Your Science Expo Planning Guide - 2017-for Science experiments-

Adapted from the Elementary Science Fair Planning Guide, by Lora Holt

Table of Contents

Step 1: Choose a category that interests you 3Step 2: Come up with a good question 3Step 3: Do some research 4Step 4: Form a hypothesis 4Step 5: Plan your experiment 5Step 6: Do your experiment and write down your data 5Step 7: Write your conclusion statement 6Step 8: Create your display board 6Science experiment summary and examples 7More resources 9

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Step 1: Choose a category that interests you Life Science:

• Deals with all animal, plant, and human body questions.• Includes behaviors, so it’s the perfect category to try taste tests, opinion surveys, animal behavior training (or even training behavior in

humans…..like baby brothers or sisters… with parent permission, of course!)

Note: It is OK to do an experiment on plants, as long as they belong to you and you ask permission first! If you use animals for your experiment, be careful not to harm the animal and have an adult help you.

Physical Science: • Includes topics like electricity, magnetism, sound, light, force, motion, and the study of how stuff reacts to other stuff.• These are the science experiments that may have bubbling and oozing going on, so it is the perfect category to try to mix things together

and see what happens.

Remember, sometimes mixing stuff together can be dangerous, so always ask an adult first and only do the experiment when they are there to help you!

Earth and Space Science: • Covers all sorts of topics that deal with the Earth or objects in space.• Includes experiments involving weather, erosion, rocks, fossils, or the sun and stars.• Remember though, your project needs to be an experiment and not just an observation or collection of items.

Step 2: Come up with a good question

Here are three different types of questions and examples to help you think about how to write your question. You are free to use a different type of question…. these are just some ideas.

1) The Effect Question

What is the effect of ________________________ on ____________________________________?water the growth of plantsbrands of soda a piece of meattemperature the size of a balloonoil the speed or distance a toy car travels

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2) The How Does It Affect Question

How does the _____________________________ affect______________________________?color of light the growth of plantscolor of a material its absorption of heatshape of a solar hot dog cooker the time it takes to cook the hot dogdesign of a pulley how much weight it can lift

3) The Which/What and Verb Question:

Which/What ________________________ verb ________________________________?paper towel is most absorbentfoods do meal worms preferdetergent makes the most bubbles

Step 3: Do some research

For this step you can:1. Do some reading on your topic and question to learn more about it.2. Do “discovery” experiments to practice with any tools or equipment you will use for your experiment.3. Make some observations. Look at the things you will be testing to see if you notice anything interesting about them or see any patterns.4. Talk to someone you know that is a scientist and get information from them about your topic or question.

The reason to do this research is so you can form a hypothesis (Step 4) and plan your experiment (Step 5).

Step 4: Form a hypothesis

Your hypothesis is your educated guess about what you think the answer to your research question will be. You can fill in the blanks: I think ____________ because __________.

For example, “I think that the plants with more water will grow the best because my research shows that plants need water to grow.”

Note: Your hypothesis does not have to be right. Once you do your experiment you might learn that your hypothesis was completely wrong! That’s OK! Scientists use these “guesses” to help them think through a question or problem and plan their experiments.

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Step 5: Plan your experiment

You will not be doing your experiment live at the Science Expo, so you need to do the experiment at home, take some pictures, write down your data and results, and create a display board to show your results. There is a lot to think about before you start your experiment!

1) Write down what you will do, all the steps of your experiment. Plan it out before you do it.2) YOU are the scientist. YOU get to decide how to do your experiment (as long as it is safe and you have permission from an adult)!3) Make sure the experiment you plan is a fair test (see Step 6 below). 4) Gather all of your materials.

Step 6: Do your experiment and write down your data Once you have planned what you will do and gathered your supplies, do the experiment! Do your best to make your experiment a “fair test”.

How do you make your experiment a “fair test”?1. Do the same thing every time and to everything you are testing in your experiment.

For example, if you are testing how water affects the growth of plants, you will always need to use the same:• Type of plant• Amount and type of dirt• Location to put your plants• Amount of light• Water source and temperature

The only thing that will change is the amount of water you add. In this example, you have 3 plants in your experiment. One gets 0 water, one gets 10 ml water per day, and the other gets 20 ml water per day. You can measure how much they grew after 2 weeks.

Don’t forget to write down your data (your results or information you collect during your experiment) as you go along! You can put your data in a chart or graph. For example, the data from the plant and water experiment might look like this:

Plant Amount of water per day Size it grew in 2 weeksPlant A none .5 cm

Plant B 10 ml 2 cm

Plant C 20 ml 7 cm

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Step 7: Write your conclusion statement Your conclusion statement can include:

1) The answer to your experiment’s question2) Why you think that is the answer3) Describe any data or numbers you collected when you did your experiment that helped you answer the question.4) What you learned5) Any patterns you noticed in your results

In the water and plant example above, a basic conclusion statement might look like this:

In my experiment, the plant that got more water grew more. “Plant A” received zero water and grew .5 cm. “Plant B” received 10 ml water per day and grew 2 cm. “Plant C” received 20 ml water per day and grew 7 cm. The more water a plant got, the ore it grew. “Plant C” got the most water and grew the most. I think this type of plant grew more with more water because they were in the sun and so a lot of water evaporated away. They might also need more water because they are young plants. I learned that plants need water to grow!

Step 8: Create your display boardA display board is a great way to share what you learned with other scientists! Here is a basic guide for how to put the different pieces of your science project on the display board.

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#3

#2

#5

#4

#7

#6

#1

• 1: Title of your project• #2: Question• #3: Hypothesis• #4: Materials and procedure• #5: Pictures (any pictures that you took of your experiment, or you doing your experiment)• #6: Data (this is great place to put any graphs or tables that you created)• #7: Conclusion• **Put your name, teacher, and room number on the back

Things to remember for your display board:• Keep it neat.• Parents, let your kids write it themselves. Let

them be creative and use their own words!• Use a computer if you want, but hand-written

is just as great!

Science experiment summary and examples

Step # Step Description Example 1 Example 2

1 Choose a category

Life Science, Physical Science, or Earth and Space Science

Physical Science - force and motion Life Science - growth of plants

2Come up

with a question

The question that you want to answer by doing an experiment.

Do some balls roll faster than others? What is the effect of water on the growth of plants?

3 Do some research

Do a little research on your topic and question to help you make your hypothesis

Play around with different types of balls

Read a book about what plants need to grow.Talk to a garden expert.

4 Write your hypothesis

Your educated guess for what you think the answer to your question is.

Yes, I think some balls roll faster than others.

I think that the plants with more water will grow the best because my research shows that plants need water to grow.

5 Plan your experiment

List the materials you will use.

Write down what you will do (your procedure).

Materials:• ping pong ball• 1 marble• 1 tennis ball• 1 wiffle ball

Procedure:1. Set up a ramp with

a hot wheels track and two books

2. Roll one ball down the ramp at a time

3. Time each ball as it rolls

Materials:• 3 potted Maidenhair Fern Plants from Armstrong Nursery

in Santa Monica• Tap water• Measuring cup

Procedure:1. Buy 1 quart potted plants from Armstrong nursery2. Place them in my backyard where they will all get the

same amount of sunlight3. Measure their height4. Label them, as “Plant A”, “Plant B”, and “Plant C”5. Do not give Plant A any water6. Give “Plant B” 10 ml of cold tap water everyday7. Give “Plant C” 20 ml of cold tap water everyday8. Measure their height after 2 weeks

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6

Do your experiment and write

down your results

Do your best to make your experiment a “fair test”. This can be tricky so just think about it and do your best!

(Don’t forget to write down the results or answers from anything you are measuring! This information will go in your results table)

• Start the ball from the same place on the ramp every time.

• Stop timing it when it reaches the end of the ramp.

• Write down how fast each ball rolls.

Always need to use the same:• Type of plant• Amount and type of dirt• Location to put your plants• Amount of light• Water source and temperature

The only thing that will change is the amount of water you add. If you have 3 plants in your experiment, one gets 0 water, one gets 10 ml water per day, and the other gets 20 ml water per day. You can measure how much they grew after 2 weeks.

7Write your conclusion statement

1) The answer to your experiment’s question2) Why you think that is the answer3) Describe any data or numbers you

collected when you did your experiment that helped you answer the question.

4) What you learned5) Any patterns you noticed in your results

Some balls roll faster than others. The marble was the fastest. I think it rolled fast because it is smooth. I learned that balls are made of different materials.

In my experiment, the plant that got more water grew more. “Plant A” received zero water and grew .5 cm. “Plant B” received 10 ml water per day and grew 2 cm. “Plant C” received 20 ml water per day and grew 7 cm. The more water a plant got, the ore it grew. “Plant C” got the most water and grew the most. I think this type of plant grew more with more water because they were in the sun and so a lot of water evaporated away. They might also need more water because they are young plants. I learned that plants need water to grow!

8Create your

display board

Create your display boardAsk Mrs. Rattan if you’d like to see an example

Ask Mrs. Rattan if you’d like to see an example

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More resourcesNeed a little more help? Here’s a couple more resources:

1) Brainpop has a little movie explaining the scientific method. The username is “grant1” and the password is “geckos”.

BrainPop Jr (K-3): https://jr.brainpop.com/science/beascientist/scientificmethod/

BrainPop: https://www.brainpop.com/science/scientificinquiry/scientificmethod/

2) Science Buddies has a ton of ideas for projects!

http://www.sciencebuddies.org/science-fair-projects/project_ideas.shtml

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