2013 Southaven Intermediate School Science Fair Rules and ...



2015 Southaven Intermediate School Science Fair Rules and Guidelines

All projects are due by Wednesday, February 18. Our school Science Fair is Friday, February 20, 2015.

Completing a Science Fair project for your teacher is MANDATORY for all 5th grade students. You may choose to enter your project in the judged fair. These guidelines apply whether you are entering the school fair or completing a project as required in your classroom.

How Do I Get Started?

The first thing you need to do is start a logbook or data notebook. Everything you do from the beginning to the end of the project should be recorded in your logbook. Write down science topics that you like, brainstorm ideas, visit websites or the library to find an investigation that interests you. You will need to consider how much time is needed to do a thorough investigation and the cost of materials you will need. Once you have chosen a topic, brainstormed ideas, and researched your project, the next step is to form a hypothesis and test your question according to the steps of the Scientific Method.

What Kind of Topics Will Be Accepted?

There are 10 categories for you to consider when you are choosing your project. Further explanations of these categories are included in this packet. *When experimenting directly with humans or animals you must get PRIOR approval from your teacher and the Science Fair Committee. Some experiments may require special forms from a doctor, dentist, or veterinarian to insure all safety procedures are followed.

Behavioral and Social Science Biochemistry Botany Chemistry Earth, Space, and Environmental Science Engineering, Computers, and Math Medicine and Health Microbiology Physics Zoology

How Do I Choose a Project?

Just like a scientist, you should choose a project that lets you do an experiment to help answer a question. Many ideas have been published or you may come up with an idea of your own. There are also several sites on the internet for you to access. is an excellent resource. It shows you the demonstration, explains the science concept, and helps you turn a demonstration into an experiment. and Steve Spangler Science are good resources also. The best projects are the ones that are interesting to you. You must be able to measure your results and come up with an answer to your question. Remember...volcanoes, solar systems, and collections are cool and require quite a bit of work, but they are NOT science experiments. They are science activities!

Sample Projects

Which paper towel absorbs the most water? What type of golf ball flies the farthest? Will frozen seeds sprout? On what kind of surface will a ball roll the fastest? What liquid will clean pennies the best? How does the design of a paper airplane affect its flight? Does water with salt boil faster (or freeze faster) than plain water? How far can a water balloon be tossed to someone before it breaks?

What brand of popcorn pops the most kernels? Do all colors fade at the same rate? Which cheese grows mold the fastest? Do living plants give off different amounts of moisture? Can different color balloons withstand the same amount of pressure? What materials provide the best insulation? Does color affect an insect’s appetite? Do different types of apples have different percentages of seeds? Which type of battery lasts the longest? Will a candle burn faster in a bright room or a dark one? Which type of roofing material provides the best heat reflection? Can homemade weather instruments accurately predict/measure weather conditions?

Project Restrictions

The items below may be used in your experiment under close parental supervision, but they may NOT be displayed at school or at the fair. Keep this in mind as you choose and complete your project. For example, you may study plants and their growth, but you would not be able to display the plants that you studied. You could show pictures of them or use artificial plants to explain your findings. Please let us know if you have any questions about this. If any of the below mentioned items are on your display, they will be removed prior to judging at the discretion of the Science Fair Committee. This is a rule that is strictly enforced by the University of Mississippi, and we must follow their guidelines. Failure to comply with these restrictions may result in your project being disqualified. Remember, safety is our number one priority!

*Any liquids-including water *Food-for humans or animals *Living plants or microbes *Animals-dead or alive *Soil-or waste sample *Any flame-open or concealed *Highly Flammable Materials *Dangerous Chemicals-including poisons, caustics, and acids *Syringes, Pipettes, Needles-or similar sharp devices *All Sharp Objects-glass slides, bottles, jars, etc. *Electrical Wiring-which is improperly insulated

No outlet electricity will be available for demonstrations. Batteries are permissible.

How Do I Follow The Scientific Method?

* indicates the steps that MUST be included on your display board

Other items will be included in your log book, report, abstract, or bibliography.

Purpose: The reason why the student is conducting this research and doing this experiment.

*Question: The question to be answered or the problem to be solved. It should be an open-ended question that is answered with a statement, not a yes or no. Ex: “How does the color of light affect the growth of a plant?”

Research (Background Information): A summary of all the information the student has gathered from reference materials (books, magazine articles, personal communication, internet, etc) before and during the experiment that helps them answer their question and form a hypothesis.

*Hypothesis: The ‘educated guess’ that is the answer to the question. The experiment is designed to test this hypothesis. The hypothesis does not change even if the results are different. The format can be: I think…; It is my opinion that…; I believe…or a cause and effect statement:

If_________(what you plan to test), then ________________(what you think will happen).

Variable(s): The items that have an effect on the experiment. The independent variable is what the student changes. Ex. the amount of water a plant receives The dependent variable is what changes because the student changed the independent variable. Ex. the height of each plant (because of the different amounts of water)

Control(s): The conditions or items you keep the same so that the experiment is valid. The items that do

not change during the experiment that test the hypothesis.

*Materials: A list of any supplies necessary to complete your study of the problem and testing of your hypothesis. Be sure to include the amount of each item. Ex. 2 cups of water; 16 inches of pipe; 2 beakers

*Procedures: Step-by-step process of what you did to test your hypothesis. The experiment should be done at least three times to increase the validity of the results. It should be detailed so that someone would be able to repeat the experiment. Use numbers to list steps beginning with a verb (like in a recipe).

Example:

1. Measure 500mL of de-ionized water into three plastic cups

2. Time the reaction with a stopwatch with 0.1 second accuracy

3. Place each type of AA alkaline batteries into each plastic cup

4. Record results

5. Repeat steps two more times

*Tables, charts, graphs, or diagrams: The data represented in an easy-to-see format. Students must include a minimum of one that accurately shows your results and justifies your conclusion. This could be a bar graph, line graph, circle graph, histogram, or any other appropriate form of showing your data.

*Results: What happened? What do your results show happened? Just give the facts not the interpretation (those are in your conclusion section). Ex: Plant A grew 5 cm higher than Plant B after 2 weeks. Plant A grew 7 cm higher than Plant C.

*Conclusion: Specifically summarizes what the student has discovered, how the results compare to the hypothesis, and why the hypothesis was correct or incorrect. Ex. Plant A grew the most because it received the most amount of water. My hypothesis was correct. Review how the data related to any information the student has learned while doing his/her background research.

Application: A summary about how the project relates to real world problems or situations.

Instructions for the Bibliography

A bibliography is an alphabetical list of all the books, magazines, pamphlets, newspapers, people, or web sites that you used in researching your topic and writing your report.

Instructions for the Report

Each science fair project should be accompanied by a report. The report should have the same title as the exhibit and consist of three to five paragraphs with a total of about 250 words. The first paragraph tells the purpose behind the experiment. The second paragraph contains the problem investigated and the hypothesis. The next paragraph contains the procedure followed in the investigation. The final paragraph or two contains a summary of the data collected from the investigation and conclusions based on the data collection.

Instructions for the Abstract

An abstract is a summary of your science fair project’s final report. It contains all the components displayed on your board. Your science fair project abstract lets people quickly see an overview of what is on your display. Since an abstract is short, it only contains a sentence or two in each section.

(1)Introduction (3)Hypothesis (5)Results

(2)Problem Statement (4)Procedure (6)Conclusion

How Do I Set Up My Display?

Your project should tell the story and communicate the results of your experiment clearly and attractively. A three sided display is required. Your display can be no wider than 48 inches, no deeper from front to back than 30 inches, and no taller from the floor to the top than 108 inches when set up on a display table. School supply stores sell various types of backboards in a variety of colors. Your display must be strong enough to stand by itself. Please make all labeling clear, neat, and informative with a large title. Also, make your display as colorful as possible. Put your name, your teacher's name, grade level, and category on a 3x5 index card and place it on the back of your display. We encourage you to use pictures. You may use pictures of yourself conducting the experiment, but no faces can be shown. Below you will find sample project boards of possible ways to arrange your display. The following website shows some good examples of the creativity used on Science Fair displays. These are high school examples so they are more detailed than our projects need to be and much more "wordy" than we expect.

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Bibliography, log book, report, abstract, and any other display items are to be set up in this area.

Project titles or attention grabbers may also be placed on headboards that attach to the display board.

Sample Titles

Question: Which soda produces the most fizz? Title: All Shook Up!

Question: What building material is safest during an earthquake? Title: Shake, Rattle, and Roll

Question: How do antacids work in the digestive system? Title: Plop, Plop, Fizz, Fizz

Question: How well do household cleaners work on bacteria? Title: Deadly Disinfectants

You get the idea! Catchy phrases that convey your project topic add interest to your display.

Category Descriptions

Behavioral and Social Sciences: Human and animal behavior; social and community relationships; consumer preferences and brand testing are usually in this category.

*When working with humans or animals you must get PRIOR approval from your teacher and additional forms may be required.

Biochemistry: Chemistry of life processes; food chemistry (decomposition rates and conditions; energy from food)

Botany: Study of plant life

Chemistry: Study of matter and the laws governing it. You may test some consumer products here. Some examples would include testing the effectiveness of detergents, waxes, and cleaning products. Testing chemical changes and reactions is appropriate for this category.

Earth, Space, and Environmental Science: Geology Ideas: test weather tools, the causes of earthquakes, the strength of rocks. Study of pollution (air, water, and land) sources and their control, ecology, waste disposal, impact of pollution studies. Ideas: ways to prevent erosion, study on decomposition, or biodegradability.

Engineering, Computers, and Math : Technology projects that directly apply scientific principles to manufacturing and practical uses. Ideas: What structures are the strongest? (test shapes) – think of bridge designs. Why are cars made in different shapes? Calculus, geometry, abstract algebra, number theory, statistics, complex analysis, probability.

Medicine and Health: Study of diseases and health of humans and animals – medicine, dentistry, pharmacology,

pathology, veterinary medicine, nutrition, sanitations, allergies, speech and hearing, etc.

*You must get approval from your teacher when working with people or animals PRIOR to starting your project.

Microbiology: Biology of microorganisms – bacteriology, fungi, bacterial genetics, yeast.

Remember to take pictures. You can’t display these organisms because someone may be allergic to them.

Physics: Pertaining to the part of the Physical Science Strand: Energy (light, sound, heat, and electricity) – Think of

something with light waves (light bulbs, sound waves (IPods), radio waves, materials that protect us from heat (oven

mitts) electrical circuits (what about those Christmas tree bulbs and if one is burned out), force (gravity, friction,

magnetism) and motion. Ideas: roller coaster, design of airplanes, rockets as it affects motion and or speed, type of

materials used that may affect physical laws: type of pavements, type of baseball bats, football, other sporting equipment.

Zoology: Study of animals-- Do earthworms see white light? Are dogs colorblind? Effect of temperature on chirping crickets. Do ants react to artificial sweeteners the same way they react to natural sugar? *You must get approval from your teacher when working with people or animals PRIOR to starting your project.

Science Project Checklist

After you complete your project, go back and use this checklist to make sure that you have all the necessary components.

_____ Question (Purpose or Problem)

_____ Hypothesis (What you think will happen based on your research)

_____ Materials (What you used)

_____ Procedure (How you tested the hypothesis)

_____ Results (What happened)

_____Graph, table, or chart to summarize your information

_____ Conclusion (Was your hypothesis correct? Why or why not?)

_____Log book is available to show what was done on a daily basis

_____Report on your topic (4-5 Paragraphs)

_____Abstract (a brief overview of what is on your project board)

_____Bibliography (a list of resources you used during research)

_____Identification (name, teacher's name, grade level, and category on 3x5 index card on

back of project board)

_____ Research of my topic is evident in my work.

_____ My work is neat and orderly. I used my best handwriting or typing skills. Spelling, grammar, and sentence structure rules were followed. The steps of the Scientific Method are displayed in the proper order.

_____ My board is creative and visually appealing. My board is colorful and uses ideas tied to the project topic. Tape or glue was used to add pictures, headings, and details to the board.

What If I Want to Enter the School Science Fair?

Any student in any grade may participate in the formal, school wide Science Fair. Please indicate your interest to enter the school fair on your project form. Third grade projects will be judged in Class I; fourth and fifth grade projects will be judged in Class II. Category awards will be based on the number of entries received. The number of invitations to the Region VII fair at Ole Miss in April is based on the quality of the projects. Invitations will go out on Monday, February 23 and are due by Friday, February 27.

Setting up Your Project

All projects are due by Wednesday, February 18. The fair will be held on Friday, February 20. Students will set up their projects in the gym at 2:45. We will hold an open house on Thursday afternoon, February 19 between the hours of 5:00 and 6:00. Students and parents may use this time to browse the other projects and to add to their own. Please make sure all materials are on your display including the log book, bibliography, report, and abstract. No Project changes or additions will be allowed after 6:00 p.m.

What Do The Judges Look For?

The judges will rate your project on originality, careful design of your hypothesis and experiment, thoroughness, how much help you had, and how clearly you are able to display and talk about your project. Be sure to think about all the things that you want to tell the judges. You only have a few minutes so think about it ahead of time.

Your Interview With The Judges

1. Be at ease! Don’t be afraid to talk to the judges. We have selected wonderful judges who love kids and science! Just tell them what you know. Your interview is your only chance to explain your project to the judges and tell him/her what you have learned by doing this project.

2. Be interested! If you show that you are interested in your experiment and what you are saying, most likely, the judges will be interested too. Enthusiasm and eye contact are impressive to judges.

3. Be prepared! Practice talking about your project. Be able to tell them what you did. Then show them your results. Talk about your conclusion and what you found out by doing this experiment. Try to present all of your information in five minutes or less.

4. If the judges ask you a question that you don’t know the answer to, it’s best to just tell them that you don’t know. Two questions that judges often ask are: “If you could do this project differently, what changes would you make?” and “What would you do if you had more time to do this project?” Think about these questions before the interview, too. Did you run out of time? After the experiment, did you find that you had more questions than when you started? Is there anything in your project you would like to change? The judges will be impressed if you have the answers to these questions.

5. Have fun! This is the most important tip of all. Science can be so much fun. Enjoy yourself!

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