SCIENCE PROJECTS

A. PURPOSE

The purpose is to have students develop and implement science projects that
reinforce the adventure of learning, by being successful at doing experiments,
answering questions and solving problems.

B. PROCESS

The process is for the students to identify a topic of interest, frame a question
about that topic, do some research to answer the question, come up with an
experiment or procedure to test the expected answer, do the experiment, collect data,
and explain the results. The entire process will be summarized and represented on a
3-paneled “science board” for viewing by other students, parents, and judges. Parents
are expected to play a key role in guiding the student to a successful completion of
the project, but not including doing the project for them. Naturally, older students will
usually not need as much assistance and younger students, however, that can vary
depending on difficulty of the project and the interest of the parents to assist.

C. FORMAT

The following steps provide more details on the project, including the six
categories to be presented on the “science board” for completion of the project:

1. Problem or Question?

Perhaps the most difficult part of the science project is to identify a question or
problem. The first step is to determine an area of interest, such as life science, earth
science, or physical science. The next step is to pick a particular aspect of that topic
that has special interest. Then, pick a question you think you could answer with an
experiment that you could design and you would be able to do with available time
and materials.

Some available internet sites are listed next, which may help you narrow down a
science question for your project: “Free Science Fair Projects,” http://science-fair-
projects-now.com/free-sciencefairprojects.html ; “All Science Fair Projects,”
http://all-science-fair projects.com/science_fair_projects.php?
s_terms=&type=0&s_difficulty=&hidden=1&s_category= ; “Science Fair Questions
by Sribd,” http://www.scribd.com/doc/8412559/Science-Fair-Questions ; and
Discovery Education’s Science Fair site,
http://school.discoveryeducation.com/sciencefaircentral/ .

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2. Research

In order to answer a question or solve a problem, the student needs to do some

research. Such research should include asking parents, friends of parents, experts in
the field of interest, teachers, and science mentors. Additional research could include
appropriate, informative sites on the internet, as well as books on the subject, found in
personal or public libraries.

3. Hypothesis

Once the student has done the research, she or he should be able to guess the
answer to the question, or predict the solution to the problem. This educated guess is
called a hypothesis. This guess will then be tested and checked for accuracy in the
remainder of the project.

4. Experiment

The next step is to design an experiment that the student can conduct, in order to
test the accuracy of the educated guess, or hypothesis. This step includes both a)
procedural steps and b) materials, needed to carry out the experiment. The student
should also take into account the amount of time that it will take to conduct the
experiment, make the science board, and make it to the science fair on time!

5. Results

As the student is doing the experiment, he or she should be observing what is

happening and taking notes in a journal. These notes will form the basis of the results,
which could include before-pictures, during-pictures, and after-pictures;
measurements taken throughout the experiment; and observations on specific
conditions that the student noticed. These results can then be compiled to post on the
science board, and they can include pictures, data, graphs, and journal notes.

6. Conclusions

This portion of the project involves analyzing the entire project and stating what
you learned from your efforts. Your first obligation is to compare your test results
with your hypothesis. Based on your research, did you answer the question or solve
the problem, as you thought you would? Or did you produce results that were
different than you anticipated? Regardless of the result and based on your science
project, what would you suggest would be a future question to answer or a future
problem to solve?

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