Transcript Science Fair St. Theresa Catholic School March 13 th , 2014

Choosing a question is one of the hardest parts of creating a Science Fair Project.
Here are some guidelines:
 What topic interests you?
 What have you always wanted to know in that area?
 Choose a question that can be answered with a YES or a NO.
 Ask your parents for help when searching for ideas. What do you want to
know?
 Narrow down your field of research. It is important to focus on one question.
Rephrasing your question to expect a yes or no answer will help you see
whether you have done this.
Remember: the first requirement of a scientist is curiosity. If a world-class physicist
can spend hours figuring out the way curve balls work and the speed at which they
work best, don't assume any question you come up with is too lowly to investigate.
The Hypothesis:
What do you think may be the answer to your question? The hypothesis is the
possible answer you will try to prove or disprove.
Examples:
o Chocolate may cause pimples.
o Salt in soil may affect plant growth.
o Plant growth may be affected by the color of the light.
o Bacterial growth may be affected by temperature.
o Temperature may cause leaves to change color.
If you get this far and realize your question cannot be answered by the scientific
method, return to step 2 and figure out whether any part of your question involves
something which can be measured. If not, it is a question science can't answer. If yes,
rephrase your question accordingly and continue.
A hypothesis is an educated guess about how things work.
Most of the time a hypothesis is written like this:
"If _____[I do this] _____, then _____[this]_____ will happen."
(Fill in the blanks with the appropriate information from your own
experiment.)
Your hypothesis should be something that you can actually test, what's called a testable
hypothesis. In other words, you need to be able to measure both "what you do" and "what
will happen."
• If skin cancer is related to ultraviolet light , then people with a high exposure to uv
light will have a higher frequency of skin cancer."
• If leaf color change is related to temperature , then exposing plants to low
temperatures will result in changes in leaf color.
• If a person’s frequency of pimples is related to the amount of chocolate a person
consumes, then the frequency of pimples will be 25% higher when subjects
consume large amounts of chocolate (5 Hershey bars per day) than when subjects
consume little or no chocolate.
• If a plant is given proper sunlight, THEN it will grow taller than the other plants.
•Identify the keywords in the question for your science fair project. Brainstorm
additional keywords and concepts.
•Use a table with the "question words" (why, how, who, what, when, where)
to generate research questions from your keywords. For example:
 What is the difference between a series and parallel circuit?
 When does a plant grow the most, during the day or night?
 Where is the focal point of a lens?
 How does a java applet work?
 Why are moths attracted to light?
 Which cleaning products kill the most bacteria
Background research plan for the science fair project question: Does drinking milk
help decrease spiciness better than water or Pepsi?
Keywords —
 Milk
 Spiciness
 Pepsi
 Water
Research questions —
 Why do spicy foods taste hot?
 How does the tongue detect spiciness?
 How does one measure spiciness?
 What causes spiciness to increase (or decrease)?
 What are the properties and characteristics of spicy substances?
 Where in the body does spiciness occur?
 What is the composition of milk, Pepsi, and water?
 What are the properties and characteristics of milk, Pepsi, and water?
The procedure is written like a recipe from a cook book.
You must be PRECISE.
Experimental Procedure Example
1.
2.
3.
4.
Number each battery so you can tell them apart.
Measure each battery's voltage by using the voltmeter.
Put the same battery into one of the devices and turn it on.
Let the device run for thirty minutes before measuring its voltage again.
(Record the voltage in a table every time it is measured.)
5. Repeat #4 until the battery is at 0.9 volts or until the device stops.
6. Do steps 1–5 again, three trials for each brand of battery in each experimental
group.
7. For the camera flash push the flash button every 30 seconds and measure the
voltage every 5 minutes.
8. For the flashlights rotate each battery brand so each one has a turn in each
flashlight.
9. For the CD player repeat the same song at the same volume throughout the
tests.
Material List – list everything that you will need to conduct your experiment.
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
CD player & a CD (low drain device)
Three identical flashlights (medium drain device)
Camera flash (high drain device)
AA size Duracell and Energizer batteries
AA size of a "heavy-duty" (non-alkaline) battery (I used Panasonic)
Voltmeter & a AA battery holder
Kitchen timer
Conduct experiment/record experiment observations
 If you haven't already, obtain a notebook to record all of your observations during
your experiment.
 Before starting your experiment, prepare a data table so you can quickly write down
your measurements as you observe them.
 Follow your experimental procedure exactly. If you need to make changes in the
procedure (which often happens), write down the changes exactly as you made
them.
 Be consistent, careful, and accurate when you take your measurements. Numerical
measurements are best.
 Take pictures of your experiment for use on your display board.
Review your data. Try to look at the results of your experiment with a critical eye. Ask
yourself these questions:
Is it complete, or did you forget something?
Do you need to collect more data?
Did you make any mistakes?
Calculate an average for the different trials of your experiment, if appropriate.
Make sure to clearly label all tables and graphs. And, include the units of
measurement (volts, inches, grams, etc.).
Place your independent variable(cause) on the x-axis of your graph and the
dependent variable (effect) on the y-axis.
Your conclusions summarize how your results support or contradict your original
hypothesis: Summarize your science fair project results in a few sentences and use
this summary to support your conclusion. Include key facts from your background
research to help explain your results as needed.
State whether your results support or contradict your hypothesis. (Engineering &
programming projects should state whether they met their design criteria.)
If appropriate, state the relationship between the independent and dependent
variable.
Summarize and evaluate your experimental procedure, making comments about its
success and effectiveness.
Suggest changes in the experimental procedure (or design) and/or possibilities for
further study.
All you efforts will be displayed on a project poster
tri-fold board.
***See examples***
**Use handout for how display should be ordered.**
**Be Creative-but not flashy!!!!-Remember you are
displaying results required**Your board will not be
graded on your artwork!!!!