2018 FIS Science Fair
Planning Guide
Just follow these easy steps and you can create a wonderful science fair entry!!
VERY IMPORTANT: Before you get started, find an adult to help you. They come in very handy, especially if you are nice to them and tell them you won’t blow up anything....
My adult’s name is ______
From this point forward you are now… A SCIENTIST!!
(This planning guide is adapted from an original by Lora Holt.)
Table of Contents
Types of Science Projects:
Models, Displays, or Experiments...... Page 2
1)Choose a category that interests you...... Page 3
2) Come up with a good QUESTION...... Page 4
3) Do RESEARCH...... Page 5
4) Form andwrite yourHYPOTHESIS ...... Page 6
5) Perform your EXPERIMENT in 7 steps...... Pages 7-8
6)How to collect and organize DATA…………………………...... Page 9
7) ***Science Fair Project Organizer***
Stay organized by writingall your Project notes on these pages
...... Pages10-12
8) Display Board Information...... Pages 13-14
9) Day of the Science Fair...... Page 15
Page 1
Types of Science Projects
There are two types of science projects: Models and Experiments.
A Model or Display:
These projects show how something works in the
real world, but don’t really test anything.
Examples of display or collection projects can be:
“The Solar System”, “Types of Dinosaurs”,
“Types of Rocks”, or “My Gum Collection.”
Examples of models might be: “The Solar System”,
“How an Electric Motor Works”, or “Tornado in a Bottle.”
An Experiment:
An experiment tests or investigates an idea or question.
Examples of experiments can be: “The Effects of Detergent on
the Growth of Plants”, “Which Paper Towel is more Absorbent?”
or “What Structure can Withstand the Most Amount of Weight?”
You can tell you have an experiment if you are testing something
several times and changing a variable to see what will happen. We’ll talk about variables later....
So What Type of Project Should You Do?
Even though you can learn a lot from building a model or display, we want you to do an Experiment for the Science Fair.Why? Well, they are fun, they are interesting, and you get to applysteps of the SCIENTIFIC METHOD to answer a question!
How do I Begin?
To begin, all you need to do is follow the steps presented in this Science Fair packet! Keep track of your information on the Project Organizer found on pages 12 and 13 of this packet.
Page 2
1) Choose a Category that Interests You...
All great science projects start with great questions, but before you ask a great question you need to pick a subject or topic that you like. There are three different areas of science to choose from. They are:
Life Science:This category deals with all animal, plant and human body questions. Remember that it is against Science Fair Rules to hurt an animal during an experiment. If you are dealing with animals, please let an adult assist you. It is okay to experiment on plants, as long as they don’t belong to someone else. (Note: you may NOT bring or display live animals at the Fair!)
Life science also includes studying behaviors, so it’s a perfect category to try taste tests, opinion surveys, animal behavior training (or even training behavior in humans...like baby brothers or sisters...)
Physical Science:If you like trying to figure out how things work, then this is the category for you! It includes topics about matter and structure, as well as electricity, magnetism, sound, light or anything else where you may ask, “How does this work? What if I do something to it? Will it still work?” But remember, you always need to ask an adult first (and always make sure there is one of those adults with you when you try it.)
Physical Science also includes the composition of matter and how it reacts to other substances. These are the science experiments that may have bubbling and oozing going on, like figuring out what is an acid and what is a base. It is a perfect category to try to mix things together to see what will happen. Again, you need to recruit an adult to help you out.
Earth & Space Sciences:This category covers all sorts of topics that deal with the Earth or objects in space. This includes weather, geology (everything that makes up the Earth, like rocks, fossils, volcanoes, etc.), and any natural bodies in space, including the stars, planets, meteors and our sun. Unfortunately this topic is also where most kids mess up and do a collection or model project instead of an “Experiment,” so be careful!!!
Now It’s Your Turn:
Write down your favorite Science Fair Category and what you want to learn more about:
My favorite Category is ______
(Life Science, Physical Science, or Earth and Space Science)
I want to do an experiment to investigate ______
______
______
______Page 3
2) Come up with a Good Question...
Now that you have picked out a topic that you are interested in, it’s time to write a question or identify a problem within that topic. Here are some examples of types of questions to investigate.
The “Effect” Question:
What is the effect of ______on ______?
Examples:eye color pupil dilation
brands of soda a piece of meat
temperature the size of a balloon
The “How Does___ Affect ___?” Question:
How does the ______affect ______?
Examples:color of light the growth of plants
humidity the growth of fungi
color of a materialits absorption of heat
The “Which/What and Verb” Question
Which/What ______(verb) ______?
Examples:paper towel ismost absorbent
foods domeal worms prefer
detergentmakesthe most bubbles
Now It’s Your Turn:Create your Science Fair question using either the “Effect Question”, the “How does Affect Question” or the “Which/What and Verb Question”:
______
______
______
Page 4
3) Do Research…
So you’ve picked your category, chosen a topic, and written a question. Now it is time to research your topic.
How do you research your topic?
YOU READ!!!!
READ about your topic. READ resources from the library. READ articles from the Internet. Find any information about your topic that you can use to plan your experiment. Take note of any new science words you learn and use them. It makes you sound more like a scientist! Keep a listhere of all the books and articles you read. You’ll need that list for later.
Books I found on my topic are:
Title: Author: ______
Internet sites that I found on my topic are:______
People I talked to about my topic are:______
Page 5
4) Form and Write Your Hypothesis…
Now it is time to PREDICT what you think will happen when you test your question. This type of SMART GUESS or PREDICTION is what scientists call aHYPOTHESIS. A hypothesis is put in the form of an “If…then…” statement.
How do you create your hypothesis? Well, just answer this very simple question:
“What do I think will happen when I perform my experiment?”
For example, if you are investigating the affect of water on plant growth, then your hypothesis might be:
“IF I give the plant more water, THENit will grow taller faster.”
Now It’s Your Turn:Write down your question and create a hypothesis based on what you have researched.
Your Question: (from page 5)______
______
______
My Hypothesis:I think that IF ______
______
THEN ______
______
Page 6
5) Design & Perform an Experiment!
Now we’ve come to the best part... the EXPERIMENT!
***Use the Project Organizer on page 10 to record this information.***
**Since you won’t be doing your experiment at the science fair, you’ll have to
takeplenty of pictures as you go through these seven simple steps.**
1)Gather up your materials: What supplies do you need to perform your experiment? That adult you asked for helpcan help you gather supplies. Be sure to take pictures or draw illustrations of your materials. You will need these for your board display.
2)Write down your PROCEDURE. A procedure is thesequence of steps you take to perform an experiment. (See page 11)
Why do you need to write it down? You must write down all your steps so others will be able to understand exactly how the experiment was done.As a scientist, you want others to be able to recreate your experiment, and your notes will give them the directions. Remember to take pictures of the steps. Be sure your face is not visible in any photos of the experiment! All Science Fair entries will be judged anonymously, so your picture cannot be on your display!
3)Identify your variables. Variables are any factors that can change in an experiment. When you are planning your experiment, you should testonlyone variablein order to get accurate results. In other words, if you want to test the affect that water has on plant growth, then all the plants you test should have the same conditions, these arecontrolled variables: same type of dirt, same type of plant, same type of location, same amount of sunlight, etc. The only variable you would change from plant to plant would be the amount of water it received. This is called the independent variable. The independent variable is the factor you are testing.
4)Test, Test & Test! In order to be sure that your results are solid, your experiment should be repeated several times. We recommend conducting your experiment at least three times or more. Don’t forget to take pictures during and at the end of theexperiment.
Page 7
Conducting your Experiment! (continued…)
5)Collect DATA.This means write down or record the results of the experiment every timeit’s done. You also need to organize the data in a way that it is easy to understand. Most scientists use tables, graphs and other organizers to show their results. Organizing makes the results easy to read, and helps you recognize patterns that might be occurring. Create charts and graphs that clearly explain the results of your experiments.(See page 10 for more information on working with Data)
6)Write a Conclusion: Tell what happened. Was your hypothesis right or wrong or neither? Was your experiment completed successfully? Would you change anything about how the experiment was conducted? Do you have any new questions now that you’ve completed your experiment? And most of all, TELL WHAT YOU LEARNED FROM DOING THIS.
7)Understand its Application. Can this experiment be applied to a real-world situation? What makes it important? If there is a real-word application, that information can be shared on your display board.
Page 8
How To Collect & Organize Data…
Keep a Science Journal:A science journal is a type of science diary that you can keep if your experiment takes place over a period of a week or more. In your journal you can record daily notes and diagrams about your experiment’s changes in progress.
Plant / Amount of water per day / Size it grew in two weeks(Controlled variable) / (Independent variable) / (Responding variable)
Plant A / none / .5 cm
Plant B / 5 ml / 2 cm
Plant C / 10 ml / 5 cm
Have the right measurement tools:Make sure you have materials to take accurate measurements, like rulers, meter tapes, thermometers, graduated cylinders or measuring cups that measure volume. The recommended standard of measurement in science is metric so try to keep your measurements in units of meters, degrees Celsius, grams, and liters.
Tables, charts and diagramsare a great way a to keep track of your experiment data. A table is organized in columns and rows and ALWAYShas labels or headings telling what the columns and rows mean. You will probably need a row for every time you did the experiment (Remember you are testing at least 3 times or more.) and a column telling what the independent variable was (what you tested) and the responding variable (the result that happened because of the independent variable)
Be accurate and neat! When you are writing your tables and charts please make sure that you record your data in the correct column or row, that you write neatly, and most of all that you record your data as soon as you collect it SO YOU DON’T FORGET WHAT HAPPENED!!!! Sometimes an experiment might be hard to explain with just a table, so you may want to draw and label a diagram (or picture) to help explain what happened.
Use the right graph for your experiment. There are all types of graph designs, but
these are common to use for science fair experiments.
Pie Graphsare good to use if you are showing percentages of groups. Remember that your
percentages add up to exactly 100%. This type of graph is great if you are
doing surveys.
Bar Graphsare good to use for comparing amounts of things. Bar graphs show amounts in an easy to read form. The x-axis (or horizontal axis) is where you label what is
being measured, (like plant A, B, and C) and the y-axis (or vertical axis) is
labeled to show the unit being measured (in this case it would be centimeters
that the plant grew)
Line graphsare good to use if you are showing how changes occurred in your experiments
over time. In this particular case you would be using the x axis to show the
time increments (minutes, hours, days, weeks, months) and then you would use
the Y axis to show what you were measuring at that point in time.
Page 9
Science Fair Project Organizer:
My Hypothesis______
______
______
Materials (Take Pictures!)
List the Materials that you will need for your science experiment:
1) ______2) ______
3) ______4) ______
5) ______6) ______
7) ______8) ______
9) ______10) ______
Variables
List the variables that you will control and the independent variable that you will change:
My controlled variables(the ones that stay the same): ______
My independent variable(this is what changes; it is what you are questioning): ______
Page 10
Perform your Experiment: Remember to take pictures! (But don’t show your face in any of them!) List the steps of your experiment in sequence. You may have fewer or more steps than listed on this planner. If you need to, just use another sheet of paper to write them all.
1st....______
______
2nd______
3rd______
4th______
5th______
6th______
7th______
Page 11
8th______
9th______
10th______
______
Use a separate piece of paper to design a table or graph to display your information:
Conclusion: Tell what happened during the experiment and if you were able to prove your hypothesis. Did it work? Why did it work or why didn’t it work? What did the results tell you? Sometimes not being able to prove a hypothesis is important because you still learned something. What did you learn?
______
______
Page 12
8) Display Board Information…
Here are some examples of Science Fair Display Boards. Depending on your information and the amount of pictures, tables and graphs you have, you may have a different layout. Just make sure it is neat and well organized.
Page 13
Other Display Information:
Your final Science Fair submission will include your trifold display board(cardboard or foam display board, with an unfolded size of 36" high by 48" wide). Any materials that you would like to display must fit in the space inside the front of the board. (about 18” deep by 30” wide).
There is a potential risk for theft of valuable items included in your project display. Please
DO NOTleave any valuable item with your exhibit. If the item is necessary to understand the project, pictures should be provided on the backboard.
Please note: You will NOT have access to electrical outlets at the Science Fair.
All displays should include:
*Your beginning question
*Your hypothesis
*A list of materials
*The steps you took (your Procedure) for your experiment
*Pictures (pictures are not required, but add to the quality of your presentation)
*Graphs or charts (if applicable) to show information and results
*Conclusion—write a short paragraph to summarize your experiment.
*If you kept a Science Journal, that should be on display in front of your tri-fold board.
**DO NOT put your name anywhere on your display board or materials. All displays must remain anonymous. A display number will be assigned to you at the science fair check-in.
We want to ensure everyone’s safety at the Science Fair:
**You may NOT bring or display live animals, chemical reactions, flame, or unsealed bacteria of any kind.
**Any moving parts such as belts, gears or pulleys need to be either safe to touch or disabled for the Science Fair.
Page 14
The Day of the Fair!
You may begin checking in and setting up your display at 7 am, Friday, March 2nd. Bring your tri-fold display board and any items to display to the FIS cafeteria. You may bring one person to help set up your display.
Displays will remain up through the Family & Friends show that evening from 6:30 to 7:30.
“Best of Show” projects will stay at school for another week to be on display. Due to space considerations, all other projects will need to be taken home that night or the following day.
Page 15