A Student’s Guide to the HSS PJAS Presentation Template

The HSS PJAS Presentation Template was created for you to use for your PJAS presentation this year. The template was designed to guide students in completing their presentation. Sections have directions built within them. All formatting has been programmed so you will not have to worry about font size, centering, or spacing. After opening your template and making you initial changes, please save the updated template using the following title format: “Joe Schmoe PJAS 2012”. Students should replace “Joe Schmoe” with their first and last name. A description of which pages are due is found below. Please make a note of these dates in the student planner and your home calendar. Due dates that have a range of days can be handed in on any of those days. The due dates are as follows for the presentation:

October9PJAS Proposal & typed Data Tables

Complete pages 1-15 all and 16-32 even. The number of data tables needed to be completed will vary with each investigation

November 26Completed Data Tables (Before Thanksgiving Break)

Complete pages 16-32 even. All data information to be

typed into PJAS Presentation tables,printed off, and handed in (no hand written tables). YOU MUST AND IN YOUR CORRECTED PJAS PROPOSAL & TYPED DATA TABLES THAT MR. R CORRECTED WITH YOUR COMPLETED DATA TABLES. YOUR COMPLETED COMPLETED DATA TABLES WILL NOT BE ACEPTED WITHOUT IT!

December 19Completed PJAS Presentation (Before Christmas Break)

Pages 1-37 are to be completely done. Any revision that Mr. R or Mrs. J requested should be made. Graphs, analysis, possible errors, & conclusions are to be done. Completed presentation to be printed off and handed into Mr. R. YOU MUST AND IN YOUR CORRECTED PJAS PROPOSAL, TYPED DATA TABLES, & CORRECTED DATA TABLES THAT MR. R CORRECTED WITH YOUR COMPLETED PJAS PRESENTATION. YOUR COMPLETED PJAS PRESENTATION WILL NOT BE ACEPTED WITHOUT IT! Parents need to look over their child’s presentation so spelling, punctuation, and other English errors.

January 31 Email final version of presentation

Email your FINAL versionto All

revisions to your presentation must be completed. YOU MUST AND IN ALL CORRECTED PJAS PRESENTATION WORK THAT MR. R CORRECTED WHEN YOU EMAIL YOU FINAL VERSION. YOUR EMAILED FINAL VERSION WILL NOT BE ACEPTED WITHOUT IT!

The HSS PJAS Presentation Template was created in Microsoft Power Point. Microsoft Power Point is the preferred program to use for this template. If you have Microsoft power point please use it! If you do not have Microsoft Power Point at home you can download Open Office, a similar office program that is nearly 100% compatible with MS Power Point. That website is It is a big download, but its well worth it because it is free and nearly 100% compatible with MS Office programs. Since it is a big download, I would suggest you do it when no one at home needs the computer for a while. Please get your mom or dad to help you with this. If using a Mac, please save presentation as a PowerPoint presentation before emailing it to me.

Begin working on this template early so that you can ask questions in class if you need any help. You can begin after your big question is approved and revised.

The following page-by-page guidelines will help you use the template at home and should answer most of your questions.

Page 1: 1. Highlight & place your PJAS investigation title in the middle section.

  1. Highlight the first two lines& write in your name in.
  2. Leave the school where it is.
  3. Replace the “?”with your grade level.

Page 2:5. Leave “Investigation Question” at the top.

  1. Highlight & write your “Investigation Question” in the middle

section.

  1. Highlight bottom section and give a brief procedure summary. Do not give your full procedure, but include enough information for judges to understand your game plan. Explain the items you will be changing in your experiment, but do not call them “independent variables” in this section.

Page 3:8. Leave “Interest” at the top.

  1. Highlight and write your reason for choosing to do this

investigation. The more personal and real-life you make it the better!

Pages4:You will use the next page to create your researchoutline.

If you do not need all three pages, just delete the unused page by

right clicking on the page on the left hand side of the page and

choose “Delete slide”

  1. Leave “Research” at the top.

10½ Highlight & write your “Investigation Question” after Roman

Numeral I.

  1. Individually highlight each of you five areas of research after each Roman Numeral II – VI and replace with you areas of research. These areas of research are the categories that youseparated yournote cards into. Please have exactly 5 areas of research. Do NOT include you’re A, B, & C’s and 1, 2, & 3’s in this outline.

Pages 5-9:You will use the next five pages to create your visual slides. Diagrams, tables, pictures are required for your presentation and greatly increase the judge’s ability to understand you and the information you are presenting.

  1. Highlight & replace this sentence with the title of your first

picture/diagram/chart that relates to your areas of

researchTo insert a picture, cut and past the picture onto the

page.

  1. To insert an organizationalchart or SmartArt Graphics, click on

one of the icons and follow the directions on the screen.

  1. Be sure to delete andremaining dotted outline left over.
  2. Repeat steps 12-15 for additional diagram slides. If you are

just inserting a clip art or chart, be sure to delete the frame

that had the icons in the middle.

  1. To add another diagram slide, you need to right click on the last

diagram slide on the left side of the template and choose

“Duplicate slide”. A new window mayappear on the right side of

the screen. You should choose the slide that looks like the slide

you want to use.

  1. Be sure to leave a 1 inch border around every page. Do NOT make

the pictures, charts, or tables extend out to the edge of the

page.

Page 10:19. Leave “Hypothesis” at the top.

20. Highlight & write your hypothesis in the top of the middle area.

Be exact in what you think your results will be. If you are testing

more than two independent variables, predict their order.

21. Highlight & give your reasons why. Be sure to back this

hypothesis up with research and scientific thinking & reasoning.

Do not offer reasons that are opinions here. Give SCIENTIC

REASONING!

Page 11:22. Highlight the two sentences in the right and left box to add your

list of materials. Put half of the materials on one side and

half on the other side.

23. Type in your first material. Hit enter after each item to add the

next item. As you hitenter to add more lines; you may notice the

font automaticallychange size. Don’t worry; let the program do

its thing!

Page 12:You will use the next two pages to write your procedure. Do not place order words such as “first, second, next, then, …” at the beginning of each step. The procedure is already ordered by the numbered lines.

24. Highlight thefour sentences & write the 1ststep in the procedure.

25. Hit enter after each step to add the next step.

26. Place no more than 10-12 lines on the first page.

27. Repeat steps 24-26 on the second page if you need to. If you are

repeating steps, please give instructions to repeat certain steps

such as . . . “Repeat steps 4-9 two more time.”

28. If your procedure is longer than one page, add a second page by right clicking of the first page and selecting “Duplicate Slide”. In order to adjust your procedure numbering on the second page,

you need to click in front of the first word on the second procedure page and backspace. Type in the next correct number, followed by a period, and a double space. Then when you hit enter at the end of your first procedure step the correct next number will appear. You can also use the bullet icon on the top of the page.

Page 13:This slide offers you an alternative way to present your procedure during your presentation. You may choose to use this slide if you wish, but you MUST also complete the first procedure page with details. You may need to alter the flow chart to match you procedure. Feel free to spruce up this slide with pictures relating to your investigation.

Pages 14:You will use the next page to create a visual slide of your experimental set up. A picture of diagram of your set up will greatly increase the judge’s ability to understand how you did your experiment. This could either be a diagram of your experimental set up or pictures of you conducting your experiment. You may complete this page after you have conducted your experiment.

29. Leave “Experimental Set Up” at the top. To insert a picture, cut

and past the picture onto the page.

  1. To insert a picture, cut and past the picture onto the page.
  2. Be sure to delete and remaining dotted outline left over.
  3. To add another diagram slide, you need to right click on the last

diagram slide on the left side of the template and choose

“Duplicate slide”. A new window may appear on the right side of

the screen. You should choose the slide that looks like the slide

you want to use.

  1. Be sure to leave a 1 inch border around every page. Do NOT make

the pictures, charts, or tables extend out to the edge of the

page.

Page 13:34. Leave “Variables, Constants, & the Control” at the top.

  1. Leave “Independent Variable:” where it is.
  2. Highlight & replace the next three sentences with your independent variables. This is the part of the experiment that you are changing. It should look like this:

“Independent Variable: Type of laundry detergent: Tide, Cheer, Snuggle, Purex”.

Do NOT say, “My Independent Variable is …” Since the title is already listed at the beginning of each area, you do not need to repeat it. Continue this idea for each of the areas.

Do NOT include your control (such as no laundry detergent) in the Independent Variables.

  1. Leave “Dependent Variable:” where it is.
  2. Highlight & replace the next three sentences with your dependent variable. This is the part of the experiment that you are measuring. Be sure to indicate what METRIC units you will be using to measure. Metric units are required. English units such as inches, pounds, ounces are not permitted.
  3. Leave “Constants:” where it is.
  4. Highlight & replace the next three sentences with the constants. This is the part of your experiment that always stays the same. All factors of your experiment are “Constants” except for your independent variable and control.
  5. Leave “Control:” there.
  6. Highlight & replace the next three sentences with your control. This is one of the independent variables that you will compare the others to.
  7. Double check these direction to be sure you have completed them

Pages 16-32 (Even pages):The directions here will help you to complete the

tablesfound on the even pages from 16-32.

  1. Click and descriptively title your graph by combining the label of your vertical and horizontal axis into one title. Do not put something like “Green Graph”, “Graph One”, or “Average Graph”. The title should reflect what you measured in your experiment followed by unites in parenthesis like “Temperature of Various Types of Slushies (°C)”.
  2. Click on the table icon in the upper left part of the icon.
  3. Choose the number of columns and rows your table will need. You will need to count your horizontal rows and add 1 for the number of rows. And then count your vertical columns and add 1 for the number of columns. Look at your hand written table for guidance.
  4. Click OK.
  5. Write you variables in the first column starting with the second

row.

  1. Copy your hand written table into the table on your computer. If your table is too big, you will have to use more than one table.

Pages 17-33 (Odd pages): The directions here will help you to complete the

analysis section found at the bottom of pages 17-33.

Note about creating the graphs: The top part of each of these pages will be the graphs. You will create the graphs at Create A Graph. The website is school Detailed instruction as to how to use this site will be taught in class. However, taking time to explore and tinker with creating practice graphs is the best way to become familiar with using the site. Once a graph is created, you should click on the print/save tab and email the graph to you email address. You can then access your graphs through the link they email you. You must access each of your graphs every 30 days to keep them saved on the website. After Mr. R. has viewed all the graphs and approved them, you can save them to you computer.

Note about saving the graphs to your computer: Once graphs have been approved, you can save them to your PJAS folder from the print/save tab. Click download, the use the pull down tab to select JPG, then click download, then save, then browse to find your PJAS folder on your computer, then click save. Save every graph like this to your PJAS folder.

  1. The top part of each of these pages will be the graphs. Copy and paste or insert your saved graphs onto each odd page in the order that best for presenting you data. Adjust the size by clicking once on the graph and pulling the sides out to where they need to be.

Analysis of Data Graphs: This is one of the most challenging parts for many students. Be sure to read and follow the directions below to understand what the analysis is, what to include, and what not to write.

To analyze the data means to write in words how you interpret the data. Do NOT write which order your results came in (like Pepsi was first, Coke was second, ….). Here are some ways to analyze data:

  1. Give observations you recorded using your senses that was not in the data you collected: a smell, sound, change in physical appearance, taste, ….
  2. Explain results that were not expected or really off.
  3. Note if your data was consistent or inconsistent and why.
  4. Offer scientific explanations for data results.
  1. The bottom part of each page is the analysis section for that graph. Highlight the first line and write in your first analysis of that graph. Hit enter to add in more analysis. No more than 3 lines.
  2. Be sure to make the text box fit onto the page by pulling up the bottom part of the box until it is on the page. Leave a 1 in. border.

Page 32:52 ½ . Leave “Possible Errors” at the top.

  1. Highlight the first line and replace with any errors that may have

occurred in your experiment. Errors could be mistakes that you

made, but they are usually other factors. Errors in scientific

research are often events that could not have been anticipated or

controlled very well. This may have resulted in results that you

didn’t expect or were different than other results. Do not write

any “errors” that makes it look like you didn’t think things

through or were careless in your actions. An example of an error

could be that the wind might have caused your airplane to fly

sideways. Hit enter to add in more “Possible Errors”.

Page 33:YOU MUST FILL OUT BOTH CONCLUSIONS PAGES! – FILL IN

EACH BULLET ASK FOR ON BOTH PAGES! THIS IS REQUIRED.

51 ½. Leave “Conclusions” at the top.

  1. Highlight and restate you hypothesis on the first line. You should start this sentence with, “In my hypothesis, I thought ”. Then restate your hypothesis in the past tense.
  2. Click & write in your first conclusion or results that you discovered. Be sure to reference your research in these statements. Your conclusion should answer your Investigation Question.
  3. Hit enter to add in more conclusions.

Page 34: 51. Highlight the section that says ”(supported, not supported, or

inconclusive)” and replace with one of the 3 choices. Do not say

you were “Right or wrong”. Those are statements of morality not

science. Start this sentence with, “My hypothesis was ”.

  1. Highlight the second line and write in some “real life” applications

of your findings.

  1. Highlight and tell of any future research that you would like to do

that is related to your work.

Page 35:54. This is your thank you page. Nothing will be added to this page.

However, if you wish to change your “Thank You” to a different

font or make it look nicer.

1