1. Chapter 5: Identifying Reasonable Science Fair Questions
“All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, 17 that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.”
2 Timothy 3:16-17

2. Introduction Your objective is to love what you are doing.
Finding a science fair question can be a daunting task…
Focus on your hobbies, it is much more fun!!
Find something you love to do and turn that into your science fair question.
Your objective is to love what you are doing.

3. Types of SF Questions: The Inquiring mind: EXAMPLE:
Inquire about something you are not certain about.
Inquiry in science means that you ask a question and discover the answer yourself by doing an experiment.
EXAMPLE:
You wonder why the sky is blue??
Ask a parent why the sky is blue and maybe they’ll explain that all the other colors from white light are absorbed back into space by the atmosphere. The blue color is reflected and so that is what we see.

4. Types of SF Questions: The Inventor: EXAMPLE:
Engineering based projects attempt to solve a problem!
-make lives easier
-improve products that already exist
-develop something entirely new to solve a problem
EXAMPLE:
Your younger brother or sister may have a hard time pouring milk without spilling it all over.
Perhaps you design, build, and test that device to see whether it really improves the ability of the child to pour milk without a mess.

5. Which type are you???? The Inquiring mind: The Inventor:
Do you have a burning desire to know how and why things work???
Are you constantly building things and can’t find a problem you don’t love to solve???
Write down which one you think you are!
Explain why you think that. (There is no right or wrong answer)

6. Your question MUST behave!
It must do the following things to be testable:
It must be observable.
It must be measurable using a number or some other scale that it easy to identify.
It must be repeatable.
You must be able to prove it true or false.

7. Vocabulary Terms!
Observable: the scientific question must have something about it that can be seen, heard, felt to happen or change so the scientist knows that the question can be answered.
Measurable: The scientific question being answered must have an outcome that can be detected by measuring it in some way.
Repeatable: You must be able to do the experiment over and over again and get the same results to be sure the answer is correct.
True or False: The question (and hypothesis) must be able to be answered with a yes it is correct or no it is wrong.
Vocabulary Term!
Inquiry based projects - the scientist is asking the question and designing an experiment to answer it

8. Are these questions observable? Measurable? Repeatable? True/False?
When did man first develop the ability to write?
What first led penguins to be able to live near the equator and in the Antarctic?
Will people finally come up with a solution to prevent air pollution?

9. What about these?
Do seeds germinate best in plain tap water or sugar water?
Does bread rise best at 70 degrees F, 85 degrees F, or 100 degrees F. 
Does a 70 year old man’s heart rate increase more with 20 minutes of swimming or biking?

10. Excellent SF Questions!
The last set of science fair questions are excellent because all of them can be:
- observed
- measured
done repeatedly
proven whether the researchers hypothesis was correct or not!

11. Tips! The very best projects are always unique!
They’re something no one has researched before.
Consider testing a question you cannot find the answer to
How do you know for certain the question has not been answered? To be honest, you can never be 100% sure.
Search the library and the internet thoroughly and if no answers are found, it is acceptable to assume the answer is unknown.

12. Pitfalls! - Don’t fall in the pit.
Avoid – answering questions that already have an easy answer. Example – Do plants need sunlight to grow?
Avoid – product comparisons. Example – which potato chip tastes best, Lays or Poore Brothers?
Avoid - questions that have been asked over and over at science fairs. Example – Can I cook with a solar oven.
Avoid – projects that are hard to measure. Example – Does talking to a mouse for one hour per day make him happier? How are you going to measure whether a mouse is happy or not?
Avoid – projects that are really subjective. That means that the answer to the question you are testing really depends on the subject and doesn’t really have a clear answer. Example – Does the color of onions have an effect on its taste?
Avoid – projects that require dangerous procedures, are too expensive, illegal, require hard to find equipment, and present a significant risk to the subject or the investigator. Example - Comparing which toilet bowl cleaner will make the best bomb.
Avoid – broad questions that may have multiple answers. They are usually impossible to design a good experiment for and it is hard to know when you have completely answered the question. Example - What causes air pollution?

13. Making your ideas work!
Do – choose a project that will be fun to work on for the next few months.
Do – read as much as you can about your topic.
Do – choose only 1 thing that you will change in your experiment
Do – give yourself plenty of time to do your experiment.
Do – make sure your experiment is safe, low cost, and you have all the equipment before you start.
Do – continue a project or expand an idea from a previous year if you are interested.

14. Making more ideas work!
Do - start your question with how, who, what, when, where, why, or which.
Do – choose a simple, straightforward idea.
Do – talk to adults to get ideas. Adults have many years of experience and can help you come up with really interesting questions.
Do - solve a unique question if possible.
Do – narrow your question to something that is easy to answer.
Do - write in 3rd person in you can.
Record any thoughts for project ideas you have!!!