The Scientific Method
Guideline for the Science Fair Project
1. Title: What is the name of your experiment?
2. Question/Purpose: What are you trying to find out?
3. Prediction/Hypothesis: What do you expect to happen? Give an explanation why
you expect what you predicted to happen?
4. Materials: What do you need to complete your experiment? List all items.
5. Procedures: What steps will you follow to complete your experiment?
6. Variables: What or how are you going to do to cause an effect on your
experiment? Independent-changed on purpose, dependent-measurements, controlled-stays the same.
7. Pictures: Need not more than 5 photographs of your experiment at different
stages.
8. Data collection/Results: What information did you gather throughout your
experiment?
9. Data Analysis: A written statement about the information that is on your table or
graph.
10.Conclusion: What is the relationship between your findings and
prediction/hypothesis? What would you change? Any problems? Trouble shooting.
Importance of experiment compare to a life situation. What experiments would you
do in future based on what you experienced in this experiment.
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Title:
Example: Science Fair Project
Bombs Away
Questions:
Which type of material will effect the drop time of a parachute?
Prediction/Hypothesis:
My prediction/(My hypothesis) is, the construction paper material will have a greater drop time because it
heavier and more flexible then the other papers.
Materials:
 Notebook paper
 Card board
 Construction
 Large paper clip
 Metric ruler
Procedures:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
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String
Hole puncher
Scissors
Stop watch
Cut each type material into 6 x 6 mm square.
Punch a hole on all four sides of your material.
Tie four pieces of string to your material on all sides.
Tie the end of the string to the large paper clip.
Place metric ruler up against a wall.
Drop your first parachute at the height of 32 cm
Do the same for the other parachutes following step 6.
Record your drop time on your data table for all parachutes.
Variables:
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Controlled Variable: The variable that stays the same is my starting height at 32 cm for all parachutes.
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Independent Variable: I used three types of material such as card board, construction paper and note
book paper.
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Dependent Variable: The measurements in seconds of the drop time recorded, using each parachute.
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Data Collection:
Time of Parachute dropped
Materials
Card board
Construction
Note book
Trial 1
12 sec
16 sec
8 sec
Trial 2
15 sec
15 sec
9 sec
Trial 3
12 sec
11 sec
7sec
Trial 4
12 sec
11 sec
7 sec
Trial 5
14 sec
10 sec
6 sec
Average
13 sec
12.6 sec
7.4 sec
The Effect of Drop time using Different Materials
y
Drop time
In
20
seconds
15
10
5
x
0 card board
construction
note book
Materials Used
Create a Printable Line Graph at:
www.nces.ed.gov
click “Kids Site”
Data Analysis:
During my experimenting with the parachutes drop time in seconds, my prediction was incorrect because the
notebook paper dropped the fastest rather than the construction paper. The average time was 7.4 sec using the
notebook paper, 12.6 sec using the construction paper and 13 sec using the card board. According to my graph
it shows an increase in the time that the note book paper dropped.
Conclusion:
In my experiment I found that notebook paper is light than construction and card board paper causing it to
drop faster than the other materials used.
If I was to do this experiment again I would use different materials, start at a higher height or even cut my
materials differently.
The only problem that came about was me stopping the stop watch on time. I then had my mom drop the
parachute while I paid close attention the stop watch.
My project is important because parachutes are used in air planes, the military and for enjoyment. I would
want to use a type of parachute that is safe and will take a long time to reach the ground.
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Project Worksheet Due Dates
Keep tract of this sheet
Answer the questions and follow these steps to complete your project.
What is the name (title) of your project: Due Date:_______
Ask a question. Due date:_______
What are you curious about, or what have you seen that interest you?
Write your prediction/hypothesis. Due date:______
What do you think is the answer to your question, and then explain your reasoning’s.
List your materials using bullets. Due date:______
List everything needed, you can always add to this list. Amounts, measurements etc.
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Procedures. What are the steps you are following for your experiment? Due
date:______
Number your steps; don’t say, first, second, third etc.
1.
2.
3.
List your variables. Due date:_______
Your variables are to be in a complete sentence.
IV:
DV:
Controlled:
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Draw your data table with the appropriate information. Due date_
Your table shows you’re the trials you tested the measurements with the average. Don’t forget your title.
Draw your line graph. Due date:______
Line graph shows your x and y axis, IV and the DV. Include the data plots. Don’t forget the title.
Written Analysis. Due date:______
Write out an explanation explaining what your line graph represents or tells you about the data you collected.
Conclusion. Due date:______
Sum up your finding in writing. Was your prediction/hypothesis correct? Explain why or why not. If you were faced
with problems, how did you troubleshoot? What would you do differently next time?
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Fill in this science board according to your information.
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The
No No’s In Your Science Fair Project !
 No Animal Testing
 No Tasting of Any Foods or Medication
Examples:
1. Which food tastes the best?
2. Which Medication works the best?
 No Survey’s With People’s Opinion
 No Alcohol or Drugs
 No Consumer Product Testing
Examples:
1. Which paper towel absorbs more water?
2. Which dish liquid cleans the best?
 No more than 3 colors
 Do Not tape experiment be baggies to your board.
 No research Projects
Examples:
1. How does Cancer harm the body?
2. What is the life span of Asians and Italian having AIDS?
*All projects must be hands on experiments noting the effect or change of the
variables!
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Science Fair Research Report
How to get started!
Your research paper will need a:
Beginning:
 An introductory
Middle:
 Three middle paragraphs- each one answers something different about
the topic and is related to the question.
End:
 A concluding paragraph.
(Beginning)
Create a question to answer in the research paper.
Example:
 I decide to do a science project on parachutes. I want to study the
effect of an object falling using different materials.
A good introduction to a research paper:
 Gets the reader interested by (1) using a question or (2) telling an
interesting fact.
Example:
(1)
“Why are some parachutes large? You could certainly see
it from miles away….”
(2) “The military use parachutes to drop their weapons in the
battle field”
(Middle)
Drafting the informational paragraphs:
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 Record information that’s not on your science board.
 Research your topic; Parachutes.
 For example, the question is: “Which type of material will effect the
drop time of a parachute?”
Research the types of materials you are using such as:
(1) Card board, construction and note book.
 What is it made out of?
 Why are the particles thick or thin?
 What is the materials weight?
Example:
(1) “The materials that I chose for my project to create a
parachute are card board, construction paper and note book
paper.
(2) “Card board is made out of…Its weight is….
(3) “Construction paper particles are……
(4) Lastly, note book paper is …….
(End)
Time to finalize your thoughts; this is the conclusion of the research paper.
 What did you learn that you didn’t know?
 How does this relate to a life situation?
Example: “In conclusion I learned that…….”In Life…..
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Research Paper Guidelines
Research Paper MUST be TYPED.
 Cover page
 Title
 Name
 mod
 date
 picture of your choice
 2 typed pages – beginning, middle and end

Bibliography page with 4 sources.
 2 Web site,
 1 encyclopedia
 1 book.
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12” font
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Double spaced
Times new roman Font
Use black ink only!
If you use colored ink or pictures, it should be on the cover page
ONLY!
See next page for examples
*Science back boards will be on sale at the school.
*Science Saturday date will be announced.
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How to do a Bibliography
Items in a bibliography are alphabetically ordered by author; and, if no author, then by title.
Looking at the examples below, the source authored by the Central Intelligence Agency would be listed
before the source titled "How to Measure Justice". The source titled "Vietnam" would be last in order
and the source by George Adams would come first.
WEBSITE:
Author of page, last name first, followed by a period. Title of page in quotes, followed by a period. Title of the entire
website, underlined, followed by a period. The full URL address of the page, beginning with http://, followed by the
date you visited the site in parentheses, followed by a period.
Grimes, Barbara F., ed. "South Africa." Ethnologue.
http://www.sil.org/ethnologue/countries/Sout.html (4 Feb 1999).
BOOK:
Author's name, last name first, followed by a period. Title underlined, followed by a period. Place of publication,
followed by a colon. Publishers name, followed by a comma. Copyright date, followed by a period.
Morgan, Terri. Photography Take your Best Shot. Minneapolis: Lerner, 1991.
ENCYCLOPEDIA ARTICLE:
Author's name, last name first, followed by a period. Title of the article in quotation marks, followed by a period.
Title of encyclopedia, underlined, followed by a period. Copyright date of edition, followed by a period.
Dickinson, Robert E. "The Norman Conquest." World Book Encyclopedia. 1990 ed.
(If there is no author, leave it out.)
"Vietnam." Compton's Encyclopedia. 1992 ed.
MAGAZINE ARTICLE (MONTHLY):
Author's name, last name first, followed by a period. Title of article, in quotation marks, followed by a period. Title
of magazine, underlined, followed by a period. Date of issue (month, then year), followed by a comma. Pages,
followed by a period.
Sterling, Jeffrey. "Apartheid in South Africa." The World & I. April 1986, pp. 27-35.
(If there is no author, leave it out.)
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MAGAZINE ARTICLE (WEEKLY):
Same as a monthly magazine article, except the date is done differently. See below.
Smith, Belinda. "Chaos in Television." Time. 7 Feb. 1990, pp. 34-35.
NEWSPAPER:
Author's name, last name first, followed by a period. Title of article, in quotation marks, followed by a period. Title
of newspaper, underlined, include city if necessary in parentheses, followed by a comma. Date (day, month, year)
followed by a comma. Page, followed by a period.
Adams, George. "Ford's Plan to Spur Republican Revival." Christian Science Monitor , 29 Nov. 1974, p.
20.
(If there is no author, leave it out.)
"How to Measure Justice." The Tennessean (Nashville), 19 Aug. 1979, p. 8.
INTERVIEW:
See example.
Personal interview with Robert Turrentine, President, Acme Boot Company, Clarksville, Tenn. , 11 Feb.
1987.
NEWSBANK:
Author's name, last name first, followed by a comma.
Title of article, in quotation marks, followed by a period. Title of newspaper or magazine underlined,
followed by the date, followed by a period. Name of the database followed by a period. Date retrieved
from database in parentheses.
Wood, Daniel B., "Largest Welfare to Work Program Called a Success." The Christian Science Monitor
20 April 1993. UMI Proquest Direct. (29 January 1999).
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English to Metric
1 cup = 236 ml
1 tsp = 5 ml
1 tbsp = 15 ml
1 lb = 454 g
1 oz = 28 g weight
1 fl oz = 30 ml
1 in = 2.5 cm
1 gallon = 3.8 L
Volume
For more conversions go to:
www.metric-conversions.org
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Check Your Project to Get a Perfect Grade
Students Name:________________________________________________________________________
Scoring Sheet/ Check List
Judge’s Signature: _____________________________________________
5-Excellent
Project Number
4-Good
3-Satisfactory 2-Fair
1-Poor
A. Overall appearance and Organization of the Backboard.
 All parts of the project are included, clearly labeled and in
sequential order (question, prediction, materials, procedure,
variables, data, analysis, conclusion.)
 Backboard is neat and attractive.
B. Question
 Question leads to an investigation not a report,
demonstration or a model.
 A creative approach to problem solving was used to
formulate the question.
C. Prediction
 Prediction must state a possible outcome of the
experiment with an explanation.
 Background information was done prior to prediction.
D. Materials
 Material and equipment are listed with amounts using
metric units.
E. Procedures
 All steps to conduct the experiment are describe and in
order.
F. Variables
 Independent, dependent and controlled variables are
identified.
G. Data Collection
 Adequate data was collected through repeated trials to
justify the conclusion on the data table.
 An appropriate graph is accurately constructed (scaled,
labels, titles) from the data on the data table.
H. Written Explanation
 Explanation analyzes and summarizes the data to note
patterns and trends.
 Explanation interprets the graph.
I. Conclusion
 Conclusion answers original questions being investigated.
 A statement reflecting whether the prediction was
supported or not is included.
 Supporting data are reference.
 Additional questions to investigate are presented.
J. Interview
 Students are able to understand the purpose of the
investigation.
 Able to relate finding to a real world situation
 Able to identify career connections
 Able to generate ideas for future research.
Total Score:
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Science Project Due Dates
Dates are subject to change annually
1. November 13th &14th
2. November 20th 21st
3. December 4th 5th
Question
Prediction/Hypothesis
and Materials
Research report Draft
Start ASAP!
____
____
____
EXTRA CREDIT FOR E-MAILING DRAFT TO YOUR SCIENCE TEACHER
1, 2 and 3 should all be turned in by December 9th to receive full credit!
December 20thd – January 4thd Winter Break
Start Experiment!
Work on procedures and collecting data on data table and line graph.
Take pictures on project in progress!
December 20th – January 4th Winter Break
Start Experiment!
Work on procedures and collecting data on data table and line graph.
Take pictures on project in progress!
4. December 16th & 17th
Final Research Paper
_______
5. January
5th & 6th
Procedures and Variables
Data Table and Line Graph
_______
_______
6. January
12th & 13th
Written Analysis
Conclusion
_______
_______
7. January
20th & 21st
Complete Project is Due
_______
Don’t Forget your 5 Pictures!
Type all information to be placed on your Backboard!
Dates are subject to change!
Parents Signature_____________________
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