1. St. Mary’s Catholic School Science Fair 2017-2018
Student Kickoff

2. St. Mary’s Science Fair Resources you can call on Teacher (Mrs. Genth)
Science Fair Coordinators
Mr. & Mrs. Grossbauer : ( / )
Parents
Guidebook
Take some time to read through it now, refer to it later

3. St. Mary’s Science Fair
A Quick Review…

4. St. Mary’s Science Fair How do I start ? Choose a Topic
There are many different fields in science (GB pg 4-5). Pick something that interests you; it will make the project an enjoyable experience
You can get ideas from books, your teachers, or just by looking around you and wondering how something works
Use websites with “pre-canned” experiments as a last resort; the best projects tend to be those that were most creative, and designed by a student to test something that they were interested in

5. St. Mary’s Science Fair Follow the Scientific Method (GB pg 6-7)
The Scientific Method is a logical approach to performing an experiment
It starts with learning about the subject. Do some research on the subject. References are plentiful :
Books
Internet resources
Experts
Friends, neighbors, relatives

6. St. Mary’s Science Fair Spend time doing research
The more you know and understand the subject, the better you will be able to conduct the experiment, and then to be able to communicate it with others
Judges are looking for you to have understood your subject
A bibliography with 1 source is not sufficient research; MCSRC is looking for at least 5 sources
Use the SMS Science Fair website as your first reference!

7. St. Mary’s Science Fair Follow the Scientific Method Form a hypothesis
A hypothesis is what you believe will be the answer to the question your experiment is trying to answer
Examples :
I believe that the taller a cup of water, the longer it will take to freeze.
I believe that seeds will not germinate without light.

8. St. Mary’s Science Fair Follow the Scientific Method
Design the Experimental Procedure
This is the set of instructions you will follow to test your hypothesis
If you were testing the “freezing cups of water” hypothesis, you might design an experiment that has you fill different sized cups with water, put them all in the freezer, and time to see how long each takes to freeze
Remember, often times many factors can affect the outcome; change only one variable at a time
Does the location inside the freezer matter ?
Does the kind of cup (plastic, metal, paper) matter ?
Execute multiple trials!!
The procedure should be a recipe that someone else can follow

9. St. Mary’s Science Fair Follow the Scientific Method
Perform the Experiment
Follow your instructions
Repeat the experiment more than once
Keep a journal
A logbook of your experiment trials. Mark down dates, data, anything else you think is important.
Note that all measurements and data need to be in metric units
Change the procedure if something happens that you didn’t expect

10. St. Mary’s Science Fair Follow the Scientific Method Analyze the data
Look at the data you captured during your experiment
Draw a graph, compute an average, etc to help understand the data
Draw a conclusion
Is the answer to your hypothesis right or wrong ?
Is there something more you should have done, or some other hypothesis that can be tested ?

11. St. Mary’s Science Fair Research Plans
Each student must submit a typed research plan (GB pg 8) – a template is on the website
Describes the experiment, the hypothesis being made along with the description of the experimental procedure
Should include a bibliography of the resources used for researching the subject
Research plans must be approved by the teacher and science fair coordinator
You will receive a feedback form approving or rejecting your experiment, along with some suggestions (GB pg 10)

12. Example Research Plan All the important parts:
Hypothesis, Procedure, Analysis methods, Bibliography
This is what is due Oct 20th!

13. St. Mary’s Science Fair
As part of your project, we will ask you to complete and display an Abstract (GB pg7)
The abstract is done once your experiment is complete
A short report which gives the judges a quick overview of the project
It should be no more than 250 words – use the online form
It should include
The purpose
A brief description of the procedure
A review of the data and conclusions

14. Abstract needs to be in upper left; the rest is up to you
St. Mary’s Science Fair
Abstract needs to be in upper left; the rest is up to you
Display (GB pg-11)
For the day of the science fair, all the experiments will be put on display
Your display should show all the major parts of doing the project. Make it look good !

15. St. Mary’s Science Fair Display restrictions (GB pg-12)
Displays can be no wider than 36” and no taller than 48”
Do NOT place the school name on your display
Not allowed on/with your display :
Living things, including plants
Food
Chemicals including water
Glass or glass objects
Take pictures and display the pictures
Photographs of people other than yourself or your immediate family are not allow
Use Metric units for all measurements and data

17. St. Mary’s Science Fair Science Fair Day Involves displaying & judging
Judges will be non-SMS people taken from various walks of life
Judges will score each of your experiments using the rubric in the GB pg13
Part of the judging will be an oral presentation
The judges want to see if you understand your own work
The very first question most judges will ask is “So, tell me about your project”. Be sure you can tell them what you did and learned.

18. St. Mary’s Science Fair What areas do we need to focus on ? Research
Judges are looking for you to have understood your subject
Questions they’ll ask during oral judging
Looking for your bibliography, to see that you have researched your project using multiple sources; 5 resources are required
Journal / Logbook
Keep and display the original
It should be a record of everything you did; it’s ok if it includes mistakes made along the way. Many great things were discovered by mistake!

19. St. Mary’s Science Fair What areas should we focus on ? Data analysis
Don’t just list data, analyze and evaluate it
Use graphs as appropriate to show your results
It’s ok if your hypothesis is wrong. That doesn’t mean the experiment failed, in fact it succeeded in testing the hypothesis.
Display
First thing anyone sees when they approach your project
Make it eye-catching! Be creative

20. St. Mary’s Science Fair What does it mean to go to Montco Fair?
After our science fair is complete, we will be selecting a handful of projects to compete at the Montgomery County Science Research Competition (MCSRC)
The MCSRC works very similar to ours
Judges review the project
Judges perform an oral interview of the scientist
MCSRC is held March 7th – 9th
DVSF Fair is April 3rd – 5th

21. St. Mary’s Science Fair
Certain kinds of experiments require approval from the MCSRC Science Committee before you are allowed to start
Any experiment that involves animals or humans
This includes any experiment that involves surveys
We are asking that NO projects involve ingestion – eating or drinking of anything
Done for safety reasons

22. St. Mary’s Science Fair There are a forms to be filled out (GB pg-9)
When you submit your research plan, there are a couple of forms (simple!) for you to complete and submit
Your package will include a Research plan, Form 1A & 1B
Anything involving humans needs Form 4 too
Depending upon your particular project, there may be other forms required; we will contact you if needed
All forms are on the SMS Website
There are some instructions in the guidebook, if you
have any questions on the forms, just ask.

23. St. Mary’s Science Fair Calendar GB pg-3
Research plans due October 20, 2017
Projects Due January 10, 2018
SMS Science Fair January 11, 2018

24. DON’T WAIT UNTIL THE LAST WEEK TO WORK ON YOUR PROJECT!!
St. Mary’s Science Fair
Final Reminder Notes
Do research – many sources are available; you should have at least 5
Research plans need to be typed
Return the required forms, including parent signatures
No ingestion experiments please!
Keep a journal – record everything you do. Bring the original!
Change only one variable at a time
Do a sufficient number of trials
Units on your display must be in metric
It’s OK if your hypothesis was wrong
If you are growing plants…start now! And plant a lot of seeds!
DON’T WAIT UNTIL THE LAST WEEK TO WORK ON YOUR PROJECT!!

25. St. Mary’s Science Fair
QUESTIONS ?