Student ScienceFair Information

What is a Science Fair?

A science fair is an opportunity for you to perform your own experiment, analyze your data and present it to friends, parents, guardians and the public. To help you plan your experiment, we have created this packet, complete with your very own Science Lab Notebook which can be found at the end of these instructions. If needed, you can ask an adult for help writing in the book. Your Lab Notebook is a place for you to keep track of your ideas, write notes about what worked and what didn’t, and draw diagrams as needed. You may show off your Lab Notebook at Science Night in February.

Don’t worry if you don’t fill in every section of your Log Book. It is intended to help you through the process, not scare you away from it.

Safety Rules for Science Experiments

The main goal of these rules is to keep you and those around you safe. We want you to keep experimenting for a long time to come!

  1. You must make sure a parent or guardian knows the details of your experiment before you start.
  2. You may not use any human or animal subjects in your experiment.
  3. You may not use any dangerous chemicals or open flames in your experiment.
  4. No living organisms except plants should be exhibited at the Science Fair. Pictures, photos or models can be used instead.

Designing and conducting a Great Experiment

A well-designed experiment has the following elements:

-A question to be tested or a problem to be solved

-A hypothesis or prediction about what you expect to happen (A good way to word your hypothesis is “if ______then______because_____”)

-Materials – supplies needed for investigation

-Two types of variables

  • independent – the variable that is changed
  • dependent – the variable that will be affected by the tests

-Clear procedures (or steps) that make up your experiment. You shouldtry to repeat your experiment at least 3 times in the same way.

-Collected data – what you observe when you perform the investigation

-Analysis of data – your thoughts about what you observed. Whatwere your results? What might your results mean?

-Conclusion – what you learn from the data that you collectwith questions to test the next time.

Student Science Fair

On Tuesday February 23, 2016, we will hold our Student Science Fair as part of Ridgecrest PTA’s Family Science Night. You will bring your project (or pictures of it if it’s too big or used living elements) to the Ridgecrest Gymnasium to present to other students, parents, and a group of adult scientists and engineers. This is a night to celebrate your hard work and amazing skills, so get excited!

Name: ______

Teacher: ______

Grade: ___

Question: What I want to know

Prediction/Hypothesis: What I think will happen (Remember if… then… because…)

Materials: What I need for my project

Variables: Independent (what I changed) and dependent (what was affected)

Steps/Procedure: What I did to complete my project - written in list form. Be sure to explain your materials and how you used them.

Data: What I observed when I performed my experiment – Data is often easiest to read in a table, chart or graph

Analysis of data: What I thought about my data and what it might mean

Conclusion: What I learned- was my hypothesis supported or not, what new questions do I have

At the Student Science Fair

On Science Night, you will stand with a display board that describes your experiment, results and conclusions. Your display should not take up more than 24 inches of table space. A sample display board is shown below. Remember, this is just an example. Yours can be different as long as it contains the necessary information. Display boards can be purchased at Fred Meyer, Staples, Office Depot, etc.

Procedure
(What you did)
(Pictures and drawings)
Credits
(List anyone who helped you) / Project Title
Student Name and Teacher
Question
(What problem you were trying to solve)
Hypothesis
(What did you think would happen)
Picture, Model or Your Actual Experiment can be placed in this section / Data
(What happened in testing)
(Charts, graphs and/or tables showing your data)
Conclusion
(What you learned)

In addition to your display board, you should bring your completed Science Experiment Log Book and your experiment. If your experiment is too large, bring a model or drawing of it instead.

Remember to keep the following in mind as you create your display - creativity and originality, neatness, and accuracy.

You will be asked about your invention by lots of people, so you may want to practice what you will say about where your idea came from, how you

executed your experiment, and if it worked. Have fun!

Resources to Get You Started

The Ridgecrest and Shoreline (KCLS) Libraries are great places to go for information about science fairs and ideas for experiments. In addition, the following websites might be helpful as you begin to think about your project.

Science Fair Project Resource Guide -

Steve Spangler Science –

Science Bob Science Fair Ideas -

Science Fair Project Ideas, Answers and Tools -

Dragonfly TV Science Fair Resources -

Zoom TV Activities -

This guide adapted from :