My Science Fair Project
What does that mean
anyway?
2013
• A step by step
guide for the
Science Fair
project was
provided by your
teacher.
Let’s Review
What is my question?
• The best topic will be
about something that you
enjoy. Think about things
that you are interested in
and make a list of what
you know and what you
want to know about the
topic.
• Another way to come up
with a topic is to complete
the survey that is in the
packet provided by your
teacher. Go to
www.sciencebuddies.org
and click on topic selection
wizard
Once you have an idea about what you want your experiment
to be, then you need to phrase it as a question – a question
that you need to do an experiment to answer.
→
Every Project Must Have A Purpose
Once you have chosen a topic, try to explain the purpose of the
experimentation in one to three sentences.
→ Scientists use an experiment to search for cause and effect relationships in
nature.
→You can start this way: "The purpose of this project is __________." Your
purpose may include any hypotheses (scientific guesses) that you have as
to the outcome of your experimentation.
→Here is an example of one student's purpose:
The purpose of this project is to determine if earthworms affect
soil nutrients.
→In one sentence, the student has described what he is attempting to find
out experimentally and what his test subjects are going to be.
→A likely hypothesis would follow as "I predict that plants will grow taller in
soil containing earthworms than in soil without earthworms." It can also be
stated as "If a plant is placed in soil with earthworms, then it will grow better
than a plant in soil without earthworms."
Now I need a hypothesis
• A hypothesis is a prediction or educated guess about what will happen
in your experiment. Use your past experiences and what you already
know about your topic to help you make a hypothesis.
• A hypothesis can be stated as an “if - then” statement. “If I do this,
then I think this will happen.”
• Example: If I make a paper airplane from construction paper, then I
think it will fly farther than an airplane made from regular computer
paper.
• Before you write your hypothesis, you need to decide what you are
going to change and what you are going to measure in your
experiment.
• IF YOUR DATA DISPROVES YOUR HYPOTHESIS DO NOT
CHANGE YOUR HYPOTHESIS! Disproving your hypothesis can lead
to amazing new discoveries and can make your project even more
What are my variables? Bean Plant
Things that can vary and change.
• Test Variable
(Independent variable)
• Outcome Variable
(Dependent variable)
• Controlled Variables: When
h
e
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g
h
t
axis
D ependent Variable
R esponds (outcome)
Y axis
anipulated
Remember: DRY MIX
Ndependent (test)
conducting an experiment, all
other variables must be kept
the same throughout the
investigation; they should be
controlled. The variables that
are not changed are called
controlled variables.
Data
M IX
soil
My Materials List
• Make a detailed list of what you need to do
your experiment.
• Remember measuring tools and safety
equipment.
• Try to list out exact measurements of
materials if you know them (use metric
measurements).
• If you are using a specific brand name – name
it.
• Make sure you have enough material to do at
least 3 repetitions.
• If you think of something you will need as you
are doing your experiment, make sure you add
it to your materials list.
Experimental Procedure
Write a step by step procedure, list out exactly what
you are going to do.
You want your procedure to be so detailed that another
student could follow (replicate) your procedure and do
the experiment exactly the same way you did.
If you think of details as you are doing your experiment
or make changes in your procedure, be sure to write
those changes down in your procedure as well.
Make sure you are repeating your experiment at least 3
times.
Data Collection
• All experiments require data.
• During your experiment keep a log of the data you collect and
any observations you make.
• Before you start your experiment, make a data table where
you can collect your data.
• If something unexpected happens as you are collecting your
data – write it down!
• Take photographs as you are doing your experiment.
Remember to keep your face out of the photographs.
Results
• You have collected your data
now what do you do?
• Average your data.
• Use a graph to help explain
your data.
• Choose a type of graph that
will best show any patterns,
changes (or lack of changes)
in your data
– Circle Graph
– Bar Graph
– Line Graph (showing change over time-
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In. 0
Plant 1
Plant 2
Plant 3
soil
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t
In.
14
12
10
8
6
4
2
0
Plant 1
Plant 2
Plant 3
good for fifth grade students to use)
• Use photographs to illustrate
changes.
soil
The ABSTRACT
An abstract is an abbreviated version of your science fair project final
report. It is limited to a maximum of 250 words. The abstract should have
the following five pieces:
• Introduction. This is where you describe the purpose for doing your
science fair project or invention. Why should anyone care about the
work you did?
• Problem Statement. Identify the problem you solved or the hypothesis
you investigated.
• Procedures. What was your approach for investigating the problem?
Don't go into detail about materials unless they were critical to your
success. Do describe the most important variables if you have room.
• Results. What answer did you obtain? Be specific and use numbers to
describe your results. Do not use vague terms like "most" or "some."
• Conclusions. State what your science fair project or invention
contributes to the area you worked in. Did you meet your objectives?
For an engineering project state whether you met your design criteria.
SAMPLE OF The ABSTRACT
• Advertisers are always touting more powerful and longer
lasting batteries, but which batteries really do last longer, and
is battery life impacted by the speed of the current drain? This
project looks at which AA battery maintains its voltage for the
longest period of time in low, medium, and high current drain
devices. The batteries were tested in a CD player (low drain
device), a flashlight (medium drain device), and a camera flash
(high drain device) by measuring the battery voltage
(dependent variable) at different time intervals (independent
variable) for each of the battery types in each of the devices.
My hypothesis was that Energizer would last the longest in all
of the devices tested. The experimental results supported my
hypothesis by showing that the Energizer performs with
increasing superiority, the higher the current drain of the
device. The experiment also showed that the heavy-duty nonalkaline batteries do not maintain their voltage as long as
either alkaline battery at any level of current drain.
Basic Outline
any questions???