Student projects should follow an inquiry-based approach. In other words, students ask a question (inquire) and perform experiments to get the answer. Older children should follow the basic steps of the scientific method – as explained below. Younger students can simply research a subject or, ask a question and explore the answer.

1. Question – What do you want to learn? Come up with a question to study.
• You notice something, wonder why it happens, what causes it and how or why something works. Write down your questions. Talk to a parent, teacher or older sibling about your thoughts.
• Do a little research on your subject. Read books, magazines or ask professionals who might know more. Older students - keep track of where you got your information.
• Choose a title that describes the effect or thing you are investigating.
• What do you want to find out? Write a statement that describes what you want to do. Use your observations and questions to write the statement.

If you’re stuck for ideas, click here to look at some
PROJECT IDEAS or follow the REFERENCE LINKS (get your parent’s permission first!).

2. Hypothesis – Try to predict the answer to your question.

You’ve come up with a question; for example “how long does it take for mold to grow on a piece of bread?”. Now, take a guess at the answer. This is called a hypothesis. Put some thought into your answer but don’t worry about the guess being right or wrong – that’s what the experiment will show.

3. Experiment - Design and implement an experiment(s) to confirm or disprove your hypothesis.
• Make a step-by-step list of what you will do to answer your questions. This list is called an experimental procedure.
• Make a list of the things you need to perform your experiment (ingredients, materials, tools, etc.) Prepare the items if necessary.
• Define the variables – things that when changed may affect the outcome. For example, in our bread mold experiment, temperature is one variable (does mold grow faster in a hot room or a cold room?) and type of bread (wheat or white) is another variable. Either hold the variable constant or change one variable at a time to see what will happen.
• Perform the experiment, following the procedure you defined above. Pay attention – a big part of science is observation. Write down everything you observe during the experiment.

Having trouble? If you can’t formulate your ideas or you’re having trouble designing your experiment – use a LIFELINE. Click here to call or e-mail one of our super talented Scientists. Don’t be shy. We love to help!

4. Results and Conclusions. What were the results of the experiment? What are your conclusions?
• Summarize what happened. You can list the data in a table and/or graph the data. It can also be a written statement of what occurred during the experiments.
• Perform any calculations needed to turn raw data into numbers you will need to make tables, graphs or draw conclusions.
• Draw conclusions. Review the results and data to see if your hypothesis was correct. Do your observations support your hypothesis? What did this teach you? Were the results different than you expected? What did you learn from this? List other things you learned.

What if my science project doesn't agree with my hypothesis? Your experiment will have taught you something, and that's what matters. This is the case for real scientists who often stumble unexpectedly on results they did not expect. The discovery of penicillin (the class of medicines which help clear up ear infections) is an example of an unexpected result which was a huge breakthrough in medical science.

Congratulations! You had an idea, you designed an experiment, you tested it out and of course, you wrote down everything that happened. Now you’re ready to put together a presentation for the Science Fair!

The Science Fair is being held at Nixon school on Wednesday, March 22nd from 6:30- 8:30 pm. There will be tables set up throughout the school – grouped together by grade. Students will have the opportunity to set up their experiments and presentations from 6:00 – 6:30 pm.

Each student will be have approximately 3 feet of table space. You can use that space anyway you want. Most students describe their experiments on presentation poster board (found at Michaels, AC Moore, Office Max, Staples, Paper Store, etc.). You should get the tri-fold presentation boards that stand on their own – there may not be a wall to support a standard board. The experiment can be displayed on the table in front of the poster board.

Use the following checklist to help prepare your presentation.

Checklist