Science Fair

Science Fair

Why?

The Science Fair has many benefits:• Application of the Scientific Method• Research• Data Collection• Analysis• Graphing• Public Speaking• Artistic Display• Creativity• Critical Thinking

The Process• Topic• Research• Research Paper• Hypothesis / Bibliography• Materials• Procedure• Data• Analysis• Conclusion• Lab Report• Abstract• Display

What are We Going to Do?

Topic• Before starting any project you should get permission

from your parents and teacher. Your project should be something that interests you. If you pick a topic that interests you, you are most likely do a better job.

• You should collect five ideas. If your parents or teacher reject one of them, you have some more options to pick from. You may need to do a little research so that you can explain your project to your teacher and parents.

Pick a Winner

• The effects of heat on BatteriesREJECTED

• The effects of bleach on hairREJECTED

• How to make a volcanoREJECTED

• The effects of light on PlantsAPPROVED

APPROVED

APPROVED

• The effect of music on test scores

• Does the color of text effect reading comprehension

Look it up.Research

• Prior to making a good HYPOTHESIS, we must do some research. We need to gather information regarding our project and the factors that may affect our project. It’s a good idea to research the field of science that you are working with, your control group, your independent variable and your dependent variable. These four topics will help you make an informed Hypothesis.

• You can use many sources in order to gain knowledge. Sources may include: books, magazines, websites, pamphlets and even people. It is important to give your resources credit for helping you out. All resources should be listed

Who can you trust?

• Wikipedia

REJECTED

• Ask.comREJECTED

• My mom

REJECTED

• A TeacherAPPROVED

• A ProfessionalAPPROVED

• A Technical or Text BookAPPROVED

Write it Down

Research Paper• Our research Paper should be written like a 5

paragraph essay. It should contain an introduction, three body paragraphs and a conclusion. We need to let our readers know what we looked up and what we learned. This way they will understand why we are making our decisions. We will prove that we are informed decision makers.

Guess What.

Hypothesis• A Hypothesis is an educated guess. After

completing our Research and Research Paper, we have educated ourselves. We are now ready to make a Hypothesis. It is important that we give reasons and support for our statement. If we can, we need to let the readers know where the facts came from. A Hypothesis is a statement, not a question.

Let Me Tell You Something• Do plants with orange juice grow better?

• I think that plants with orange juice will grow better

• I believe that plants with orange juice will grow better because my mom said.

• If I water plants with orange juice then they will grow taller. I know this because I read in the book “Green Thumbs” that plants get vitamins and nutrients through the soil. The nutritionist at my school showed me all of the vitamins that are in orange juice.

RejectedRejected

Rejected

APPROVED

Who You Gonna Call on?

Bibliography• It is vital to our project that we tell the reader

where we got our information. This way we can support our decisions with resources. It can also allow the reader to do further research on their own.

Who Told You That?

• Jeff Lebowski, Author• Jeff Lebowski

• “Green Thumb”, by Jeff Lebowski, Pendant publishing, 2008

• Google.com• Wikipedia.com

• Plants.com

• Mrs. Georgia Peach, Home Depot Garden Manager • Mrs. Georgia Peach• My Mom

REJECTEDREJECTEDACCEPTABLEREJECTEDREJECTEDACCEPTABLEREJECTEDREJECTEDACCEPTABLE

What Do You Need

Materials• We need to list all that materials that are

needed in order to carry out our experiment. If our reader really likes our experiment, and they want to do it too, they will know what to get. It also will help us when we go out to get the materials if we have a list. This way we won’t have to go out twice to get things we forgot.

Stuff, Stuff and More Stuff

• Gather the items for the experiment

• You will need– Pencil– Paper– Two bean plants– 2 liters of Orange Juice– A sunny area– Ruler– Measuring Cup

TOO VAGUE

Be Specific

What Are You Doing

Procedure• We need to let our reader know exactly what

to do. We have been trained in the Science Lab but, we cannot assume that our readers know what we know. We have to give them a detailed description of what was done. This will also give them the ability to try our experiment out for them self.

Do This.

• Gather Items• Do experiment• Show results

• ObtainPencilPaperTwo bean plants2 liters of Orange JuiceA sunny areaRulerMeasuring Cup

• Label Plants• plant A• Plant B

• Water and Measure Daily for Two weeks • Give plant A 10 mL of water• Give plant B 10 mL of Orange

juice

REJECTED

APPROVED

Do You See What I See?

Data• All science fair projects require data collection. Data

collection must be accurate and neat. We must display our data in a manner that is easy for the reader. Charts and lists work well for the collection of data.

• Once data has been collected it should be put into a graph. Graphs are a great way to visually represent your data. Much information can be interpreted through a graph.

Looky Here

Water O.J.

1 10 10

2 10 10

3 10 11

4 11 11

5 11 12

6 11 12

7 12 13

8 12 13

9 12 14

10 13 14

11 13 15

12 13 15

13 14 16

14 14 17

Organize your data in a Chart

Make a Picture of your Data with a Graph

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 140

2

4

6

8

10

12

14

16

18

WaterO.J.

Guess What?

Analysis• The purpose of Analysis is to ask and answer

questions about your data. At this point, you have collected data, organized it in a chart and graphed it. Now we have to put our data in to words. We need to tell our readers about the data we have collected.

What Did I Say?

?• What was the greatest

value?• What was the lowest

value?• What was the

difference between lowest and highest?

Just the Facts

Conclusion• A conclusion has several responsibilities. It is

written in paragraph form and should:– Restate the Hypothesis,– State whether or not your hypothesis was correct– List at least two support sentences from your data– Conclude the paragraph with a new statement of

fact.

What Just Happened?

• In Conclusion, my HYPOTHESIS , Orange juice will make plants grow taller, was correct.

• The plant being fed orange juice grew taller. • The plant fed only water was 3 cm shorter

after 2 weeks.

WHAT ON EARTH DID YOU DO!!!

AbstractAn abstract is a brief explanation of what you are doing. It has no specific data or examples. It allows the reader to understand what the project is about without using technical language or information

I want to tell you something.• I wanted to find out:

• I read about:

• What I did:

• I found out

• Next time I will

Will orange juice make plants grow taller

Plants, vitamins and minerals

I fed one plant water and one orange juice

The plant with orange juice grew taller

Try tomato juice

Put it All Out There

Lab Report• Once we finish all of our experimenting and

documentation, we must fill out a Lab Report. This will put the information on one page in a neat orderly format.

Display Your Wares

• Your display should be neat and colorful. It should catch the eyes of passer-bys.

• It should make people want to stop and see what your project is all about.

• You should also make sure that it has all of the important information that you collected.

Show me what you got• The display should have at least:

– Title– Purpose– Hypothesis– Materials– Procedure– Data– Analysis– Conclusion

• For a little added pop, include;– Pictures– Equipment– Control / variable– Materials