TIPS FOR SCIENCE
FAIR PROJECTS    

Your Science Fair project/experiment will be most successful if you make sure that you follow these guidelines.  You will want to see your classroom teacher for additional information to be sure your project qualifies for entry into the Regional Science Fair.

1.  MAKE OBSERVATIONS - USE YOUR SENSES.
This science project/experiment is your own idea and of interest to you.  Every day you observe things and ask yourself questions.  Try to answer one of these questions for your project/experiment.

2.  DEVELOP A QUESTION.
This should be unique and creative and come from your observations.  This will be the purpose of your project.

3.  DO BACKGROUND RESEARCH.
This will help you decide exactly what to do for your project/experiment.  consult a variety of sources including books, people, scientific magazines, and encyclopedias.

4.  REVISE YOUR QUESTION, IF NECESSARY, AFTER RESEARCHING YOUR IDEA.

5.  PLAN YOUR PROJECT SO THAT YOU LEARN SOMETHING THAT A BOOK OR PERSON CAN'T TELL YOU.

6.  SET UP A TEST (EXPERIMENT) THAT YOU BELIEVE WILL ANSWER THE QUESTION YOU ASKED.
You do many simple experiments/tests all the time, especially in the kitchen.  You might ask yourself what would happen if I left the baking soda out of a cake?  You could set up a test to find out the answer.  Bake one cake with baking soda and one without.  What happened?  Repeat the experiment several times to see if you get the same results.  Only test one thing (variable) at a time. Just leave the baking soda out.  Don't change the rest of the recipe or baking time or temperature or cake pan or any other variable.  Always have a control:  one test where you don't change anything.  In this example, it would be the cake with the baking soda left in the original recipe.  For some experiments a control group or test is not possible, but the variables still need to be controlled.  For example, when testing your pet's food preferences you need to be sure conditions are controlled, such as the time of day you feet it, temperature, etc.

7.  PREDICT WHAT THE ANSWER TO YOUR QUESTION WILL BE. 
Make a guess!!  What do you think will happen?  Scientists call this an hypothesis.  (If I do this, then this will happen.)

8.  WRITE DOWN EVERYTHING YOU DO.
Good scientists keep logs or scientific diaries and write down ALL the materials they use.  EVERYTHING they do with them, and EVERYTHING that happens.  We call this a Project Record.  Make sure your log begins on the first day of your project.  A complete Project Record would contain the date and time of each entry and what you observed or did.  When something unexpected happens or you make a "mistake", write that down, too.  There are NO mistakes in scientific tests.  In fact, they may be the basis of a wonderful discovery!

9.  COLLECT DATA.
Data is information that you observe and collect.  Collect data by measuring things using the metric system, if possible.  Make graphs and charts of the things you observe, the measurements you take, or the data you collect.  The more data you collect, the more accurate your results.

10.  DISCUSSION (WRITTEN IN PARAGRAPH FORM)
Use the results of your experiment and information in your Project Record to describe your project briefly and sequentially.  A good discussion might analyze some of these questions:
A.  How did your experiment fail to verify what you found in the information and research?
B.  What were the weaknesses in your experiment?
C.  What would you do differently?
D.  What future experiments can you suggest to expand your research?
These are only examples to guide you in evaluating your project.

11.  CONCLUSION
Summarize your results.
A.  Did your experiment answer the question you stated in Step 4?
B.  Is your prediction/hypothesis correct?
C.  What conclusions were you able to make from the results of your project?

12.  DISPLAY YOUR PROJECT!
Your project is complete.  If you followed these guideline you have successfully used the Scientific method to discover new information about the world around you.  You can be proud to display your project.