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SCIENCE FAIR WARM-UP» Learning the Practice of Scientists «

Grades 8–12» Learning the Practice of Scientists «

Grades 8–12

John haysomCopyright © 2013 NSTA. All rights reserved. For more information, go to www.nsta.org/permissions.



Grades 8–12

Copyright © 2013 NSTA. All rights reserved. For more information, go to www.nsta.org/permissions.

Arlington, Virginia



Grades 8–12

Arlington, Virginia

John haysom


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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Haysom, John, 1938- Science fair warm-up. Grades 8-12 : learning the practice of scientists / by John Haysom. pages cm Includes index. ISBN 978-1-936959-22-8 (print) -- ISBN 978-1-936959-69-3 (e-book) (print) 1. Science projects--Juvenile literature. 2. Science--Experiments--Juvenile literature. I. Title. Q182.3.H393 2013 507.8--dc23 2012034085


bE safE! vii

1 starting Points 1

1. Paper Helicopters 3

2. What Makes Seeds Grow? 4

3. Check Rust 5

4. What Makes Sow Bugs Move? 6

5. Bouncing Balls 6

6. Louis Braille’s Invention 7

7. Archimedes’ Screw 8

8. Electric Cells 9

9. The Right Nail for the Right Job 10

10. Suffocating Candles 10

11. Women Can! Men Can’t! 11

12. Smoking Chimneys 11

13. Acid Rain and Pollution 12

14. Life on the Moon 13

15. Falling Leaves 15

2 an ovErviEw of thE naturE of sciEntific inquiry

Simplifying Complex Scientific and Technological Problems 17

3 sciEncE without numbErs Searching for Patterns 21

4 thE numbErs gamE Designing Your Own Measures 29


5 variablEs and thEir controlsIsolating Variables: Reducing Complexity 37

8 ExPErimEnt dEsignPreparing Experimental Designs 41

8 sourcEs of Error Sampling: An Introduction 43

8 making sEnsE of your rEsults Interpreting Graphs 49

9 ExPlanations Deepening Your Understanding: Analogies and Models 55

8 sharing your findings Talking About Your Project 59

8 Judging ProJEcts Making Judgments 63

8 gEnErating idEas for ProJEcts Ideas From the Scientific Literature 69

aPPEndix Science Fair Project Judging Criteria 71

indEx 73


science Fair Warm-Up, Grades 8–12: LearninG the practice oF scientists vii

Be Safe!As you embark on your science fair adventure, some of the steps and activities will be new to you. Keep yourself and your classmates safe by studying this list of safety precautions.

1. Do not touch animals unless instructed to do so by your teacher. Otherwise, you should stick to observing them.

2. Use caution when working with sharp objects such as scissors, razor blades, electrical wire ends, knives, and glass slides. These items can be sharp and may cut or puncture skin.

3. Wear protective gloves and vinyl aprons when handling animals or working with hazardous chemicals.

4. Wear indirectly vented chemical-splash goggles when working with liquids such as hazardous chemicals. When working with solids such as soil, metersticks, and glassware, safety glasses or goggles can be worn.

5. Always wear closed-toe shoes or sneakers in lieu of sandals or flip-flops.

6. Do not eat or drink anything when working in the classroom or laboratory.

7. Wash hands with soap and water after doing activities dealing with hazardous chemicals, soil, biologicals (animals, plants, etc.), or other materials.

8. Use caution when working with clay. Dry or powdered clay contains a hazardous substance

called silica. Only work around and clean up wet clay.

19. When twirling objects around the body on a cord or string, make sure fragile materials and other occupants are out of the object’s path.

10. Use only non-mercury-type thermometers or electronic temperature sensors.

11. When heating or burning materials or creat-ing flammable vapors, make sure the ventila-tion system can accommodate the hazard. Otherwise, use a fume hood.

12. Select only pesticide-free soil, which is avail-able commercially for plant labs and activi-ties.

13. Many seeds have been exposed to pesticides and fungicides. Wear gloves and wash hands with soap and water after any activity involv-ing seeds.

14. Never use spirit or alcohol burners or pro-pane torches as heat sources. They are too dangerous.

15. Use caution when working with insects. Some students are allergic to certain insects.Some insects carry harmful bacteria, viruses, and other potential hazards. Wear personal protective equipment, including gloves.

16. Immediately wipe up any liquid spills on the floor—they are slip-and-fall hazards.


21science Fair Warm-Up, Grades 8–12: LearninG the practice oF scientists

Chapter 3:

Science Without Numbers* * * S e a r c H i n g f o r P a t t e r n S

Dave’s Science Fair ProjectHave you ever had an argument about the color of an object?

It may have been such a discussion that got Dave started on his project. He became interested in the names people give to colors. Here is the way he framed his problem:

“Is there any difference in what children call colors as they grow older, and is there any difference between how males and females refer to colors?”

Dave’s ProcedureDave went to a paint shop and selected six color cards. He planned to ask different children what they called each color. He tested children in five age groups: 5, 7, 9, 11, and 13 years old. In each group, there were two males and two females.


22 nationaL science teachers association

Chapter 3

Dave’s ResultsWhat sense can you make of the data?

MalesAge Colors

5 Pink Blue Yellow Purple Green Gray5 Peach Light blue Yellow Purple Green Gray7 White Light blue Yellow Purple Green Gray7 Yellow Light blue Yellow Purple Green Gray9 Pink Blue Yellow Purple Green Gray9 Light yellow Blue Yellow Purple Green Light purple11 Peach Sky blue Yellow Violet Light green Dark green11 Beige Sky blue Light yellow Maroon Pale green Gray13 Pink Light gray Yellow Purple Green Gray13 Beige Baby blue Yellow Violet Green Gray

FemalesAge Colors

5 Peach Blue Yellow Purple Green Gray5 Peach Light blue Yellow Purple Green Gray7 White Blue Yellow Purple Light green Gray7 Beige Light blue Yellow Purple Green Gray9 Peach Blue Light yellow Purple Green Gray9 Peach Blue Yellow Purple Green Gray11 Beige Pale blue Cream yellow Cream violet Jade Dark gray11 Beige Light Blue Pale yellow Violet Green Gray13 Beige Powder blue Pale yellow Purple Aqua green Dark gray13 Beige Baby blue Pale yellow Purple Sea green Smoke



3science Without numbers

The Beginning of Sense MakingDid you see any patterns in Dave’s data? Search-ing for patterns is often the very beginning of sense making. We do it all the time. Here is the beginning of a fable about a lost child and his at-tempts to keep warm (see box at right).

Believe it or not, that fable came from a senior high school chemistry textbook, Chemistry, An Experiment. Searching for patterns (regularities) is often used at the beginning of scientific investiga-tion, and this search precedes measurement. The small child in the story was acting like a scientist. He discovered a pattern in the objects that burn. But was his conclusion correct? How would you con-tinue the fable?

Dave made a good start with his project on how children identify colors. He obtained some interesting data, and a number of patterns became evident based on the data. He noticed another pattern—younger children were quicker to give an answer, and older children took longer. But this was only the beginning of his project.

These realizations started him thinking, and they may have started you thinking, too. What patterns did you notice? Did the patterns prompt you to ask questions? For example, does a child’s color perception deteriorate as he or she gets older? Does a young student know what “aqua green” means?

What experiments would you do to follow up on this exploratory study?

fable: a lost child keeping warm

Once upon a time, a small child became lost. Because the weather was cold, he decided to gather materials for a fire. As he brought objects back to his campfire, he discovered that some objects burned and some did not. To avoid collecting useless substances, the child began to keep track of those objects that burned and those that did not. After a few trips, his classification contained the information that is shown in the table.

Will Burn Will Not BurnTree limbs

Broom handles

Pencils

Chair legs

Flagpoles

Rocks

Blackberries

Marbles

Paperweights

This organization of information was quite helpful in the child’s quest for warmth. However, as tree limbs and broom handles became scarce, the child tried to find a constant that would guide him to new burnable materials. Looking at the pile of objects that failed to burn and comparing it with the pile of objects that would burn, the child noticed that a pattern appeared—perhaps cylindrical objects burn.

Source: Chemical Education Material Study. 1963. Chemistry, an experiment. G. C. Pimentel, ed. San Francisco, CA: W. H. Freeman.



Chapter 3

Plant Pattern Puzzle: Nova Vita

Strange ObservationsDespite a malfunctioning computer, Tracy and Mark had been successful in making a soft land-ing on Nova Vita. It seemed so much like Earth, they could scarcely believe their eyes. The flowers on Nova Vita were spectacular.

“Nearly all the colors of the rainbow,” Tracey remarked.

“Yes! But don’t you notice anything strange about them?” Mark asked.

Take a closer look. What do you notice?

Red Purple Blue Green Yellow Orange

“All the red ones have two petals, and all the purple ones three, and …,” Tracey observed.

“And look at the leaves—all the blue ones have four,” Mark said.

“And there are only six colors. I wonder why,” Tracey said.

“Yes, strange!” Mark added. “There must be a reason.”

What patterns did you notice? Do you have any ideas about how the color and number of leaves and petals might be linked?




First Experiments“Do you think we could breed purple flowers if we crossed blue and red?” Tracey wondered.

“We might be able to make mauve [a purplish-red] by crossing the red and the purple. Let’s try!” Mark was really into this experiment.

What do you predict? Will they be successful in creating a mauve flower?

They were successful in breeding purple flowers, but when they crossed red and purple

They took some pollen from a red plant and dabbed it in the center of a blue plant.

After a few days, a large seed pod began to grow, and the petals began to die.

When the pod was ripe, they planted some seeds and waited. The flowers grew.

Just as they predicted, they got purple flowers by crossing the red and blue flowers.

Red

Red Red

Purple

PurplePurple

Blue

ANd

they didn’t get mauve—just more red and purple. “It doesn’t make sense to me,” said Mark.“It doesn’t make sense to me either,” said

Tracey. “Let’s try some other combinations.”“What about blue with orange?” Mark sug-

gested. “Have you noticed they both have the same number of petals?”

Blue and orange produced green and purple! Does it make sense to you?



Chapter 3

The Search for Patterns“This is crazy,” said Mark. “There just doesn’t seem to be a pattern to it.”

“Let’s try some more!” Tracey was not ready to give up.

After each experiment, Mark and Tracey recorded the results in a chart that showed what happened when they bred different color flowers. The table below shows the results they obtained.

“Do you think we have done enough?” Mark asked.

“Let’s take a look,” Tracey replied.What patterns do you see? Can you explain why?

Can you see a pattern (or order) in the patterns? Can you crack the Plant Pattern Puzzle? What would you predict would happen if the remaining colors were bred?

The Scientists’ Search for OrderScientists believe the way things happen in the world is regular—that the world is built like a machine. Their job is to find out how the machine works.

They begin by carefully observing what hap-pens in the natural world. They try to find pat-terns in their observations, then understand how these patterns are connected.

Have you ever tried to crack a coded message? The way you go about cracking a code is similar to a scientist’s search. You begin by looking at the code carefully. Then you try to tease out the pat-terns—letters that occur most frequently, words or combinations of letters that recur, and so on. You

Colors Bred Together Red Purple Blue Green Yellow OrangeRed Red Red

PurplePurple Purple

OrangeOrange Orange

Red

PurpleRed Purple

Red Blue Purple

Purple

Blue

Blue Green Purple Orange

Green Orange

Red Orange Purple Green

Blue Purple Blue Purple

Blue

Blue Green

Green Green Purple

Green

Purple Orange

Blue Green Purple Orange

Blue Green

Yellow Orange Green Orange

Green Yellow

OrangeOrange Red

Red Orange Purple Green

Green Purple




make guesses about how these patterns are linked and test your theories. Coded messages are usu-ally made from a simple set of rules (the code).

Gregor Mendel: A Scientist in Search of PatternsWhy do we look like our parents? This was the problem Gregor Mendel tried to solve. Rather than studying people, however, he chose to study garden peas because peas are simpler to study.

What happens when you breed short pea plants with tall pea plants? Mendel observed the same result in all cases: All the offspring were tall. What happens when you breed the offspring

Breeding the Tall Plants With the Short Plants Breeding the Offspring

Parent plants

T, T S, S T, S T, S

Particles contributed to offspring

T or T S or S T or S T or S

Offspring (showing possible combinations of particles)

T, S T, S T, S T, S T, T T, S S,T S, S

together? The majority of the offspring were tall, but one-quarter were short.

These were remarkable findings. They con-tradicted the popular belief of the time that the height of the offspring would fall between the heights of the parents. But how can Mendel’s results be explained?

He suggested that each characteristic (like height) is regulated by two particles (we now call them genes) and each parent contributes one particle to the offspring. The height of a purebred tall parent would thus be regulated by two tall particles (T, T) and that of a purebred short parent by two short particles (S, S). Because each parent contributes one particle to the offspring, each of the offspring must have one tall and one short particle (T, S). Because all of the first-generation



Chapter 3

offspring were tall, Mendel argued that the influ-ence of the tall particle must dominate.

What, then, would we expect to happen when two of the first-generation offspring (T, S) are bred? There are four possible combinations: (T, T), (T, S), (S, T), and (S, S). Three of these offspring would be tall and one would be short. This is what Mendel observed. Mendel’s work laid the foundation for modern genetics. (Note: Prior to this work, Mendel was a monk studying at the University of Vienna to become a teacher. Alas—or perhaps fortunately—he failed his exams. His examiner wrote that he “lacks insight and requisite clarity of knowledge” [Bronowski 1973, p. 380].)

Here’s a question for you: Did you succeed in solving the Nova Vita Pattern Puzzle? In what ways does this problem resemble Mendel’s?

Back to the Science FairMany projects, such as “Falling Leaves,” involve a search for patterns. But before you can search for patterns, you need to collect some data. Some planning is needed. Here are some previously studied inquiries that involve searching for pat-terns. Choose one question to discuss with your partner(s). What sort of data would you be in-terested in collecting? What sort of experiments would you design to collect the data?

1. How do icicles form? (National Science Fair, 1984)

2. How does frost form on windows? (Halifax Regional Science Fair, 1988)

3. How does glass fracture? Why doesn’t it always break the same way? (Prizewinner at Halifax Regional Science Fair, 1987)

4. How do flies buzz around a window? Is there method to their madness?

5. Can fish communicate? Do they recognize one another?

6. What happens to plants (and weeds) if you cut them off at ground level?

ReferenceBronowski, J. 1973. The ascent of man. New York:

Little, Brown.

Patterns formed by mud as it dries out.

Source: Wikimedia Commons. http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Dried_mud_(La_Fajana)_01_ies.jpg



IndexAAcid Rain and Pollution, 12, 19Air current speed, 34–36Allergies, viiAnalogies, 55–56Anemometer, 31Animals, viiAprons, viiArchimedes’ Screw, 8Aristotle, 57Athlete fitness, graphs of, 53–54Averaging test results, 44–47

BBean seed growth, 49–51Beaufort Scale, 36Black box puzzle, 58Boat hull design, 37–38Boiling point of water, 32Bouncing Balls, 6Braille alphabet, 7Bridge design, 18–19Bullet speed, measurement of, 34

CCaloric model of heat, 57Canadian Journal of Biology, 70Candles, suffocation of, 10Car speed, graphs of, 51–53Celsius scale, 32Check Rust, 1, 5, 16, 34, 35Chemical-splash goggles, viiChimneys, 11, 16, 19, 39Clay, viiCoded messages, 26–27Coffee filter design, 39Color identification experiment, 21–23Color versus growth experiment, 63, 66–67Conferences, 59, 61, 63, 68

Cookie contest, 41–42Correlational studies, 45

DDeepening Your Understanding: Analogies and

Models, 55–58Designing Your Own Measures, 29–36Displaying Your Project, 10, 12Do You See What I See?, 63, 64–65

EEating and drinking in lab/classroom, viiElectric Cells, 9Engineering, 17–19Error sources, 43–47Experiments

controlled, 44, 45, 59, 71design of, 41–42devising, 2, 56, 59, 68graphing data from, 46, 47, 49–54sharing results of, 59–61sources of error in, 43–47variables and their control in, 37–39, 63

Explanations, 55–58analogies, 55–56models, 56–58

FFalling Leaves, 15, 28Freezing point of water, 32

GGalvani, Luigi, 9Galvanometer, 9Generating ideas for projects, 69–70Genetics, 27–28Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta, 70



Index

Gloves, viiGoggles/safety glasses, viiGraphing data, 46, 47, 49–54

HHand washing, viiHeat, caloric model of, 57Heat sources, viiHelicopters, paper, 3Hypotheses, 42

IIdeas From the Scientific Literature, 69–70Inheritance patterns, 27–28Inquiry, scientific, 17–19Insects, vii

sow bug movement, 6, 16International Bureau of Weights and Measures,

30International system of units, 32Interpreting Graphs, 49–54Iron expansion, measurement of, 33Isolating Variables: Reducing Complexity, 37–39

JJournal of Applied Physics, 70Journal of Experimental Psychology, 70Judging projects, 63–68

criteria for, 71–72

KKelvin scale, 32

LLeaf falling, 15Length measurement, 30, 31Life on the Moon, 1, 13–14Louis Braille’s Invention, 7

MMeasurement(s), 29–36, 63

beginnings of, 30instruments and units of, 31–33metric system of, 30

Mendel, Gregor, 27Metric system, 30Models, 56–58Moon, plant growth on, 1, 13–14

NNails for different materials, 2, 10, 55–56North America Space Research Institute, 14

OOptical illusion experiment, 63, 64–65

PPaper airplane flight experiment, 47Paper Helicopters, 3Partners for projects, 1, 2Patterns in findings, 21–28Personal protective equipment, viiPersonal space experiment, 42Pesticides, viiPlants

bean seed growth, 49–51effect of colored light on growth of, 63, 66–67growth on the Moon, 1, 13–14how crops are affected by flooding seawater,

45–46Mendel’s genetic studies of, 27–28Pattern Puzzle, 24–26seeds, vii, 4, 42, 44

Plastic garbage bag degradation experiment, 34, 35

Polls, 45Pollution, 12Psychological investigation, 42Publication in science journals, 59, 63

RRacing dinghy hull design, 37–38Random samples, 45Reaction time experiment, 43–45The Right Nail for the Right Job, 2, 10, 55–56Rolling cans experiment, 59–60Rust prevention, 1, 5, 16, 34, 35


Index


SSafety precautions, viiSampling, 43–47Science Dimension, 70Science fair projects, 1

diary of, 59–60difference between science, technology, and

engineering problems for, 16displays of, 10, 12generating ideas for, 69–70getting help with, 2judging of, 63–68, 71–72selecting partners for, 1, 2Starting Points for, 1–15

Science journals, 59, 63, 69–70Scientific American, 69–70Scientific inquiry process, 17–19Scientific models, 56–58Searching for Patterns, 21–28Seawater effects on crops, 45–46Seeds, vii, 4, 42, 44. See also Plants

bean seed growth, 49–51Sharp objects, viiShoes, viiSimplifying Complex Scientific and

Technological Problems, 17–19Slip-and-fall hazards, viiSmoking Chimneys, 11, 16, 19, 34, 36, 39Soils, viiSow bug movement, 6, 16Space North America, 14Speed measurement, 31Star movement, 56–57Starting Points, 1–15

Acid Rain and Pollution, 12, 19Archimedes’ Screw, 8Bouncing Balls, 6Check Rust, 1, 5, 16, 34, 35Electric Cells, 9Falling Leaves, 15, 28Life on the Moon, 13–14Louis Braille’s Invention, 7Paper Helicopters, 3The Right Nail for the Right Job, 2, 10, 55–56Smoking Chimneys, 11, 16, 19, 34, 36, 39Suffocating Candles, 10What Makes Seeds Grow?, 4What Makes Sow Bugs Move?, 6, 16Women Can! Men Can’t, 11, 19

Statistics, 44–45Structural design problems, 17–19Suffocating Candles, 10

TTable tennis ball flight, graph of, 53Talking About Your Project, 59–61Tea strength measurement, 30–31, 32–33Temperature

for baking cookies, 41–42caloric model of heat, 57measurement of, 32

Thermometers, vii, 32Trial and error methods, 18

UUncontrolled variables, 67

VVariables and their control, 37–39, 44, 63, 67Volta, Alessandro, 9Volume measurement, 31

WWhat Makes Seeds Grow?, 4What Makes Sow Bugs Move?, 6, 16Wind speed measurement, 31–32, 34–36Windmill turning speed, 34, 35Women Can! Men Can’t, 11, 19

YYouth Science News, 70




Grades 8–12

Grades 8–12PB328X1ISBN: 978-1-936959-22-8

Even science fair enthusiasts may dread grappling with these two questions:

1. How can you organize many students doing many different projects at the same time?

2. How can you help students while giving them the freedom of choice and independence of thought that characterize genuine inquiry?

Answer these questions—and face science fairs without fear—with the help of the Science Fair Warm-Up series. To help you meet your teaching goals, the series is based on the constructivist view that makes students responsible for their own learning, aligns with national standards, and addresses the Framework for K–12 Science Education.

This book, for grades 8–12, further develops the ideas about the practices of scientists that were introduced in the first two books. In addition, many of the problems students will encounter are very challenging, so much so that the problems have been used with both grade 8 students and university science graduates in field testing. In addition to offering original investigations, the book provides problem-solving exercises to let students hone the inquiry skills to carry projects through independently.

Science Fair Warm-Up will prepare both you and your students for science fair success. But even if you don’t have a science fair in your future, the material can make your students more proficient with scientific research.

“An exciting publication that engages students and fills a need for innovative and conscientious teachers. Students and teachers are likely to encounter real science with the ideas, approaches, and questions the materials encourage.” —Robert Yager, Professor Emeritus at the University of Iowa and past president of NSTA


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