Science Project Timeline

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Science Project Timeline

• Allowing Adequate Time
• For
• Quality Results

2
Pacing Goals

• Know your district and teacher deadlines
• Complete majority of project before winter break
• Start in the summer if possible
• Allow time for mid-course corrections,
  modifications, and catastrophes
• Allow time for additional data collection
• Stay on course!

3
Laboratory Notebook

• Permanent place of record, evidence, credibility,
  authenticity, authority
• Includes
• Ideas and thinking
• Measurements, counts
• Sketches pictures (digital)
• Charts graphs
• Conversations

4
Lab Notebook

• Try to be neat with entries but used look it
  necessary for authenticity
• Dont erase
• Draw line through errors
• Number and date each page upon entry
• Plan for notebook to be displayed with project
• Be sure your display and answers during interview
  match data in notebook

5
Week 1

• Identify a Problem to Investigate

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Identifying a Problem

• Most difficult part of the project
• Brainstorm area(s) of high interest rank
• Generate questions about topic
• Push for problems that can be answered through
  measurement or counting
• Consider possibilities close to home
• Consider level of support at home, school,
  business and/or industry

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Example Problem

• I wonder if temperature affects the way a rubber
  ball bounces?

8
Example Problem

• I wonder if the algae growing in the culvert
  behind my house would make good fertilizer.
• Why?
• Heard about using mulch to put nutrients back
  into soil

9
Your turn

• Identify some areas of interest
• I wonder if

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Week 2

• Researching Your Topic

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Researching Your Topic

• Visit
• School, local, college, university libraries
• Resources
• Encyclopedias, textbooks, general science
  magazines, science journals and periodicals
• Internet searches
• Interviews (in person or by phone)
• Previous science projects
• Science experiences in school

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Your turn

• What sources do you have available?
• Where?
• Who?

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Week 3

• Introduction

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Draft Introduction Section

• Statement of problem
• Background/Literature review
• Summarize all you know that is connected to your
  problem.
• Hypothesis

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Example Hypothesis

• Plants decompose into nutrients for other plants.
  (mulching)
• Algae should do the same.
• H If algae releases nutrients during
  decomposition, then plants grown in soil mixed
  with algae will grow better than plants grown in
  soil without algae.

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Week 4 - Experimental Design

• Materials
• Take pictures!
• Procedure
• Manipulated or independent variable
• Resulting or dependent variable
• Go for large sample size why?
• Plan for 3 or more trials why?

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Collecting Data

• What type of data will be collected?
• counting
• measuring
• How will data be organized?
• Tables
• Graphs bar, line, pie

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Week 5 - Science Fair Forms

• Source
• Teacher
• http//www.dallassciencefair.org/
• Complete at a minimum
• Forms 1, 1A, Research Plan Attachment, 1B

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Week 6

• Start Your Experiment
• Or
• Let the fun begin!

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Weeks 7-12 - Experiment

• Be faithful to your data collecting
• Be faithful to your record keeping
• Dont worry about lab notebook getting dirty!
• Plan for trips, holidays
• Dont be afraid to learn from early mistakes and
  modify your experiment

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Week 13

• Using spreadsheet, organize your data
• Time of purely objective analysis
• What literally happened?
• State the obvious
• What trends are evident?
• State the obvious

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Week 14 - Wrapping It Up

• Results
• Conclusion
• References/Bibliography
• Abstract

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Week 15

• Prepare finished version of entire research paper
• Spell check!

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Week 16

• Complete a diagram of your project
• Strive for ease of viewing understanding
• Simple and well organized
• Should help you flow through interview
• Use graph paper
• Draw to scale
• Better to make mistakes in the virtual world

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One example of a display
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Week 17

• Putting your display together
• Rough or temporary version
• Look at it for awhile
• Which pictures, charts, graphs are best, most
  dramatic?

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Week 18

• Permanent or final display
• Practice fielding questions

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Now you are ready for the fair!