About the Science Fair

Projects

May be in any area of science. Check out the following websites or come up with an idea of your own.

http://www.sciencekids.co.nz/projects.html

http://www.ipl.org/div/projectguide/

http://www.cool-science-projects.com/index.html

http://school.discoveryeducation.com/sciencefaircentral/Getting-Started/idea-finder.html

These websites provide a lot of information on how to carry out a science fair project. Choose your idea carefully and make it your own.

Should contain an element of original research. This means that projects should seek to obtain new information on a subject, or test a new idea or hypothesis, through experimental investigation, or develop a new technological idea or device.

Should be documented in a log book. All work should be described in a log book. This could be a school exercise book, or a scrap book; it must be logically ordered and contain a complete record of the project.

Planning your project: Six steps to success

Research: Start off by finding out as much as you can about your topic. Visit the library browse the web, discuss your ideas with your parents, your teachers, your friends, or if you know one arrange to talk with an expert . . .

Your Question: Now that you know something about your subject, you need to decide on a problem you can investigate: a question that you can test by doing experiments e.g. how does ______ affect ________, or a device or gadget that you can design, build and test to fulfill a task. Use your imagination, be different, but also be practical: make sure you have the resources and the time to complete your project.

Plan your experiments: or your design. Try to be methodical, logical and organised! You have identified one variable you want to investigate, but are there others?

For example, I am investigating how much baking powder I should put in my cake mixture to make the cake rise the most. But what other variables might affect the way cakes rise? Other ingredients in the recipe? Cooking time? Cooking temperature? Brand of baking powder? . . . All these other variables must be kept the same throughout my experiments if it’s the amount of baking powder I want to check.

Think carefully about how you are going to make your measurements 'How do you measure how much a cake has risen? '

Make a timetable that allows plenty of time for setbacks (almost all real research projects have them!), to analyse your results and to complete your presentation.

Keep a record of everything you do. Keep a record of your thoughts, actions, ideas, and activities in a separate book. Please date each activity or entry in this log book. This is quite important, and saves a lot of time later when you use your book to see what happened when. This log book should be handed in with your project: it must be a complete record of your investigation. Like a diary, you should record everything you do each day: your planning, your experiments, what worked and what didn't, thoughts and ideas about the results and what to do next . . .

Analyse your results: how are you going to present them? In tables, graphs . . .

Think, Interpret, Conclude: what do your results mean? Were they as you expected? What can you conclude from them?

Presentation

You will be given a display board in a choice of colours. You need to make a colourful, eye-catching display describing your work and what you've discovered. Use your imagination, your computer, your camera: you can include pictures, charts, diagrams and even small demonstrations that can sit in front of your display. The board will be done at school and will remain at school until the Science Fair concludes at the end of Term.

Deadlines

Science Fair Date: Tuesday 25 September

Length of time to write report and make presentation board: 3 Weeks of Class time (this will be done in class from 3 September)

Date by which all data must be collected:  Monday 3 September

You must have everything tested and finished by this date so that you can put your board together in class over the next 3 weeks.

Email work you wish to have printed at school to hmckie@beachlands.school.nz Check with Mrs McKie a week before the deadline that it arrived safely.