Science Fair Projects

2nd Annual Science Symposium

Partner project Judged by science department with winners

in each class competing for prizes ALL projects will be presented to other

science students, parents, admin., etc… Top 10 will have the opportunity to compete

in the ISU Science Symposium

Choose a Topic

Pick a topic that: Will be interesting. You can write a 5 page research paper on. You will be able to complete in the required

time. Something that can be experimented on and

has a relevance to your field

Paper Specifications

Must be linked to symposium project in 2nd term Will be the background, or preliminary research, required

for you to fully understand your science symposium project 4-6 pages Times New Roman 12 pt. font, 1 inch margins Cited in the MLA style Minimum of 6 sources

Of those 6 sources, only 2 can be internet based More to come on citations and sourcing (brought to you by Mrs.

Flott!)

Important Paper Dates

Friday, August 30th – 5 potential topics due Wednesday, Sept.4th – Topics handed back,

proposals started Monday, Sept. 9th – Final proposal due Friday, Oct. 4th – Hard copy sources due, works

cited due, interlinear citation sheet due Friday, Oct. 11th – Peer Editing day (3 required) Friday, Oct. 18th – Final paper due

Your Board – for those who want to get started

The Board

Please get out Poster Presentation sheet Tri-fold poster board will be used to present data

at symposium Will be provided

Must be typed Typing specification in packet Must be self-standing

Note what must be on tri-fold

Proposal due Sept. 9th

Proposal sheet must have following parts up to the procedure completed: Title Hypothesis Variables Instead of abstract, you will do background questions

Answers you need to know before your project can be done to the best of your abilities

List of Materials – potential costs included Experimental Procedure

Parts of your Tri-fold

Title

Choose a title that reflects your topic and is not oversimplified Place your name and your partner’s name

underneath the main title Font specification on sheet

Abstract/Introduction

Complete overview of experiment Includes purpose, experiment, variables, &

results Summary form, less than 250 words Absolutely NO pronouns

Good Abstract/Bad Abstract

Please refer to the abstract page as we will be going over an example of a good abstract vs. a bad abstract Good why? Bad why?

Hypothesis

A hypothesis is not an educated guessUse your preliminary research to make a hypothesis

about how you think your experiment will turn out.

Easiest to use the “ If I __________ then I think _____”format

Example: If 100 ml of coffee is poured on four pea plants and 100 ml of water in another four pea plants, then the plants with coffee will grow taller as caffeine will stimulate the plants’ growth rate.

Experimental Procedure

Design your experiment Design your experiment so that they only test for one thing.

CONTROL

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 one

received coffee and the other water.

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.

Procedure

Write down step-by-step directions on how to do your experiment. Do not leave anything out. Keep sentences short and to the point, do not

waste room. Bullet variables at the end.

Example

1. Get 8 pea plants ( 100 cm tall).

2. Place 4 pea plants on each tray.

3. Label one set of plants “Caffeine”.

4. Label the second set “Water”.

5. Pour 100ml of coffee( with caffeine ) onto the soil of each plant twice a week.

6. Pour 100ml of water onto the soil of each plant twice a week.

7. Measure each plant with a metric ruler

8. Record data in record book.

Procedure

Data/Results

Meat of presentation Should take up the most room Should be visually stimulating

Display data using charts, tables, and graphs. Choose the correct graphs for your data.

Bar-comparison Pie-percentage Line-change/time

All measurements must be in metric

Results

At the bottom of the results section, write a few sentences how your experiment turned out. (Summarize your results)

Example: From reading my charts and graphs, Plant Group #1 grew an average of 40cm with 100ml of coffee. Plant Group #2 grew and average of 20cm with 100ml of water. The Plant Group that was given coffee grew 20cm more on the average than the Plant Group that was given water.

Conclusion

Refer back to hypothesis Be sure to use the term “The hypothesis was/was not

supported. Do not say it was right/wrong. Even when your hypothesis was not supported information

is gained about the topic. Use scientific reasoning for conclusion, no colloquialism.

Discuss any errors and how they could have contributed to manipulating data

Future Considerations

Tell what you would change if you could do the experiment again.

Tell how you might take your experiment to the next step.

Tell what other scientists may be doing with this in your particular field

Still no pronouns – if you need help, ask!

Bibliography

If you use a source, you must cite it. Let’s just clear this up, YOU WILL HAVE

SOURCES! MLA style Ezbib & Son of Citation Machine

Additional Info.

Copies of abstract sitting in front of poster Regular size font (12 pt, Times New Roman)

Research Report Everything restated in paragraph form Regular font

Rubric

Rubric for posters will be given at a later date 120 points Do not overlook an area

Questions

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