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| Here are the steps: |
| 1. Decide if you are going to do an individual or team project. If you are going to do a team project you must complete this Science Fair Teamwork Agreement page and turn it in. |
| 2. Come up with a question that you can test. This will be a topic you are interested in. (For example - Are safe homemade cleansers as effective as commercial cleansers?) |
| 3. Validate your topic. Check to make sure, the topic is right for you. (Not too hard, not too expensive, is safe for you and others, etc.) |
| 4. Research your chosen topic to find out more about it. Take notes in a log book. (For example - Go to the library, encyclopedia, or Internet to learn more about safe homemade, and commercial cleansers.) |
| 5. Form a hypothesis about your question. Make a prediction about how what the answer is to your research question. (For example - If we compare commercial cleansers and homemade cleansers then commercial cleansers will be more effective.) Your hypothesis will not change later EVEN if you turn out to be wrong. That is OK, scientists can be wrong. Mr. Schiller was too - once - a long time ago. |
| 6. Design
an experiment that will test your hypothesis and answer your
question. You will create a set of step by step directions of exactly
what to do in order to test your question. In your experiment you will
need to identify the following: Independent variables - The part of your experiment you will change on purpose. Dependent variables - The part of your experiment you will measure or observe. Constants - The parts of the experiment you plan to keep the same, or will try to keep the same. Controls - This is usually a part of the experiment that receives no changes to compare with the other samples. (Sometimes you have this and sometimes you do not.) |
| 7. Perform your experiment and record your results in your log book. During your research and experiment you will need to take notes and record your observations in a log book. (each entry must be dated) You will turn this in at the end. This needs to be in a spiral notebook. |
| 8. Interpret your results. Draw some conclusions from your experiment. Was your hypothesis correct, or not? Are there places where your experiment may have gone wrong? |
| 9. Write a report that describes your findings. More details will follow on the report when this is needed. |
| 10. Create
a display board to present your findings. Your display board
will have the following elements: - Title of your project. - The problem (your testable question) - The procedure of your experiment. (What you did to test your question) - Your hypothesis (your prediction of how your question would be answered). - Results (what happened - this needs to include a graph of your data.) - Your conclusion. (Were you right, or was your hypothesis wrong?) |
| 11. Share
your experiment with the public (and the judges) on Science Fair
day. (Science Fair Day is - Friday, February 3, 2012) |