Science Fair Projects

1. Science Fair Projects Miller Fine Arts Magnet Middle School

2. Choose a Topic Pick a topic that: • Will be interesting. • You will be able to complete in the required time.

3. Title • Choose a title that reflects your topic and is in the form a question Example: How does caffeine affect the growth of a plant?

4. Purpose • Write 1 to 3 sentences describing what you want to find out in this project. Example: The purpose of this project is to find out if a pea plant will grow taller when given caffeine rather than water.

5. Develop 3 questions that you want to answer about your topic. Try to use various sources for your research. Suggested sources: Books Magazines Newspapers Internet Research should be designed to get background information about your topic, before you begin your experiment. Research

6. Hypothesis Make your guess • Use your research to make an educated guess about how you think your experiment will turn out. • Use the “ If I __________ then I think _____”format Example: If I pour 100ml of coffee on four pea plants and pour 100ml of tap water in another four pea plants and 100ml of carbonated water in another four pea plants, then I think the plants with coffee will grow taller because caffeine will stimulate the plants.

7. Procedure • Design your experiment • Design your experiment so that they only test for one thing for three trials. • Make sure that you do the same things to all groups of objects being tested. Example: If you are testing plants: • Use the same seeds. • Plant all of them with the same soil. • Put them all in the same amount of light for the same amount of time. • The only thing that should be different about the plants is that what the plant will receive to chart growth.

8. Procedure • To increase the validity of your experiment • Make sure to keep a control group. • Keep in mind sample size. • The more objects in your sample the more valid your experiment. • Use multiple trials. (At least three.)

9. Procedure • Write down step-by-step directions on how to do your experiment. • Do not leave anything out!

10. Procedure • Get 12 pea plants ( 100 cm tall). • Place 4 pea plants on each tray. • Label one set of plants “Caffeine”. • Label the second set “Tap water”. • Label the third set “Carbonated water” • Pour 100ml of coffee( with caffeine ) onto the soil of each plant twice a week. • Pour 100ml of tap water onto the soil of each plant twice a week. • Pour 100ml of carbonated water onto the soil of each plant twice a week. • Measure each plant with a metric ruler • Record data in record book.

11. Materials Make a complete list of everything you will use in your experiment. Tell how many and how much of each object used. Use metric measures only.

12. Do your experiment. Have fun !

13. Make Charts and Graphs • Display data using charts, tables, and graphs. • Choose the correct graphs for your data. • Bar-comparison • Pie-percentage • Line-change/time

14. Results • Using your data write a few sentences how your experiment turned out. Example: From reading my charts and graphs, I know that Plant Group #1 grew an average of 40cm with 100ml of coffee. Plant Group #2 grew an average of 20cm with 100ml of tap water. Plant Group #3 an average 25cm with 100 ml of carbonated water grew and average The Plant Group #1 grew 15cm more on the average than the Plant #2 and #3.

15. Conclusion • Write down why you think your experiment turned out the way it did, include if your hypothesis was supported or not. • Be sure to use the term “ My hypothesis was/was not supported. • Do not say I was right/wrong. • Even when your hypothesis was not supported you gain information about your topic. • Use scientific reasoning for conclusion.

16. Conclusion • Example: My hypothesis was supported. The plants that were watered with coffee ( caffeine ) grew taller than those that were given tap water or carbonated water. Therefore, caffeine has a positive effect on the growth of pea plants. This may be due the fact that caffeine is a stimulant. The caffeine could have stimulated the plant to grow.

17. Future Considerations • Tell what variable you would change if you could do the experiment again. • Tell how you might take your experiment to the next step.

18. Future Considerations • Example • If I could do this experiment again , the variable I would change would be the amount of caffeine I would place in each plant group. I would use 50ml for plant group #1, 100ml for plant group #2, and 150ml for plant group #3. I would also have three “control groups” of plants. One would get 50ml of water. One would get 100ml of water. And one would get 150ml of water. I want to see which amount of caffeine helps plants grow the tallest.

19. Make Your Board • Start your information on the top left panel of the board, move down the left panel, across the middle panel, and from the top down on the right panel. • Place pictures of your experiment on your board.

20. Make your Board

21. Helpful Resources Science Fair Web Pages • www.sciencebuddies.org • http://mjusdella.ss4.sharpschool.com/ • http://www.kidsciencechallenge.com/ • http://lavondaross.wixsite.com/mmssciencesuccess/helpful-hints http://www.winter.k12.wi.us/community/sciencefair/sciencefairideas.pdf

22. Bringing It Together Keys for success: • Make a time-line and stick to it. • Parental support • Organization