Science Fair Guidelines

Science Fair 2015 Major Topics for you to start your study (these are major ideas, not projects themselves) Speed Chemical Reactions Volume Buoyancy Friction Density Magnetism Astronomy pH Solar Power You will need to make sure that your project is your own individual creation, here are some really easy things to avoid in order to make sure your project fits the guidelines.

 You built something, great! You still have to test this in an experiment you create you are not making a model only.  You are not testing on yourself, or others, no people, ever, seriously no people!  No food.  Can’t be an observation, research or report (this is how you start your project)  You must have pictures or video of yourself doing the project, no evidence no grade  You need to have data; therefore you need to have a data table and graph (no grade otherwise)  All reports are due online through Prezi or google slides (worry about this after you find a project)  You will present your report to the class, be proud of it don’t be ashamed. How are you going to do this project? 1. Find a topic 2. Conduct research 3. Decide on what you are going to experiment (based on research), remember you are creating the experiment. 4. Create your Variables (Independent, Dependent and Control). This is crucial (what are you changing, measuring and keeping the same) 5. Create Hypothesis 6. Setup Experiment (Procedure Materials) 7. Conduct your Experiment (trial one) 8. Conduct the Experiment (trial two) 9. Conduct your Experiment (trial three) 10. Conduct the Experiment (trial four) 11. Conduct the Experiment (trial five) 12. Record Data for each Experiment 13. Draw Graph(s) 14. Come Up with Conclusion 15. Put on Prezi/Google Slides 16. Present to Class

Yep, it’s a lot of steps that is why you are given so much time, you are going to be hard pressed to do this correctly if you wait till the night before this is due.

RESOURCES All Science Fair Projects: Will be researched using the ProQuest Data base, you will need to do your research at school. Additional resources can be found on your own at home, but you will not have access to the ProQuest site, so plan accordingly.

Your resources need to show that you have conducted enough research to become knowledgeable about your topic, please remember that you will be responsible for presenting your project to the classroom. The presentation will not just be on what you did, but what you researched and what you learned, keep this in mind. The more solid your research is now, the more you will benefit from it in the future.

IMPORTANT DATES We will fill this in as we go so keep this with you at all times during the school day; you will need to turn in parts as the project as we go. This may frustrate you, but you will be a happy person when the project is due and most of your work is already complete.

___ October 29th Instructor approval of topic (Proposals need to be signed)

___ Variables Rough Draft (peer checked) What are your independent dependent and control variables?

___ Introduction Rough Draft Due

___ Sources due (five sources) What did you research to conduct this project?

___ Procedure Due

___ December 14th Science Fair project due and presentation to Class (No late projects- NO EXCEPTIONS)

Science Fair Guidelines 2015 Due: December 14th 2015 Worth: 105 points

_____Introduction (20 points) {2-3 paragraphs}  Explain what you are going to do and give some background information.  Show research and sources  Use the sources to make a coherent and rational discussion about what you are doing for your project. _____Question (2 points)  The question to your experiment (what you are trying to find out?) _____Hypothesis (5 points)  State your educated guess for what the Results will be in this form “If (briefly describe your experiment), then (results that you predict), because (why). _____Materials (3 points)  What did you use for your experiment? (Use bullet points to list the supplies) _____Procedure (10 points)  The steps (instruction) that you did for your experiment.  These should be incredibly detailed; you are going to do the experiment five times you want to make sure that you do it the same way each time.  The reason for the experiment is that so if I or someone else wanted to do repeat this experiment, we could follow your instructions and do the exact same thing you did. _____ Data/Results (35 points)  Organize the information (data) of your experiment into a data table (five trials), diagrams, and include a graph of your data. Graphs should be done on a computer using Excel (Label your graph: Title, X & Y Axis Titles (Units). You must graph your Averages only.  Look at the trends in your data and describe what you found out (no opinion) _____Conclusion (15 points) {2-3 paragraphs}  Write about what you learned or found out through your experiment (opinion)  Write if your hypothesis matched the end results  Write about how your researched is related to what you found in your experiment _____Further work (10 points)  After you have finished your experiment, what questions do you have? What could you have done differently to improve your project, or what additional research do you want to do now. Please do not state that you would have liked to have started the project sooner, please stay focused on the work that you did (do not start talking about another project).  Describe any sources of error in doing your experiment. _____Sources (5 points)  List all of the sources of information including books and websites.  Need at least 5

Students will be responsible for completing their project and submitting the results through an online presentation. The students can choose either Prezi or Google Slides. All students have a district generated Google email so they have access to all the programing. If you know today that you will not be able to complete the online work at home, please make other arrangements (school library, etc.)

Be aware of your limits! Many projects become a disaster because you thought you had to make a great invention, or find the answer to a complex chemical problem, you do not have too! Be aware that you have limited time and money and that you are in the 8th Grade. I am a reasonable person by I expect you to learn something from this project. I expect you to do work that is at or above grade level, no projects should be done that you already know the answer to, it defeats the purpose of the experiment.