Science Fair By Kimberly Albertson

Scientific Method

Choosing a Topic Base your project on a topic you are interested in. Have you ever come across something and wondered- WHY? Science Fair is your opportunity to investigate the answer. There are many categories choose from Plants, environment, electricity, communication, energy, light, heat, physics, chemistry, and more!

Keeping a Log Book A log book is a detailed account of every phase of your project, from the initial brainstorming to the final research report. Number each page of your log book Always date every entry. Entries should be brief and concise.

Thinking about your Topic Brainstorm ideas and key words Create questions you have about the topic Research your topic. Use books, magazines, internet, etc

Decide on a Key Question What is it that you want to find out? What are you going to investigate? Write your question as an aim. ex. My aim is to find out…

Hypothesis Your hypothesis is like a prediction. What do you think the answer might be to your question? What is the most likely outcome of your experiment? What do you think will happen? Record you hypotheses before you start the experiment. Remember your hypothesis is a prediction so it may not be correct at the end of your investigation.

Designing your Experiment This is your method for answering your question and testing your hypothesis. To make a test fair you need to think about variables. What are you actually measuring? What will you need to keep the same to conduct a fair test? What will you change? Your method is what you are going to do, the procedures. Remember to include the materials and equipment needed to conduct the experiment.

Recording your Results Your results are your observations and/or measurements. In order to record your results you need to ask yourself, what am I measuring? How will you record your results so that your data is organized and easy understand? (table, diagram, or graph) Remember to include the conditions. What was the weather or temperature?

Analyzing your Results What do your results tell you? What patterns or trends did you find in your data? You need to explain your data. Make sure you have enough data to support your conclusion and the data is organized.

Conclusion What did you find out? Stand back and think about what you have achieved. Have you solved the question you originally thought of? How do your results compare with your hypothesis? Were they different?

Helpful Hints Start early- Don’t leave it until the last minute. This is part of your grade! Judges are looking for originality and creative ideas. Make sure your investigation is a fair test. Avoid investigations involving animals, fire, flammable liquids and gas, etc. Your display needs to be eye catching. Data needs to be displaying in a way that leads the eye from one stage to another. Keep a detailed and thorough log book. Make sure that your display board is not cluttered. Repeat your experiment more than once. Answer your question Find out as much as possible about your topic. Keep all of your information and data together in your data notebook.

Teacher resources Another helpful power point with pictures of presentation boards http://www.slideshare.net/duffieldc/10-sciencefair-presentation