Keys to a Great Science Project

From CurriculumWiki

How do scientists learn about the natural world? They use reasoning and evidence. Reasoning means being careful about how you think. Evidence is anything you can observe and measure. The scientific method provides some basic rules for reasoning with evidence. You can use these rules to create a great science project. You can share what you learn from a science project in many ways. Here is an example presentation on liquid density.

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Contents 1 Scientific Method 1.1 Purpose 1.2 Hypothesis 1.3 Materials 1.4 Procedures 1.5 Results 1.6 Conclusions 2 Sharing Your Project 2.1 Presentation 2.2 Website 2.3 Brochure 2.4 Science Fair 3 Credits 3.1 Authors 3.2 Sources

Scientific Method

Choose one topic for your project and do some research.

What do you know about the topic?

What would you like to learn about the topic?

Pick something you find VERY INTERESTING!

Purpose

Narrow your topic to a question you can answer with an experiment.

What is the purpose of your experiment?

What do you want to learn about your topic?

How can you use the scientific method to answer your question?

Hypothesis

A hypothesis is a prediction that can be tested by evidence. A hypothesis is what you think will happen when you conduct an experiment.

Making predictions!

Making an educated guess!

What do you think will happen?

Materials

Find everything you are going to need to test your hypothesis.

Make a detailed list of the items you will need to complete your project.

Anyone should be able to re-create your project from your list.

Gather all the materials in one place.

Procedures

Conduct an experiment to test your hypothesis.

Write down step-by-step instructions before you do the experiment.

Anyone should be able to re-create your experiment using your instructions.

Write down observations and take photos.

Results

Tell what happened during the experiment and show your results.

Show change over time.

Make a chart or table.

Use bar charts, line graphs, and pie charts.

Conclusions

Compare the results to your hypothesis. Explain the scientific importance of your experiment.

What conclusions can you draw from the results?

What parts of your experiment did and did not work well?

How could you do the experiment differently?

Sharing Your Project

A good science project requires a lot of work. You may want to share what you learn in a science project with other people. You can explain what you learned in many different ways.

Presentation

A presentation is a good way to share information with a live audience. You can create a presentation to explain your science project. Use the following rubric to help you create a more effective presentation.

Category	4	3	2	1
Content	All content throughout the presentation is accurate. There are no factual errors.	Most of the content is accurate but there is one piece of information that might be inaccurate.	The content is generally accurate, but one piece of information is clearly flawed or inaccurate.	Content is typically confusing or contains more than one factual error.
Layout	Font formats (e.g., color, bold, italic) have been carefully planned to enhance readability and content.	Font formats have been carefully planned to enhance readability.	Font formatting has been carefully planned to complement the content. It may be a little hard to read.	Font formatting makes it very difficult to read the material.
Mechanics	Information is organized in a clear, logical way. It is easy to anticipate the type of material that might be on the next card.	Most information is organized in a clear, logical way. One card or item of information seems out of place.	Some information is logically sequenced. An occasional card or item of information seems out of place.	There is no clear plan for the organization of information.

Website

A website is a great way to share information with people around the world. You can create a website to explain your science project. Use the following rubric to help you create an effective website.

Category	4	3	2	1
Content	The site has a well-stated clear purpose and theme that is carried out throughout the site.	The site has a clearly stated purpose and theme, but may have one or two elements that do not seem to be related to it.	The purpose and theme of the site is somewhat muddy or vague.	The site lacks a purpose and theme.
Layout	The Web site has an exceptionally attractive and usable layout. It is easy to locate all important elements. White space, graphic elements and/or alignment are used effectively to organize material.	The Web pages have an attractive and usable layout. It is easy to locate all important elements.	The Web pages have a usable layout, but may appear busy or boring. It is easy to locate most of the important elements.	The Web pages are cluttered looking or confusing. It is often difficult to locate important elements.
Mechanics	There are no errors in spelling, punctuation or grammar in the final draft of the Web site.	There are 1-3 errors in spelling, punctuation or grammar in the final draft of the Web site.	There are 4-5 errors in spelling, punctuation or grammar in the final draft of the Web site.	There are more than 5 errors in spelling, punctuation or grammar in the final draft of the Web site.

Brochure

A brochure is a short publication on a specific topic. You can create a brochure that explains your science project. You can use word processing or desktop publishing software. Use the following rubric to help you create an effective brochure.

Category	4	3	2	1
Content	All facts in the brochure are accurate.	99-90% of the facts in the brochure are accurate.	89-80% of the facts in the brochure are accurate.	Fewer than 80% of the facts in the brochure are accurate.
Appearance	The brochure has exceptionally attractive formatting and well-organized information.	The brochure has attractive formatting and well-organized information.	The brochure has well-organized information.	The brochure's formatting and organization of material are confusing to the reader.
Organization	Each section in the brochure has a clear beginning, middle, and end.	Almost all sections of the brochure have a clear beginning, middle and end.	Most sections of the brochure have a clear beginning, middle and end.	Less than half of the sections of the brochure have a clear beginning, middle and end.

Science Fair

A science fair is an event held for students to share their projects. Most science fairs are competitive. Judges award prizes to the best projects. Practice explaining your project before the judges arrive. Most science fairs require a display, such as:

A poster board.

A model of your project.

A research paper, presentation, or publication.

Credits

Authors

This activity was originally created by Kerry Mindeman, Chicago Public Schools. It was adapted for CurriculumWiki by James Sweet, Digital Generation Education Exchange.

Sources

Science Research and the Process of Science from Science Service

Density from Science Clarified

Photograph of a Galileo thermometer retrieved from http://www.flickr.com/photos/giantginkgo/280269923/ on January 4, 2007 under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 2.0 License.

Photograph of a science fair poster retrieved from http://www.flickr.com/photos/futureofmath/44369705/ on January 4, 2007 under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivs 2.0 License.