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 Students may browse the Internet, science books and magazines. Some books are available for use in the classroom. Students may discuss topics with parents, family friends and acquaintances with experience in areas that interest the student. Any non-parent mentors should be listed on the proposal form. Projects must be experiments. Students will not receive approval for building models, equipment or setting up demonstrations. The experiment should answer a question. It should test a cause and effect relationship. The experimental question should have a form similar to “What is the affect of increasing (or decreasing) the amount of (your independent variable) on (your dependent variable)?”Students will need to identify all variables (factors that might affect or change the results). The experiment will test the affect of one variable (independent variable) on the factor you are measuring for your results dependent variable). All other variables (constants) must not change during the experiment. All experiments must have a control or standard for comparison. The control will be a zero quantity of your independent variable. Successful experiments have results that can be measured and expressed as numbers. Only metric measurement units will be allowed. A reference sheet for metric measurement is included in the science fair information pages.
Proposal: All proposal forms should be submitted on or before Monday, November 19th. Proposals that are not approved will be returned with suggestions for resubmitting. Proposals that are accepted will be kept and an acceptance note will be sent home. The proposal form includes the experimental question your experiment is designed to answer. The experimental question
should have a form similar to “What is the affect of increasing the amount of (your independent variable) on (your dependent variable)?” There should be increasing or decreasing amounts of your independent variable. The hypothesis is different from the experimental question because it offers a logical answer to the question, based on the background research. The experiment tests if the hypothesis is correct. A very successful experiment may prove the hypothesis is incorrect! The independent variable, dependent variable, constants and control must be identified for this form. A method for measuring the dependent variable for results must be clearly explained. Materials needed for the experiment must be listed. In your logbook, specifically describe all materials and equipment. (Example: brand, lot number, expiration date, etc.) When you purchase supplies, buy more that enough to avoid switching batch or lot numbers.
Logbook: All students must have a composition book to use as a logbook for only science fair work. The logbook is a diary of all activities and work related to the project. Logbooks show the scientific community the experiment was your own work and completed in sequence. Logbooks will be part of the project grade and checked in class on scheduled days (see calendar).A standard composition book will work well. Only use one side of the paper. Each page should be numbered. Pages should never be ripped out. Write in pen. Initial and date each entry. Mistakes should be crossed out with a single line across. Please initial and date any changes. Ring binders, spiral notebooks and loose-leaf are not acceptable.
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