• Test Plant23.2 mm 
• Test Plant37.2 mm

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Charts Graphs

• When at all possible, illustrations of data are
  advisable.
  
• They create a professional appearance and convey
  a great deal of information.
  
• Examples include Bar Graph, Pie Chart, X Y
  axis Graph, Histogram, etc.

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Materials

• List all supplies and equipment.
• Example 250 ml. glass beaker ,1 straw, 150 ml.
  Lime Water, 10 g. Baking Soda

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Procedure

• The procedure is a somewhat detailed, step - by
  - step description of how you conducted your
  experiment.
  
• Example "After 1 minute, I stirred in the baking
  soda and timed the reaction to be 45 seconds."

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Results

• The results is usually in the form of a statement
  that explains or interprets the data.
  
• You do not go into any detail or explanations
  here. You simply say in words what your data is
  telling you.
  
• Example "Test Plant 3 showed little difference
  in growth rate as compared to the Control Plant."

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Conclusion

• The conclusion is a summary of the research and
  the results of the experiment.
  
• This is where you answer your research question.
  
  
• You make a statement of whether your data
  supported your hypothesis or not.
  
• You may have data that supported part of your
  hypothesis and not another part.
  
• You may also have data that did not support your
  hypothesis at all.
  
• In this case, you may explain why the results
  were different.

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Resources

• One of the most important things for a student to
  do is recognize the people and resources used in
  developing and conducting the project.
  
• Name the people who offered knowledge or helped,
  and list the web sites, retail stores, magazines,
  books, computer programs, etc. that were used as
  sources of information or supplies.

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WHAT IF MY SCIENCE PROJECT DOESN'T WORK?

• No matter what happens, you will learn
  something.
  
• Science is not only about getting "the answer."
  Knowing that something didn't work, is actually
  knowing quite a lot.
  
• Experiments that don't turn out as planned are an
  important step in finding an answer.

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HELPFUL HINTS ON THE DISPLAY BOARD

• Color scheme
• TITLE and SUBTITLES
• Type and print the report pages that are going to
  be displayed on the display board
  
• Have a focal point

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Due Dates

• Projects are due Monday, January 31, 2005
• NO EXCEPTIONS!!
• No late projects!
• The Science Fair will be open for viewing
  Thursday February 3rd during Parent Teacher
  Conferences

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So get started!!!