1. Guidelines For Producing Award Winning Projects
Science Fair Tips
Guidelines For Producing Award Winning Projects

2. Choose a topic that is original or uses an original approach.
Judges tend to overlook another “volcano” or “how plants grow” project.
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3. Choose a project that will provide experimental data that can be quantitatively measured.
That means that models and demonstrations are not recommended because they don’t provide data!
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4. Quantitative Data counts or measures to provide numerical data.
All measurements must be made using metric values:
Millimeters, centimeters, milliliters, liters, kilometers, etc.
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5. If the data is qualitative, create a numerical scale to go with it
If the data is qualitative, create a numerical scale to go with it. For example:
1 = slight change
3 = some change
5 = significant change
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6. Background Research
Use reliable resources such as Britannica Online, EBSCO, and reference books from the library. GISD provides free access to Britannica Online and EBSCO. See your school librarian for details.
Write a 2-3 page report on the topic you have chosen to ensure that you have adequate knowledge to accurately conduct and evaluate your experiment.
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7. Background Research
Write the report in your own words. DO NOT copy and paste information from the Internet!
Cite all references in a bibliography. Note: Encyclopedia Britannica Online provides full reference citations on every page!
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8. TITLE Try to make your title catchy and clever.
Make a list of title ideas in your notebook as you work on your project. Later you can decide which one is your favorite.
Your title should be in large letters to catch the judges’ attention.
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9. INTRODUCTION What “sparked” your interest in your idea?
Do some research on your topic—check out books from the library and look at reliable websites to learn more about your topic.
You should explain how you became interested in your question and what results you think you might discover from your experiment.
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10. INTRODUCTION
When my family takes our ice chest to the lake, the ice always seems to melt quickly and our soft drinks do not stay cold. I would like to investigate different shapes of ice cubes to discover which shape will last the longest in our ice chest.
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11. Experimental Design: Steps for Scientific Method
State the Problem in the form of a question.
Make sure the question is testable. (Something that can be observed or measured)
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12. PROBLEM
What shape of ice cube
melts the slowest?
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13. Experimental Design: Steps for Scientific Method
II. State your Hypothesis. A hypothesis is an educated guess about the answer to the problem based on observations. It should be stated as an “if…then…” statement that predicts the outcome of the test.
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14. HYPOTHESIS
If I freeze ice cubes that all have an area of 2 inches square, but one is in the shape of a cube, one is the shape of a rectangle, and one is the shape of a sphere, then the sphere shaped ones will melt the slowest.
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15. Experimental Design: Steps for Scientific Method
III. List all Materials used in the experiment. This should be a very specific and detailed list.
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16. Materials 1 plastic cube, 2 cm2 1 plastic rectangle, 2 cm2
1 plastic sphere, 2 cm2
Tap water to completely fill each container
Freezer
Stop watch/timer
Data table
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17. Experimental Design: Steps for Scientific Method
IV. List your Procedures in a step-by-step format. You must design an experiment that establishes and identifies a control. All conditions in the additional tests must be measurably identical to those in the control, except for the one independent variable that you are testing.
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18. Procedures 1. Completely fill the 2 cm2 cube with water.
2.Repeat step 1 using the rectangle.
3.Repeat step 1 using the sphere.
4.Place all three containers side by side in the freezer at a temperature of 0 degrees Celsius.
5.Close the freezer door.
6.Allow containers of water to freeze for 6 hours. Do not open the refrigerator door during this time.
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19. Procedures
7.Remove all three containers from the freezer at exactly the same time and set them side by side on the counter. Turn on the timer immediately.
8. Observe the containers every 5 minutes until the ice has completely melted in each. As it gets close to being completely melted, observe every minute. Record the time in minutes that it took to melt the ice.
9. Repeat this entire experiment 9 more times following the identical procedures from above.
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20. Experimental Design: Steps for Scientific Method
V. Record your Observations in a
Data Table. Make sure to label all units of measurement.
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21. Melting Time Data Table
Cube
Rectangle
Sphere
Trial 1
50 min.
43 min
53 min
Trial 2
51 min
48 min
56 min
Trial 3
47 min
42 min
Trial 4
50 min
45 min
49 min
Trial 5
55 min
Trial 6
46 min
41 min
57 min
Trial 7
Trial 8
52 min
Trial 9
Trial 10
54 min
Average
49.0 min
45.2 min
52.9 min
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22. Experimental Design: Steps for Scientific Method
VI. Present your Results in a Summarizing Statement and provide Graphs to illustrate your data.
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23. Results
Ice frozen in the shape of a sphere melted an average of 7.7 minutes slower than ice frozen in the shape of a rectangle and an average of 3.9 minutes slower than ice cubes.
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24. Experimental Design: Steps for Scientific Method
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25. Experimental Design: Steps for Scientific Method
VII. Provide a Conclusion to the experiment based on the results indicated. The conclusion should answer the question posed in the problem.
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26. Conclusion
The best shape of ice to buy for filling an ice chest would be spherical because it melts the slowest. This is probably due to less surface area being exposed, resulting in a slower melting rate.
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27. Future Research
Now that I know which shape of ice melts the slowest, I think that I should test the effects of using different shapes of ice on the water temperature in the ice chest to see which one will really keep my beverages cold the longest.
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28. Let’s look at some examples of Science Fair projects!
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29. This board has a messy look to it because the information has been cut out and colored around.
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30. This display looks very nice as the information has been typed and backed with colored paper.
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31. There is no creativity on this board
There is no creativity on this board. The content of the experiment wins the prize but presentation counts for a lot.
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32. This board has potential. Clever title, typed information, and a graph
This board has potential. Clever title, typed information, and a graph. A little more color would help.
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33. This is an example of a hand written board done well
This is an example of a hand written board done well. Notice the graphs and pictures.
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34. This board is very well done. The presentation is neat and colorful
This board is very well done. The presentation is neat and colorful. The graphs are visible and the board is a summary of the experiment.
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35. This is an excellent board
This is an excellent board. It’s presentation is colorful, they added photographs, and it is organized.
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