Westerville City Middle School 2014 Science Fair
Information Packet
Middle school is an exciting time to study a topic of your choice through the science project!
You will have the opportunity to share what you have done at the Westerville City Middle
School Science Fair hosted at Walnut Springs Middle School.
What are the steps to science fair success?
1. Here is a link to a website that has information for the Science Fair.
http://www.westerville.k12.oh.us/olc/teacher.aspx?s=5047
2. Complete the proposal form for your science teacher by Nov. 24. See page 9 & 10 for
details.
3. Once you have chosen an experiment you need to complete the ISEF Wizard survey which
will tell you the forms you will need to complete in order to be eligible to move onto the
district Science Fair at Columbus State.
http://apps.societyforscience.org/isef/students/wizard/index.asp
These completed forms must be present in you project notebook
4. Write a background report. The background report is a collection of information about the
topic. From your research, you will be able to see what is already known in order to ask
your own questions. See page 5 for details.
5. Design an experiment. This is ‘hammering out’ the details of the proposal.
6. Conduct your experiment. This will last about 3 weeks.
7. Maintain a project notebook of your experiment. See page 6 for details.
8. Construct a project display board highlighting what you have done. See page 7 & 8 for
details.
9. Present your project to others.
Helpful hints are listed below:
1. Read through the entire packet. It will give you an idea of the expectations for a good
project, especially if this is your first science fair.
2. Pay attention to the checklist. It will help you stay on task.
3. If you do a project with living organisms, you may need to get approve from veterinarian.
The ISEF wizard will help determine if this is need. Contact Mr. Wegley if you have any
further questions.
4. Talk to your science teacher about your project. All of them are willing to work with you
and recognize your efforts.
5. If you need equipment, have a problem, question, or need any help, please contact your
science teacher first.
6. Give your teacher the two forms Project Proposal, as soon as possible, but no later than
November 25, 2013.
Best of luck,
Mr. Wegley
Mrs. Green
1
wegleyp@wcsoh.org
greenb@wcsoh.org
** This packet for the Westerville Middle School Science Fair is also available on Mr.
Wegley’s teacher website at the following link:
http://www.westerville.k12.oh.us/olc/class.aspx?id=5395&s=5047
Follow these steps if the link above does not work:
1. Go to the Walnut Springs page on the district website.
2. Click on “teacher web sites” at the left of the page.
3. Click on “Wegley, Peter.”
4. Click on “science fair” tab.
2
Checklist for Westerville City Middle School Science Fair Projects
November
5th
L
Information packets available online.
January
10th
L
Online registration should be completed by this date.
November
25th
L
Project Proposal due to your science teacher (pg. 11 & 12).
December
5th
L
Proposals returned. Rewrite if necessary; return to your science
teacher.
December
13th
L
Background Report is due to teacher. Experiments should be started
by this date.
January
17th
L
Experiments should be completed by this date. All data collected.
< nothing is due this day >
January
31st
Project notebooks completed by this date. Displays completed.
Practice presentation.
February
3rd – 7th
L
Report to teacher that your project is completed. Practice
presentation! 
February
8th
L
Westerville Middle School Science Fair at Walnut Springs from 8:30 12:00 pm.
March 15th
L
Central Ohio District Science Fair at Columbus State Community
College.
May 10th
L
State Science Day at OSU. Here is the link to the website:
http://www.ohiosci.org/
3
Possible Ideas for Science Fair Project
The choice of the topic is up to you. The point of this project is to choose a subject
which is interesting to you. If you enjoy what you are doing, you will be much more
successful. To help you make your choice, a list of possible resources are below:
-
Books in your school’s library or public library
Internet websites, such as
o www.sciencebuddies.org
Columbus State Community College Science Day website
o http://www.cscc.edu/docs/science/resources.htm
******************************************************************************************
“How to form a GOOD science project question”
Formula:
affect
change
How does/do ___________________________________________________ determine
(Action verb)
__________________________________ of _________________________________ ?
(What you are measuring)
(What you are experimenting
on/with)
Example:
How do different colors of light affect the growth of carnation plants?
******************************************************************************************
Your project:
How does/do ___________________________________________________
_______________
(Action verb)
__________________________________ of _________________________________ ?
(What you are measuring)
(What you are experimenting
on/with)
4
Background Report
Here is an example of an experimental question and how you would determine what
to research for the background report:
Does the type of music (wavelengths and amplitudes) affect the growth of a crystal?
You need to first begin by highlighting the nouns in your experimental question and
then researching those nouns, which are your topics. For this experimental
question I would be researching the music that I selected (for example: classical,
country, rap, etc.) and discussing the wavelengths and amplitudes of the sound
waves. I also would want to explain crystals, like how they are made, what
conditions they need to grow, etc.
Introduction paragraph
 Attention grabbing (hook) first sentence
 A good first sentence could be a quote or a fact
 NEVER have a question or “My project is about . . .” as your first sentence
 Introduce your topics (let people know what you are going to write about
Topic 1 paragraph
 Describe and summarize the first topic in your own words
 Copy and paste is not allowed unless you put quotation marks around the
quote and type the website name after the quote
 Example: “Widgets are used for mining coal deep underground”
(www.widgets.com).
 Changing the words of someone else’s sentence is also cheating, unless you
type the website or author name after the sentence or paragraph
Topic 2 paragraph
 Same as topic 1, but you write about topic 2
Conclusion Paragraph
 Summary of your entire paper
 Usually, you write a sentence or two about each topic
 Last sentence is called a wrap up sentence
**Your background report should be at least a half page in length, but no more than
2 pages because the judges will not have time to read it all otherwise.
**Make sure to use one inch margins and a normal font like Times New Roman or
Arial.
5
What should be in your Project Notebook?
All of these items in the following order:
□ Abstract (same one that is on your display board)
□ Final Copy of your Background Report (with title page and bibliography)
□ Journal (description of what you did while working on your experiment)
□ All data that you have collected
□ Proposal
What is an Abstract?
After finishing research and experimentation, you need to write an abstract. The
abstract needs to be a maximum of 250 words on one page. An abstract should
include the a) purpose of the experiment, b) procedures used, c) data, and
conclusions. It also may include any possible research applications. Only minimal
reference to previous work may be included. The abstract must focus on work done
in the current year and should not include a) acknowledgments, or b) work or
procedures done by the mentor.
Elements of a Successful Project
1) Project Data Book:
A project data book is your most treasured piece of work. Accurate and detailed
notes make a logical and winning project. Good notes show consistency and
thoroughness to the judges and will help you when writing your research paper.
Data tables are also helpful. They may be a little ‘messy’ but be sure the
quantitative data recorded is accurate and that units are included in the data
tables. Make sure you date each entry.
2) Research Paper:
A research paper should be prepared and available along with the project data book
and any necessary forms or relevant written materials. A research paper helps
organize data as well as thoughts. A good paper includes the following sections.
a) Title Page and Table of Contents: The title page and table of contents allows the
reader to follow the organization of the paper quickly.
6
b) Introduction: The introduction sets the scene for your report. The introduction
includes the purpose, your hypothesis, problem or engineering goals, an
explanation of what prompted your research, and what you hoped to achieve.
c) Materials and Methods: Describe in detail the methodology you used to collect
data, make observations, design apparatus, etc. Your research paper should be
detailed enough so that someone would be able to repeat the experiment from the
information in you paper. Include detailed photographs or drawings of self-designed
equipment. Only include this year’s work.
d) Results: The results include data and analysis. This should include statistics,
graphs, pages with your raw collected data, etc.e) Discussion: This is the essence of
your paper. Compare your results with theoretical values, published data,
commonly held beliefs, and/or expected results. Include a discussion of possible
errors. How did the data vary between repeated observations of similar events? How
were your results affected by uncontrolled events? What would you do differently if
you repeated this project? What other experiments should be conducted
f) Conclusions: Briefly summarize your results. State your findings in relationships
of one variable with the other. Support those statements with empirical data (one
average compared to the other average, for example). Be specific, do not generalize.
Never introduce anything in the conclusion that has not already been discussed.
Also mention practical applications.
g) You should always credit those who have assisted you, including individuals,
businesses and educational or research institutions. However, acknowledgments
listed on a project board are a violation of D & S Display rules and must be
removed.
h References/Bibliography: Your reference list should include any documentation
that is not your own (i.e. books, journal articles, websites, etc.). See an appropriate
reference in your discipline for format or refer to the Instructions to Authors of the
appropriate publication.
What should be on your Display Board?
Abstract: See abstract information for details.
Title: Something catchy, short and interesting that is relevant to your experiment.
Question: Your original, testable project question.
Hypothesis: The prediction that you made at the beginning of your experiment.
Materials: A list of everything that you used to complete your experiment.
Procedure: A step-by-step explanation of how you completed your project.
7
Independent Variable: The one thing that you changed on purpose in your
experiment
Dependent Variable: The thing in your experiment that was affected by your
independent variable.
Controlled Variables: The parts of your experiment that you kept the same for all
tests.
Extraneous Variables (Optional): The parts of your experiment that could not be
controlled.
Observations (Data): Any observations and measurements that you have made.
Tables, graphs and charts all add to your presentation.
Conclusions: The findings of your experiment, what you have learned and what you
will do next.
Physical Requirements of Display Boards
□ Must be no more than 36 inches (3 feet) wide, (about 4 feet spread out flat)
□ Must be no longer than 30 inches (2.5 feet) deep
□ Must not exceed a height of 7 feet above the floor
□ Must be self standing
□ No product names (ex: if using Pepsi, use cola #1 instead)
8
Creating a Display Board for the Science Fair
Catchy Title
Hypothesis
Materials
Procedure
How does/do
question?
Variables
and
Controls
Abstract
Results
Paragraph
Graphs/
Data Tables
Conclusion
Pictures
Organize your information like a newspaper so that your audience can quickly follow the
thread of your experiment by reading from top to bottom, then left to right. Include each
step of your science fair project: Abstract, question, hypothesis, variables, background
research, and so on.
Use a font size of at least 16 point for the text on your display board, so that it is easy to read
from a few feet away. It’s okay to use slightly smaller fonts for captions on pictures and
tables.
The title should be big and easily read from across the room. Choose one that accurately
describes your work but also grabs people’s attention.
A picture speaks a thousand words! Use photos or draw diagrams to present non-numerical
data, to propose models that explain your results, or just to show your experimental setup.
But, don’t put text on top of photographs or images. It can be very difficult to read.
Tips for Creating a Spectacular Display Board:





Select no more than three basic colors for your board.
Don’t use the color yellow for the words on the board.
Avoid multi-colored sentences or words. One color per word, one color per sentence.
Use a computer where possible, (i.e., Word for typing and Excel for graphs).
Use a ruler when needed.
9
10
PROPOSAL
This is due to your Science Teacher by November 25, 2013.
Project Title:
I. Question (What I want to find out.)
II. Hypothesis (What I think the answer will be to my question.)
__________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________
III. Materials (Detailed list of everything you will use to complete this experiment.)
__________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________
IV. Independent Variable (The one thing I am changing on purpose.)
V. Dependent Variable (What I measure to see if there is a change.)
__________________________________________________________________________________
VI. Control Variables (3-5 Constants: What is kept the same.)
11
VII. Procedure (How I will test my hypothesis.) This is written in a series of steps.
VERY SPECIFIC! Attach notebook paper if you need more room.
__________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________
VIII. Data Collection (How I will collect and present my data.)
This is the investigation I would like to do for my SCIENCE PROJECT.
Student's Signature
Date
The investigation outlined in this proposal meets the preliminary requirements for a
SCIENCE PROJECT.
Teacher's Signature
Date
I will support my child's efforts in doing this SCIENCE PROJECT.
Parent's Signature
Date
12