1. What to have in order to create a winning science fair project!

2. Why do I care about this?
If you are one of the lucky 18 selected to go to the County Science Fair you get to miss a day of School and visit USA’s campus to set up your experiment.
Cash prizes for County Winners
Experience for High School Science Fair

3. All science fair projects must follow the scientific method.
Ask a question
Develop a hypothesis
Test the hypothesis with an experiment
Analyze data from the experiment
Form a conclusion

4. What will be the hardest part?
The hardest part of the science project will be choosing a topic
Interests
Hobbies
Curiosity

5. Topics that are Not Allowed
Studies involving human test subjects
Studies involving invertebrate and vertebrate animals
Toxic substances
Alcohol
Tobacco
Illegal Drugs

6. Stay away from these, they are not Science Experiments
Volcanoes/ Earthquakes, Tornadoes
Product tests (Which popcorn pops the most popcorn?, Which toothpaste whitens the best?, Which batteries last longer?, What brand of cookie has the most chocolate chips?, Which diaper is the most absorbent?)
How does something work? (How does a battery work?)

7. Asking the Question
Once you have decided on a topic it is time to develop a question that will be answered in your science project.
Example: Which type of soft drinks will float in water?

8. Developing a Hypothesis
Change your question to an if/then statement.
Keep in mind any prior knowledge you have about your topic when developing your hypothesis
Example: If a can of diet soda is placed in water, then it will float.

9. Experiment The Experiment is testing your hypothesis.
It is like a recipe with specific directions.
It contains a series of steps to follow with precise times, amounts, and sizes of items you are using.

10. Sample Experiment Materials Needed:
2 different brand cans of non-diet soda; 2 different brand cans of diet soda; 3 gallons of water; 4 gallon container to hold 3 gallons of water
Experiment:
The 4 gallon container should be filled with 3 gallons of water. All 4 cans of soda should be placed into the 4 gallon container of water. Data should be collected and recorded.

11. Record and Analyze Data
While performing your
experiment you should
be recording any
measurements
or observations that
you make
Once the experiment is
finished you can use your
data to create graphs,
charts, or data tables
Type of Soda
Float
Sink
Coca Cola X
Diet Coke
Pepsi
Diet Pepsi

12. Making a Conclusion Your conclusion should:
Tell what happened in the experiment
Tell if your hypothesis was supported by the results
Answer questions that came up during the experiment
State any other information discovered during the experiment.

13. Sample Conclusion
In the experiment, the diet sodas were the sodas that floated. I thought that the diet sodas would have floated because they did not contain as much sugar as non-diet sodas. The diet sodas were less dense than the water which made them float.

14. Abstract The abstract needs to answer the following questions:
The abstract is a summary of your entire project.
It should include no more than 250 words.
The abstract needs to answer the following questions:
What did you investigate?
Why did you choose this topic?
What was your hypothesis?
How was your hypothesis supported by research?
How did you test your hypothesis?
What were your results?
Did your results agree with your hypothesis?

15. Display Board Board size must be 24 x 36 inches
Standard size from Wal-Mart

16. Items not allowed on display board:
Living organisms, including plants
Preserved animals
Human or animal food
Plant materials (living or dead)
Water
Lab/household chemicals
Controlled substances, including tobacco
Hazardous devices
Sharp items
Flames

17. designing your experiment
Go out and have fun
designing your experiment