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Schedule

IMPORTANT!

Science Fair Information & Due Dates

Turn in the following assignments indicated on the following dates

IF TURNED IN LATE, YOUR ASSIGNMENT WILL LOSE 10 POINTS EACH DAY IT IS LATE!

Monday, Sept. 13 – 

1).  Develop two science fair project ideas – your preferred idea and an alternate.  For your preferred idea, write a paragraph that starts with the question you are going to ask.  Then guess what the answer might be (remember – this isn’t a hypothesis yet – you haven’t educated yourself.  Next describe how you might go about doing your experiment – what you see as being your independent and dependent variables, as well as your control and constants.  Finish your paragraph by discussing what you expect to find out and why this might be interesting or important.  For your second idea, just state the question and briefly what you hope to find out. 
2
).  Turn in your Science Fair Contract  – This needs to be read and signed by both you and your parents/guardians. 

Friday, Oct. 1 – List of your research sources.  In MLA format, bring in a bibliography of the sources you will use in writing your background research paper.  Include at least 5 sources – two must be non-internet.  You may add more sources as you write your paper, but I want to see that you have begun researching.

Friday, Oct. 22 Literature search/background research paper.   

This paper does not have to be specifically about research on your experiment (maybe no one has done it before,) but information about the topic itself.   It should be at least two typed pages in length, double-spaced, 12-point font such as Times New Roman, Helvetica, Arial, Calibri, etc.  In addition, a separate title page and a separate bibliography page that lists your research sources  (include at least five reference sources (at least two non-internet sources.))  Add in any new sources you have used since you submitted your original list of sources.  

Friday, Oct. 22Problem statement AND hypothesis.  

Friday, Oct. 29Written procedure – in a numbered step format.  This should be very detailed.  Remember – I should be able to read your procedure and then do your experiment.  Tell me exactly how to do it, how much of each item to use, how often to measure, how to measure, etc.  Once your procedure is approved, you may begin your experiment/project!

Tuesday, November 30Presentation  – Be ready to present a five minute presentation, (can be a PowerPoint), to class to show what your project is, what you have done so far, and what you still plan to do.  Be ready to give feedback to your classmates – do you have ideas of what they can do to improve their projects?  Are there things you really like about their projects?

Friday, January 7 - Rough draft of results, conclusions, graphs and display ideas.

Monday, January 31– Final project turned in. Project will be on a large 3-sided display board, will include a title in the form of a question, a hypothesis, materials, procedure, results in written form, data analysis (graphs, charts, etc.), and conclusions.  The conclusion should include ideas of the benefit of the research as well as ideas for continued research in the same area.  It should also include an analysis of factors which may have affected the outcome (problems and so forth.)  A project notebook will also be turned in.  This should include all materials recorded along the way – ideas, data collection, analysis, etc.



How to write a problem statement:

 

1.     Identify the subject that you are going to study for the science project and develop a topic question to answer during the experiment.

 

2.     Write the problem statement in terms of a question. A sample problem statement might be, " How does the amount of sun light affect the height of new plants."

 

How to write a hypothesis:

 

1.     ** Do your research **

Before deciding on a science fair hypothesis, do thorough research on your science fair topic. Research different aspects of your project. Try to find similarities and differences in the topic you are researching.

 

2.     ** Take a guess based on your research **

A hypothesis is really an educated guess or a prediction. Guess something that you think might happen based on your research.

 

3.     ** Make sure your hypothesis is testable **

Make sure you can think of experiments you can do to test the validity of your hypothesis. If you cannot test if your hypothesis is right or not, then you should think of a different one instead.

 

4.     ** Create an “if – then” statement using the guess in part 2 above **

 

A hypothesis is made up of 2 parts -

Part 1: The "if" part -
Examples:
- If I add water
- If the temperature is over 90 degrees


Part 2: The "then" part -
Examples:
- then the cake will rise higher
- then the ice will melt faster

 

5.     ** Prepare the rest of the research project with the hypothesis in mind **

Make sure all the experiments you are doing are aimed toward proving or disproving the hypothesis. Stay on topic!