Cat 1 Projects

Briefing for

Cat 1

30 Jan 2015

HCI Projects Day (12 categories)

Category 1

(Experimental

research)

Category 5

(Creative arts)

Category 9

(Mathematics)

Category 2

(Non-experimental

Research)

Category 6

(Language arts-English)

Category 10

(Infocomm studies)

Category 3

(Inventions)

Category 7

(Language arts-

Chinese)

Category 11

(Future trends)

Category 4 (Resource

Development)

Category 8

(Service learning)

Category 12

(STEM – In

collaboration with

industries)

What is Cat 1 project about?

Experimental research

Need to carry out experiments in the lab

Data collection needed, more than

literature search

The Scientific Method

Ask a question

Do background research

Construct hypotheses

Conduct experiments &

collect data

Analyse results & draw

conclusions

Hypothesis

is true

Hypothesis is

false/partially true

Think again

Report Results

Examples of non Cat 1 Projects

Causes of Tsunami

Coconut milk extractor

Layman guide to science experiments

Cures to cancer

The Green project – Resource, Educate

Examples of Cat 1 Projects

Utilization of starch for the production of

biodegradable plastic.

Synthesis and characterisation of

nanometric semiconductors

Effect of mint on growth of bacteria

Deriving biofuel from newspaper

How to get started?

Source for an idea which is

Creative (if possible)

Feasible

Has good application

Interesting

Sourcing for ideas

There are many websites on science fair project ideas. For example:

http://www.all-science-fair-projects.com/

http://www.juliantrubin.com/fairprojects.html

http://www.sciencebuddies.org/

Start early, sourcing for ideas take time. Discuss with mentor to check whether the idea is feasible.

Where to find ideas?

Search engines

- google

- Google scholar

- Pubmed

- Elsevier – browse journals by subject (only abstracts)

- Scirus (http://www.scirus.com)

- open access journal (http://www.doaj.org/)

HCI projects day websites

- Web report archives. Browse through to find out

what has been done. Project ideas can be obtained by

modifying existing ideas or extending them.

Where to find ideas?

Where to find ideas?

Science books/magazines/newspaper

Where to find ideas?

Feasibility of ideas

Rationale

- Is there a clear rationale?

- Does the project increase knowledge in the

field?

- Is there application/ interest value in your

project?

- Is there room for future expansion on the

project?

Feasibility of ideas

Originality

- Is your project simply a repetition of

others’ work? Did you make any

modification?

- Have you referred to for similar projects?

Feasibility of ideas

Approach & Methods• Can a workable outline of your methodology be

formulated?

• Can your hypotheses be tested using scientific methods?

• Is it possible to collect quantitative data?

• Is it possible to collect sufficient data within 3-6 months?

Doing Background Research

Identify gaps in knowledge.

Research on the history of similar

experiments or invention.

Research on the techniques and

equipment required to investigate your

topic.

Grading – Prelims

Focus on feasibility

Rationale/introduction

Clear objectives & hypothesis

Variables (controlled, independent and

dependent)

Materials, Apparatus and equipment

Methods

Grading - Prelims

Pass prelim I – 10 points

Prelim II – 5 points

Grading – Semi Finals

Everything listed in prelims

Detailed methods (include photos)

Results (organised in tables, graphs)

Interpretation of results

Grading – Finals

Everything listed in semi-finals

More in-depth discussion of results

Conclusion

Applications

Limitations

Future studies

Comment on the following ideas

Effect of different organic fertilizers on plant

growth

Soil garden project

Bacterial resistance to Dettol

Effect of colours on emotion

Biodegradable microspheres for use in

tissue engineering

Preparing for prelims

5 min presentation

Everyone present must present.

Be confident in presenting, do NOT read

from script all the time.

Feedback from judges on prelim

judging 2014

Some projects do not have background

at all.

Some did not acknowledge the work of

others.

Some do not include in-text citation in

the background.

Reference not in APA format.

What is in-text citation?

Example

Extracellular microbial lipase• Catalysts for interesterification of oils and fats (Macrae,

1983) for use in synthesis of biodiesel

• Lipases from Pseudomonas have potential in

biotechnology (Gilbert et al., 1991)

Microbial proteases • Hydrolysis of proteins

• One of the most important groups of industrial enzymes

(Wu, 2006)

What students put for

references

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Allotropy#Differences

_in_properties_of_an_element.27s_allotropes

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/t

humb/4/41/C60a.png/170px-C60a.png

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/t

humb/4/44/Carbon_nanotube_zigzag_povray_cr

opped.PNG/240px-

Carbon_nanotube_zigzag_povray_cropped.PN

G

Reference to be cited in APA format

Example: Journal article

Smith, A.B. & Jones, C.D. (2006). Earth-shattering

research from our laboratory. Journal of Research,

1, 1-10.

• Author(s) (surname first)

• Year of publication

• Title of paper

• Title of journal (italics)

• Volume of journal (italics)

• Pages

• Layout: hanging indent

Where to get help in citing

references in APA format?

• http://www.citationmachine.net/

• MS word 2007

Go to references, insert citation, choose APA for

style, key in relevant information. Both citation

and bibliography will be done for you.

Discussion

A group of students have come up with the

following idea for Projects Day:

“Investigating the antibacterial properties of fruit

peel extracts on E.coli”

What should the objectives, hypothesis and the

variables be?

Objectives

To investigate whether fruit peel extracts

from mango peel, banana peel and

orange peel have antibacterial properties

against E.coli.

Hypothesis

Fruit peel extracts have antibacterial

properties against E.coli.

Variables?

Controlled

Variables

Independent

Variables

Dependent

Variables

Mass of fruit peels Type of fruit peel Zone of inhibition

Volume of solvent

used in the

extraction

Volume of fruit peel

extract used in the

well diffusion test

Volume of E.coli

added to the agar

plate

What you keep

constant

What you

manuipulate

Responding

variable, what

you measure

Risk Assessment and Research Plan

Need to submit risk assessment and

research plan prior to the start of

experimentation.

Both available in projects day website/cat

1.

The END