NORTHWOODS PARK MIDDLE SCHOOL

Science Fair Contract

2014-2015

Sign and return by Monday, October 27, 2014.

I, _________________, understand and agree the following procedures for the

Northwoods Park Middle School Science Fair.

1. I will complete all necessary tasks by their scheduled due dates. Each task is

an individual class work grade. Tasks not turned in on time will receive a ZERO,

until completed, when a late grade will be assigned. The teacher will need to

see each task for approval.

2. I understand the final project will be 2 test grades.

3. I understand that I will present my project on the due date; there will be no

exceptions.

4. I understand all due dates and have discussed them with my parents. a. 31 OCT: Step 1 - Proposal Question

b. 07NOV: Step 2 - Research & Hypothesis

c. 21NOV: Step 3 – Experiment / Data Collection

d. 05DEC: Abstract Report Draft

e. 12DEC: Step 4 – Tri-board Display and Final Abstract Report

5. I will have all appropriate paper work that is required signed by my parents to

allow my topic to be approved.

6. My parents understand that they may need to help me secure any necessary

supplies, including a tri-board, for my project.

I have read and agreed to the statements made in the Northwoods Park Middle School

Science Fair Contract. I have also received a copy of the rubric. I will complete the

project to the best of my ability in a timely fashion.

Student signature _______________________ Date ______________

Parent signature ________________________ Date ____________

Step 1: Coming up with a Good Question… Now that you have picked out a topic that you like and that you are interested in, it’s time to write a question or identify a problem within that topic. To give you an idea of what we mean you can start off by filling in the question blanks with the following list of words:

The Effect Question: What is the effect of _______________ on ____________________?

sunlight the growth of plants eye color pupil dialation brands of soda a piece of meat temperature the size of a balloon oil a ramp

The How Does Affect Question: How does the ___________________ affect ___________________?

color of light the growth of plants humidity the growth of fungi color of a material its absorption of heat

The Which/What and Verb Question Which/What _____________________ (verb) ______________________?

paper towel is most absorbent foods do meal worms prefer detergent makes the most bubbles paper towel is strongest peanut butter tastes the best

Now its your turn: Create your Science Fair question using either the “Effect Question”, the “How does Affect Question” or the “Which/What and Verb Question”:

_________________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________________

Step 2: Doing the Research and forming a Hypothesis

You wrote a question using our cool fill in the blank template. Now it is time to research your problem as much as possible. Becomingan expert at your topic is what real scientists do in real labs.

So how do you become an expert?

READ about your topic. READ encyclopedias. READ magazine articles and books from the library. READ articles from the internet. Take note of any new science words you learn and use them. It makes you sound more like a real scientist. Keep Track of all the books and articles you read. You’ll need that list for later. Talk about it with your parents. Talk about it with your teachers. Talk about it with experts like Veterinarians, Doctors, Weathermen or others who work with the things you are studying. Sometimes websites will give you e-mail addresses to experts who can answer questions…. But again, do not write to anyone on the internet without

letting an adult supervise it. (*hint: take pictures of yourself interviewing people) Write down the problem and create a Hypothesis based on what you have researched. Problem:_______________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________ Research: My problem is about this subject: __________________________________ (sample topics could be magnetism, electricity, buoyancy, absorbency, taste, plant growth, simple machines or other scientific topics that relate to your problem. If you are having problems finding out what the topic is, ask your teacher or an adult to help you on this one….) Books I found in the library on my topic are: Title: Author: _______________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________ Internet sites that I found on my topic are: _______________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________ People I talked to about my topic are: _______________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________ Some important points that I learned about my topic are • _____________________________________________________ • _____________________________________________________

Write a Hypothesis If I _______________________ the ___________________, (increase, decrease, or change) (Independent variable)

then the ___________________will ______________________. (Dependent variable) (increase, decrease, change)

Bibliography Worksheet Name ________________________ Class ________________

You must use at least 2 print and 2 non-print resources.

If you use two of the same type of resource (ex. 2 books) write the information on a separate piece of paper.

You can use citationmachine.net or ebiblio.com to help you format your bibliography.

1. Book (Print)

1st Author (last name, first name). _______________________________________________

2nd Author (first name last name). _______________________________________________

Title. _______________________________________________________________________

City of Publication: ____________________________________________________________

Publisher, ___________________________________________________________________

Copyright Date. ______________________________________________________________

2. Encyclopedia, almanac, or atlas (Print)

1st Author (last name, first name). _______________________________________________

2nd Author (first name last name). _______________________________________________

“Article Name.” ______________________________________________________________

Name of Reference Source. ____________________________________________________

Last copyright date: ___________________________________________________________

Volume Number, _____________________________________________________________

Page(s). ____________________________________________________________________

3. Magazine or newspaper article (Print)

1st Author (last name, first name). _______________________________________________

2nd Author (first name last name). _______________________________________________

“Article Name.” _______________________________________________________________

Name of Magazine or Newspaper. _______________________________________________

Date: ______________________________________________________________________

Page(s). ____________________________________________________________________

4. Filmstrip, study print, film, video, computer program, other media (Non-Print)

“Title of media.” ______________________________________________________________

Title of Series. _______________________________________________________________

(type of media). ______________________________________________________________

Producer, ___________________________________________________________________

Copyright Date. ______________________________________________________________

5. Interview (Non-Print)

Name of person interviewed (Last name, first name). _________________________________

Type of Interview. ____________________________________________________________

Place: ______________________________________________________________________

Date. ______________________________________________________________________

6. Internet magazine or other Internet periodical article: (Non-Print)

1st Author (last name, first name). _______________________________________________

2nd Author (first name last name). _______________________________________________

“Title of the Article.” ___________________________________________________________

Title of Printed Source. ________________________________________________________

Date of Printed Source: ________________________________________________________

Page(s). ____________________________________________________________________

Title of the Database. _________________________________________________________

Electronic publisher of database. ________________________________________________

Electronic Publication Date. _____________________________________________________

7. Internet website (Non-Print)

1st Author (last name, first name). _______________________________________________

2nd Author (first name last name). _______________________________________________

“Title of Web Page.” ___________________________________________________________

Date of Material.______________________________________________________________

Name of Website or Database. __________________________________________________

Date of Access. ______________________________________________________________

<Website address>. ___________________________________________________________

8. Internet encyclopedia (Non-Print)

1st Author (last name, first name). _______________________________________________

2nd Author (first name last name). _______________________________________________

“Title of Article.” ______________________________________________________________

Title of Encyclopedia:__________________________________________________________

Electronic Publication date: _____________________________________________________

Electronic Producer. __________________________________________________________

Date of access. ______________________________________________________________

<Website address>. ___________________________________________________________

Step 3: Testing your Hypothesis by doing an experiment

Now we’ve come to the good part. The part that all scientists can’t wait to get their grubby little hands on… you guessed it… The EXPERIMENT! Designing an experiment is really cool because you get to use your imagination to come up with a test for your problem, and most of all, you get to prove (or disprove) your Hypothesis. Now Science Fair Rules state that you cannot perform your experiment live, so you’ll have to take plenty of pictures as you go through these seven very simple steps.

First: Gather up your materials: What will you need to perform your experiment? The safest way to do

this is get that adult you recruited to help you get the stuff you need. Oh, did we mention to take pictures or draw pictures of your materials. This will come in handy when you are making your board display.

Second: Write a PROCEDURE. A procedure is a list of steps that you did to perform an experiment.

Why do you need to write it down? Well it’s like giving someone a recipe to your favorite dish. If they want to try it, they can follow your steps to test if its true. Scientists do this so that people will believe that they did the experiment and also to let other people test what they found out. Did we mention to take pictures of yourself doing the steps?

Third: Identify your variables. The variables are any factors that can change in an experiment.

Remember that when you are testing your experiment you should only test one variable at a time in order to get accurate results. In other words, if you want to test the affect that water has on plant growth, then all the plants you test should be in the same conditions, these are called controlled variables: same type of dirt, same type of plant, same type of location, same amount of sunlight, etc. The only variable you would change from plant to plant would be the amount of water it received. This is called the independent or manipulated variable. The independent variable is the factor you are testing. The results of the test that you do are called the dependent or responding variables. The responding variable is what happens as a result of your test. Knowing what your variables are is very important because if you don’t know them you won’t be able to collect your data or read your results.

Fourth: TEST, TEST, TEST. Remember that the judges expect your results to be consistent in order to be

a good experiment, in other words, when you cook from a recipe you expect the outcomes to be the same if you followed the directions (or procedure) step by step. So that means you need to do the experiment more than once in order to test it properly. We recommend five times or more. More is better! Don’t forget to take pictures of the science project being done and the results.

Fifth: Collect your DATA. This means write down or record the results of the experiment every time

you test it. Be sure You also need to organize it in a way that it is easy to read the results. Most scientists use tables, graphs and other organizers to show their results. Organizing makes the results easy to read, and much easier to recognize patterns that might be occurring in your results. (Besides, it impresses the judges when you use them.) But don’t make a graph or table because we asked you to, use it to benefit your project and to help you make sense of the results. There is nothing worse than having graphs and tables that have nothing to do with answering the question of a science project

Now it’s your turn

Materials: (take pictures!)

List the Materials that you will need for your science experiment here: 1. ______________________ 6. ______________________ 2. ______________________ 7. ______________________ 3. ______________________ 8. ______________________ 4. ______________________ 9. ______________________ 5. ______________________ 10. ______________________ Variables:

List the variables that you will control, the variable that you will change and the variables that will be the results of your experiment: My controlled variables are (the stuff that will always stay the same): ______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ My independent variable is (this is the thing that changes from one experiment to the next, it is what you are testing): _____________________________ My responding variables might be (in other words, the results of the experiment)

Procedure: (the steps…. Don't forget to take pictures)

List the steps that you have to do in order to perform the experiment here:

_1st…._______________________________________________________

_2nd________________________________________________________

_3rd_________________________________________________________

_4th_________________________________________________________

_5th…._______________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________

Design a table or chart here to collect your information (Did we mention that you needed to take pictures of you doing the actual experiment?)

Use the Graph paper at the end of this booklet to make a graph of your results from your table.

Conclusion: Now tell us what you learned from this and if you were able to prove your hypothesis. Did it work? Why did it work or why didn’t it work? What did the results tell you? Sometimes not being able to prove a hypothesis is important because you still proved something. What did you prove?

____________________________________________________________________

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Application: (How does this apply to real life?) Its important to know about this experiment because…... __________________________________________________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________________

Science Fair Writing an “Abstract”

What is an Abstract? The abstract is a summary of your science fair project. Your abstract is made up of a brief statement of the essential, or most important, thoughts about your project. Abstracts should summarize, clearly and simply, the main points of the experiment. Spelling, grammar, punctuation, neatness, and originality are important. It should be 250 to 300 words in length. It is one of the last parts of your science fair project that you will complete. Include the following to create your abstract:

1. Your projects purpose statement. 2. The hypothesis 3. A description of your variables and the control and/or constants 4. A description of what variable you are manipulating (changing) in you experiment. 5. How you went about measuring and observing the variables/controls. 6. Your results and data collected from your experiment 7. Your conclusion statement.

Fill in the following lines to create a successful Abstract: The purpose of my science fair project was ______________________________________________________________________________________ My hypothesis for this project was ______________________________________________________________________________________ The constants and controls in my experiment were ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ The variable in my experiment was ________________________________________________________________________________________

____________________________________________________________________________________ The way that I measured the responding or dependent variable was ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ The results of this experiment were ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ The results show that my hypothesis should be (give brief reason why to accept or not) ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ If I were going to do this experiment again in the future or expand on this experiment I would __________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Due: Friday, 05 December, 2014

NAME:_____________________ CLASS:_______________ REPORT CHECKLIST:

Cover Sheet- Includes title in color. Do NOT put your name on the cover sheet. Table of Contents- Bullet the contents. Skip Lines. Page number goes on the right side. Only put the

number the of the page it starts on: Background Information- Tell how you decided on your idea. Give needed information about products or

things you will be using. Should be 1-2 pages long. Do not give opinions- just facts. Type on front page. Purpose- A statement or question about what you want to find out. In other words, the problem. Center it

on the paper. Hypothesis- What you think will happen. Do NOT start with “I” or “I believe”. Center it on the paper. Materials List- List items like a grocery list. Don’t bullet or number them. Make sure you specify amounts

and units of measurements. Procedures- Number step by step. Be specific. Use complete sentences. Data- Include graphs, tables, and/or charts. Conclusion- 2 to 3 paragraphs. What happened? What do you think you did right? What would you

change? Revisit your hypothesis. Were you correct? If not, why do you think that might be? Bibliography- At least 4 references. 2 must be text (articles from magazines, books, newspapers) 2 non-

text (interviews, internet) Put in ABC order. Uses APA formatting. See Bibliography Sources page. Blank back cover sheet. Put name in top right corner of this page.

ABSTRACT:

This should sum up all of your report on one page (no more than 250 words). It will probably be the most read section of your report. People get an overview of your entire project. Most scientists say this one page summary will take the most time. This is usually written last. Abstracts should be printed on one page and placed separately in a plastic sleeve

Table of Contents Background Information 1 Purpose 3 Hypothesis 4 Materials 5 Procedures 7

Materials: 2 cardboard shoe boxes (8.5” x 11”) 5 earthworms 1 scalpel 2 cups of Miracle Grow Moisture Soil 2 cups of dirt from the yard

NAME(s):_____________________ CLASS:_______________

Project Title:_________________________________ EVALUATION CRITERIA LOW HIGH

Creative Ability- Problem Does the project demonstrate an original

approach to the problem or topic?

1 2 3 4 5

Creative Ability- Investigation Was creative research done to

support the investigation and help answer the problem is an original way?

1 2 3 4 5

Creative Ability- Equipment Does the project show creative ability

and originality in the use of equipment or in the construction/design of new equipment?

1 2 3 4 5

Creative Ability- Data Does the project show creative ability and

originality in the analysis and interpretation of data? Were graphs/charts accurate?

1 2 3 4 5

Creative Ability- Display Does the exhibit show either originality or

creativity? Is it neat, attractive and visually appealing?

1 2 3 4 5

Scientific Thought- Problem Is the problem clearly stated and able

to be solved?

1 2 3 4 5

Scientific Thought- Hypothesis Does the hypothesis evolve from

the problem and is it reasonable?

1 2 3 4 5

Scientific Thought- Procedures Does the procedure specifically state all steps in the investigation?

1 2 3 4 5

Scientific Thought- Variables Are the variables clearly recognized

and defined? Are there any unconsidered variables?

1 2 3 4 5

Scientific Thought- Data Are the data sufficient to warrant the

conclusion? Are the data limitations recognized?

1 2 3 4 5

Scientific Thought- Research Does the team understand the

projects ties to related research? Is scientific literature cited? Is there awareness of what further research is warranted?

1 2 3 4 5

Thoroughness- Purpose Was the purpose carried out to completion

within the scope of the original intent? How completely was the problem covered?

1 2 3 4 5

Thoroughness- Conclusions Are the conclusions based on a single

experiment or replication? How complete are the project notes?

1 2 3 4 5

Thoroughness- Application Is the finalist/team aware of other

approaches/theories? Are they familiar with scientific literature in the studied field?

1 2 3 4 5

Skill- Data Did the student/team have the required laboratory,

computation, observational and design skills to obtain the supporting data?

1 2 3 4 5

Skill- Performance Where was the project performed? How much

assistance was received from parents, teachers, and scientists?

1 2 3 4 5

Skill- Equipment Where did the equipment come from? Was it built

independently, borrowed, or at school?

1 2 3 4 5

Clarity- Written Is the written report complete organized and well written?

Does the project display explain the project?

1 2 3 4 5

Clarity- Verbal How clearly does the finalist or team discuss the project

and explain the purpose, procedure, and conclusions?

1 2 3 4 5

Attitude/ Teamwork Did the student(s) displayed enthusiasm,

motivation and initiative? Does the final work reflect the coordinated efforts of all team members? How much time was spent?

1 2 3 4 5