Science research » Projects Science

Taking Science Beyond the Classroom

admin — Mon, 26 Apr 2010 01:04:29 +0000

Despite the fact that our society values scientists, fewer and fewer students are going on to pursue any science learning beyond the minimum requirements for graduation and college entry.

If you’re hoping to help reverse this trend, and take science beyond being just a classroom subject, science fairs could be the solution. These are organized on local, state, national, and international levels. In them, students submit projects which are evaluated by a team of judges. Science fairs help students understand that breakthroughs and discoveries are based on learning what doesn’t work, as much as they are about getting the right answer.

They are as much about learning and having fun as they are about getting the project right. Even students who don’t usually want to participate in science based courses are sometimes required by their schools to enter the science fair, and they find out that they enjoy the process of running an experiment and seeing what happens. There’s more to projects than science, so even students who prefer art, photography, writing, and other disciplines can incorporate their favorite subject in their project.

One thing about science fairs that can be scary for parents is not understanding what their child is expected to do, how long they have to do it, or what their contribution should be. They mistakenly believe that they’re expected to do much of the project for their child, or that the project needs to be a big problem. These projects can be very elaborate, but they don’t have to be. For instance, elementary school children can have quite simple science fair projects. Some sample topics include the process of tooth decay, the parts of an egg, how plants reproduce or the way plants grow towards light. Parents are expected to encourage and assist their children, but not to do the work for them.

Middle and high school student will probably have more complicated topics and experiments. However, they’re also capable of doing more of the work on their own. Some sample topics for older children include testing consumer products, composition of frost, the scientific principles behind musical instruments, the effect of music on plants, and even developing a simple computer game.

There’s a lot to be learned by doing a science fair project, not least of which is how much fun science can be. A love of learning is the best gift you can give your child, helping him or her learn more later in life. They can be the first step towards a life long enjoyment of science, or even a science career.

By: Rita Lambros-Segur

Science Fair Projects – Complete Guide to a Winning Science Project Step 4 – Sample Project

admin — Tue, 20 Apr 2010 15:00:26 +0000

We are going to walk through the steps of a Sample Project. You will learn how to turn a project idea into a unique project. During the phase of the actual experiment, you can use one of the data-collecting techniques or other ideas to design and develop your project. Even though science fair projects may have very different topics, the overall plan for doing them is mostly the same. These are the key steps:

Starting Your Project Procedures Results Explaining Your Results Problem and Hypothesis

Starting your Project

Once you have selected your subject, you are ready to get started. Here are some tips to getting you started on the right foot. This tips will include everything from gathering your materials to setting a schedule. All of these are essential steps in good science fair projects.

Project Journal
Your journal is an important part of your project. You will be recording the progress of the project. When the experiment has been completed, and the results recorded in the journal, you will find the journal to be very useful when you start you project report.

Title and Problem Question
The title and the problem question we are using on this sample project, will most likely not work for your own project. Below is the Title and the Problem Question.

HOW HIGH?
PROBLEM
When is the Sun at its highest altitude during the day?

Materials

All the materials you will need for the sample experiment can be found around the house or purchased without much money at a local store. You will need to collect all the supplies before you start the experiment. The experiment will go much more smoothly if you have all the materials you need before starting the experiment. If there is a material you can not find, ask an adult before you substitute materials. Different science fair projects will need different materials, but here is a sample list for one experiment:

Materials Example

Pencil 5 tablespoons (75 ml) plaster of Paris 2 tablespoons (30 ml) tap water 3 ounce (90 ml) paper cup Masking tape 30-inch (1-meter) piece of string Yardstick (meter stick) Protractor Helper

Make sure you have thought the experiment through and thought of all the material you will need to perform the experiment.

Six-Week Schedule

Starting on science fair projects can seem a bit of a huge task, but you can cut this huge task down to bite-size bits with a schedule. Make sure to follow your timetable so that everything gets done at a reasonable pace and not all at the last minute.

Procedure

The procedure is the steps needed to complete the experiment. In the procedure a variable is anything that has an effect on the experiment. In the sample project, the altitude of the sun must be measure during specific times during the day. This makes the time of day the independent or manipulated variable. The measure altitude is the dependent, or responding variable. All other variables like the latitude and season are the controlled, or constant, variable.

Results

First you must organize all the data you have collected during the experiment before you can actually say the results of your experiment. Number, which is called “raw data” have very little meaning unless you organize and label them. You will need to write down the data from each experiment in a neat and orderly fashion in your journal. A table is one good way to keep up and record the numbers of your results. There are several ways you can present your results data. However you decide to present you results data, be creative, but get make it easy to understand. Science fair projects that are easy for teachers and judges to understand usually do the best.

Explaining Your Results

To explain your results you will need to use any information you have gathered during your research and combine it with the results you found in your experiment. If necessary make a small model of part of the experiment. The sample project used the sun’s altitude and certain times of the day. You could make a small model of the earth and the sun to show the Northern Hemisphere’s location at a certain time of day to the sun.

Problem and Hypothesis

Now that you have collected and analyzed your project research, you should be able to identify the problem. In your hypothesis you should state the findings in your research and compare them to the findings in your experiment. Remember, science fair projects must always have a clear hypothesis that can be stated in just one or two sentences.

By: Aurora Lipper

Science Fair Projects – Complete Guide to a Winning Science Project Step 2 – Topic Research

admin — Wed, 20 Jan 2010 11:19:05 +0000

First, get yourself a spiral notebook to be used as your journal. All science fair projects need to have notes taken as you work though them. This notebook is where you will record your topic research and your project research. It should have your ideas as well as those you get from printed information or from other people. It will also need to include descriptions of your experiment along with diagrams, graphs and other recorded notes of your results.

You will want all information written in the journal to be as neat as possible and make sure to include the date. This will be your complete and accurate record of your project from beginning to end. The information in the journal will be used to write your written report. Your journal will be displayed with your completed project.

Selecting a Topic

You want to get the best grade possible on your project, win awards at the fair and learn anything new about science you can. Judges will evaluate the science fair projects on a number of criteria. You will be able to achieve some or all of these as long as you spend the time working on your project it needs, so you will want to choose a topic you are interested in. If you can, it is best to choose a topic and stick with it. Don’t bounce around from topic to topic.

Look at the World Around You

By using an exploring question you can turn things you see everyday into a science project. For an example, the grass in your neighbor’s yard is always greener than in your yard. Why is his grass greener than ours? You have a question about plants. Could you turn it into a project? If you keep thinking about it, you might start to realize there is some nutrient in his soil that is not in yours.

If you keep your eyes and ears open and you start asking more exploring questions, you will find numerous things that could be turned into a project. You may wonder about the difference in paints. There are many questions you may have, but you don’t always ask them.

Find a Topic in Science Magazines

If you find a topic in a science magazine, do not expect them to come with instructions on how to do the experiment. You will have to come up with that one on your own. Just look at facts that seeming interesting to you. If they lead you to ask and exploring question, you may have a project topic. You can even try looking into a science fair project book or Science Experiment Books.

Three Steps to a Topic

You have decided to enter a project into the science fair, but you really don’t know where to start. The first thing you have to do is come up with a project idea. Start with a topic that interests you will have fun and learn something while working on this project. Here are a few hints for coming up with a project idea.

Look at these ideas and find a topic that interests you.

People Animals Plants Rocks Space Weather Electricity

There are many projects you can come up with using any one of these topic ideas. Come up with a question you have about one of these topics. You can start off with a simple question and make it a better question. Such as, “Why does it rain?” You want to get more specific about your question. So then you expound on it to become “How much rain did California get last year compared to 5 years ago?” Good topics for science fair projects include anything that you can do an experiment on to see if it is true or false.

Categories of Topic Ideas
Check with your teacher, but usually every fair has a list of categories. You may need to ask the advice of your teacher to find the right category for your project. You must have your project entered into the right category to win. If your project happened to get entered into the wrong category, you can be penalized because the judges are required to judge a project based on its category. For a list of categories, check out the resources on the web site below:

By: Aurora Lipper

Free Winning Science Fair Project Ideas – Cheap, Easy Science Fair Projects

admin — Tue, 05 Jan 2010 18:24:52 +0000

Free winning science fair projects are a lot like a story. They have a beginning, middle and an end. They show background research, the actual scientific research and a conclusion for that research respectively. There are number of ways of free winning science fair projects at any science competition. One can improve the chances of winning science fair projects.

The first thing to making a free winning science fair project is to get interested in the field. This will certainly affect the project and also the future presentation of the project. Enthusiasm and interest will direct decisions and motivation. A wide interest in the project will allow working on the project longer and deeper with more energy and fun. It will definitely show in every aspect of the project and research work. Being interested in the work is especially important and would certainly make a free winning science fair project.

So choose a topic that you have profound interest in. Pick a challenging topic, which would make you win. Simple topics will not help make a free winning science fair project. Go through lists of topics and finally you may arrive at some topic of your own. But, all you have to do is to make the topic a challenging one. Take a few extra steps to make your project a winning science fair project. Compete with higher level projects, which would take you to the edge of making a free winning science fair project.

Make a unique free winning science fair project because their uniqueness has an edge. Unique science fair projects are a little stronger with some originality which is more likely to become a winning science fair project. Choose something that is unusual and uncommon and make it a winning project. If you have something interesting in your mind that matches with your interest turn that one idea into a unique winning science fair project.

The next factor to make a free winning science fair project is the judges. Judges are scientists to at least scientists in mind. They look for projects that are difficult, complicated with unpredicted problems and a willful application of scientific methods. This is also a part for making a free winning science fair project. Most judges confront you with some challenging questions and look for a best answer. The best answer will give credibility and reliability. These efforts will certainly make you go one step further to make a free winning science fair project.

Next, understand your project and make a good attempt at doing background research. Background research is one of the most important parts of a project. It is the basis for your project, so collect the correct background information for your project. This will help devise a hypothesis. The more you understand about the topic the more you would learn from background information. It will also help you design a procedure and conserve time and energy. It will let you foresee some unusual problems that are to come.

Always look for concepts, definitions and equations that would best describe the topic of the project. Also connect your project to the present day society and world. Use every means to get your project closer to make a free winning science fair project.

By: Jordan Matthews

Science Fair Projects – Secrets to a Great Project

admin — Fri, 11 Dec 2009 17:55:56 +0000

Science Fairs are a great way for kids learn about science on their own with only a little help from Mom or Dad. Deciding on a good idea for the project can be the most difficult part of all. So, how do you know you have a great idea in mind for your project?

Look around and ask questions when you are trying to choose a project.

The science teacher will probably have a list of some good science projects. You can choose one from the list or come up with an idea on your own. As you are choosing a science fair project there are a few things to keep in mind.

Science Fair projects are nothing more than an experiment, write-up and presentation. This means you are trying to answer a question that you have. If you have an interest in the environment you may want to find out the effects acid rain has on plants. You will have to find a way to create your own acid rain to water one of your plants with and record each plants progress.

Don’t choose a project because it seems easy.

It is not considered to be a good project if you just do a report or a demonstration. These are tests performed by someone else and you are merely showing what information you know, not what you have learned through your experiment. Diagrams or models are also not considered to be a good science project because an experiment is not being performed. You are not asking a question for the purpose of running a test to find out the answer.

Choose a project, which is about something you are curious about. You will enjoy doing your project more and you will learn something in the process. Make sure your project includes a test or an experiment, which will answer a question. Science fair projects can be done on your own. You may need a little help from your parents, teachers or friends. The more of the project you do on your own the more you will learn and as long as you are interested to know the outcome of the experiment you will even have fun while doing it. Choose a project that will not harm anyone or anything. Make sure your project is safe. You don’t want to hurt or scare any animal, or people, especially you. You don’t want to choose a project that might be likely to explode. You could get hurt along with those around you. On the other hand you don’t want your project to scare people. Accidentally letting a snake or other creepy crawlers on the loose would not go well. If you are using animals or other creatures in your experiment, make sure they will not be harmed and they are securely confined. Also keep in mind that using dangerous chemicals in a science fair project is not allowed. Choose a project that will make you want more answers. You want the project you choose to make you think of other questions you might have. One of the sure fire ways to tell if you have chosen a good project is the results of your experiment makes you think of other questions you might want answered. Also if you had fun and you learned something while doing the project, it is a good sign you have chosen a great project.

If you’re ready to get going with your own science project, your next step is to download a free copy of “Easy Steps to Award-Winning Science Fair Projects” from the link below.

By: Aurora Lipper

Quick Science Projects Made Fun & Easy

admin — Wed, 02 Dec 2009 05:26:55 +0000

Quick science projects are great when you have a limited time frame to complete them or are just looking for a fun way to pass some time on a boring afternoon. There are many options when you’re looking for quick science fair projects, such as how much salt does it take to sink an egg?

All you need for this project is a glass, an egg, water and salt, and you just put the egg in the glass, fill it three-quarters full of water and add the salt, one teaspoon at a time. Another quick science project would to do a food comparison on an animal such as a rodent or a bug, or you could even do it on your own pet. You simply want to find out if they prefer one food over the other. This may not work well for pet dogs though, as most dogs seem to want to eat anything!

You could also do a fairly quick test on depth-perception in humans. All you need is a few cylindrical rods on a table next to each other but at a varying distance from one another, and have a friend cover one eye and try to grab the rod that you specify out of the bunch on the first try. You can then re-arrange the rods and have the friend try to do it with both eyes open. Ask him if he felt he could do it easier with one eye covered or with both eyes open.

By: Dee Schrock