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www.homesciencetools.com 1.800.860.6272 Copyright © 2007 Home Science Tools Gateway to Discovery: A Science Fair Guide to Get You Started It starts with curiosity. Why does something act the way it does? What would happen if…? Such questions form the basis of scientific inquiry, and you probably ask them all the time! A science fair project provides the opportunity for you to act on your questions and discover answers. As you formulate a question, develop a hypothesis, design an experiment, and analyze the results, you’ll gain valuable critical thinking skills. As you design a presentation and interact with judges, you’ll grow in confidence and public speaking ability. In fact, science is just one of many subjects used in designing a science fair project—you also learn research, writing, grammar, planning and organizing, math, logic, and more. Science fairs are a wonderful way to get excited about learning, but they require a lot of hard work. If you want the benefits of participating in a science fair, but don’t know where to start, this guide is for you. It will provide a brief overview of the most important aspects of a science fair project and get you well on your way to having a display at your local fair. Though the information is most applicable for middle school students, it can be adapted for use with elementary students and can be a great resource for first-time high school participants. What’s In the Guide The Scientific Method....................................................................................................................................1 Choosing a Question.....................................................................................................................................2 Developing the Experiment...........................................................................................................................3 Analyzing Data & Forming a Conclusion ......................................................................................................4 Presenting your Project.................................................................................................................................4 Science Fair Project Ideas ............................................................................................................................6 Elementary School. ...................................................................................................................................6 Middle School............................................................................................................................................8 High School. ..............................................................................................................................................9 The Scientific Method The key to a good science fair project is the scientific method, an essential tool for scientific discovery and sound conclusions. The scientific method acts as a tour guide through the world of inductive reasoning: it helps you test a specific phenomenon and draw a general conclusion from the test. It will help you keep your project well organized, and also help you avoid “jumping to conclusions.” The method can be summarized in five simple steps: • Define the problem. Ask a question you can answer through experimentation. • Observe/Gather data. Collect information about the topic—learn as much as you can. Sometimes what you learn will cause you to rework your question. • Predict/Hypothesize. Based on the information you found in your research, predict an answer to your problem (make a hypothesis). Tell why you predict a certain outcome. • Experiment. Design an experiment to test your hypothesis. • Analyze data/Form conclusion. Evaluate the results of your tests to determine if your hypothesis was correct. If it wasn’t, explain why not. That’s the scientific method in the abstract. Now let’s apply it to an example situation: • Define the problem. I noticed something funny about my mom’s houseplants. She had two that were exactly the same, but when my sister put one of them inside her fort it started to look a lot worse than the one by the window. I wonder why? Maybe it was the sunlight: Does lack of sunlight affect plant growth? • Observe/Gather data. My science textbook says that plants use energy from the sun to make their food in a process called photosynthesis. Without any sunlight they couldn’t make any food, and would die. But what about a plant that got just three hours less sunlight per day? Would it suffer? My refined problem: Does a lack of sunlight for three hours during the day affect plant growth? © 2007 Home Science Tools Page 1 of 10 www.homesciencetools.com • Predict/Hypothesize. Since sunlight is necessary for a plant to live, I predict that even three hours less sunlight per day will have a negative effect on plant growth. • Experiment. I will test my hypothesis by covering some bean plants for three hours during the sunniest part of the day, then compare their health with plants that were left uncovered. There are many different factors that could affect plant growth (water, seeds, soil), but since I only want to test the effect of sunlight, I will control my variables carefully. Each bean seed will come from the same seed packet, and will be planted at the same depth in the same kind of soil. Each plant will receive exactly the same amount of water per day. Sometimes a factor beyond my control could affect the results, so to avoid basing my conclusions on a “fluke,” I will use several plants. Three will receive full sunlight (these are the control); three will receive partial sunlight, and I will average the results. • Analyze data/Form conclusion. Every day for three weeks I measure the height of each bean plant, the diameter of the stalk, and the breadth of the leaves. I also record the time of day the plants are covered and whether the day is sunny, partly cloudy, or cloudy. By looking at this data I can now determine if my hypothesis is correct and answer my original question. I can also suggest modifications to the experiment for further study (e.g., have three test subject groups: one that gets full sunlight, one that is covered for six hours, and one that is covered for three hours). Choosing a Question A science fair project can’t get much better than its original question. Though the temptation to get right to experimenting is strong, it is better to spend significant time developing your topic first. Starting with a solid foundation—an interesting, specific, and testable question—will make building your project much easier. Criteria. Try to focus on inquiry-type topics instead of demonstration-type topics. In other words, judges want to see students design an experiment to answer a question they have. They do not want to see a mere demonstration of a principle that is already common knowledge. Good questions will meet several criteria: They will be • Clear. This means having operational definitions. Many questions will start with the words “what is the best…”, but you need to define exactly what you mean by “best.” In our plant growth example we need to have an operational definition for the “negative effects” of lack of sunlight: I will operationally define “negative effects” as shorter stalks, smaller stalk diameters, and smaller leaves. • Safe. As with any science project, you must choose a topic you can safely investigate with the equipment you have. Be aware of the safety regulations at your science fair. • Quantifiable. You should be able to arrive at an answer to your question through experimentation. Your experiment needs to have components that can be changed (or be observed to change, e.g., temperature) and measured. You should also be able to adequately control your variables. • Interesting! You must be interested in your topic, or you will have a hard time finding motivation to work on it. Ask a question that you really want to answer, and you will enjoy the investigation process and put together a good presentation. Brainstorming. Finding a topic that meets all of these criteria is not always easy! The best place to start is with your interests. Do you like animals? Electricity? Astronomy? Have you seen things in your backyard or in your house that have caused you to wonder? Have you done a science experiment in school that you really liked? Maybe you could design a similar experiment to discover something new about the topic. You can also look for ideas in science magazines, science news websites, or guides like this one. Many books about science fairs will have lists of key words and categories that will help you start thinking in the right direction. Some books even have project ideas, but if you find one you like, try to “make it © 2007 Home Science Tools Page 2 of 10 www.homesciencetools.com your own” by looking at the topic from a different angle or testing for another variable. When something excites your interest, write it down. It is a good idea to start keeping a science fair ideas notebook several months in advance. Research. Once you have found a topic that interests you, begin your research. Younger students can look in books, magazines, and on the internet (you are more likely to get accurate information from university or government websites). Older students can gain access to a local university or college library to find scientific journals. It is also a good idea to write letters to government departments or people with expertise in the area you’re studying. (A personal interview is even better, if you have the opportunity.) They can often give you important information or at least point you in the right direction. You may also consider finding a mentor in the appropriate field who will advise you throughout your investigation. Some science fairs have mentor programs to match you up with a scientist who knows your topic. (You will have to submit an application for this program.) Wherever you get information, be sure to write down the uploads/Science et Technologie/ science-fair-guide.pdf