Science Fair How To

1. HOW TO DO A
SCIENCE FAIR
PROJECT
HMS SCIENCE FAIR IS WEDNESDAY,
NOVEMBER 14, 2012. DISTRICT SCIENCE FAIR
IS FEBRUARY, 2013.

2. STEM
SCIENCE
TECHNOLOGY
ENGINEERING
MATHEMATICS

3. PARENTAL
INVOLVEMENT
“WE HAVE DETECTED YOUR PARENTS’ DNA
ALL OVER THIS PROJECT, BUT NONE OF
YOURS.”

4. THE SCIENTIFIC
METHOD
POSE A QUESTION
DEVELOP A HYPOTHESIS
RESEARCH YOUR TOPIC
PERFORM AN EXPERIMENT
ANALYZE DATA
SHARE RESULTS

5. POSE A QUESTION
WILL ADDING FERTILIZER TO HOUSEPLANTS
MAKE THEM GROW TALLER, FASTER?
FORM A HYPOTHESIS
IF FERTILIZER IS ADDED TO
HOUSEPLANTS, THEN THEY WILL GROW
TALLER, FASTER.
THIS IS A POSSIBLE ANSWER TO YOUR
INVESTIGATIVE QUESTION.

6. RESEARCH YOUR TOPIC
GO TO THE LIBRARY
CHECK THE INTERNET
ASK AN EXPERT
DESIGN YOUR
EXPERIMENT
WHAT MATERIALS WILL I NEED?
10 HOUSEPLANTS
WATER
FERTILIZER

7. DESIGN YOUR
EXPERIMENT
WHAT WILL MY PROCEDURE BE?
PLANTS A, B, C, D, AND E WILL HAVE NO
FERTILIZER ADDED.
PLANTS F, G, H, I, AND J WILL HAVE THE
RECOMMENDED AMOUNT OF FERTILIZER
ADDED.
WATER ALL PLANTS WITH AN EQUAL AMOUNT
OF WATER ONCE A WEEK FOR 6 WEEKS.
MEASURE PLANTS ONCE A WEEK FOR 6
WEEKS.
RECORD MEASUREMENTS IN LOG BOOK.

8. CONTROL YOUR
VARIABLES
CONTROLLED VARIABLES: ALL OF THE
VARIABLES THAT MUST REMAIN
CONSTANT:
AMOUNT OF WATER
AMOUNT OF LIGHT
TYPE OF PLANT
TYPE OF SOIL
SIZE OF POT
TEMPURATURE

9. CONTROL YOUR
VARIABLES
MANIPULATED VARIABLE:
THE ADDITION OF FERTILIZER
RESPONDING VARIABLE
PLANT GROWTH

10. RECORD DATA
RECORD YOUR OBSERVATIONS
MAKE CHARTS AND GRAPHS, AND/OR TAKE
PHOTOS.
DRAW CONCLUSIONS
MAKE SENSE OUT OF YOUR DATA.
WAS YOUR HYPOTHESIS CORRECT OR NOT
CORRECT?
IF YOUR HYPOTHESIS WAS NOT CORRECT,
EXPLAIN WHY.
WHAT FURTHER STUDIES COULD YOU DO?

11. SHARE RESULTS
WRITE A REPORT
CONSTRUCT A PRESENTATION BOARD.
SHARE WITH YOUR PEERS.
WRITE AN ABSTRACT
PURPOSE OF THE EXPERIMENT
PROCEDURES
DATA
CONCLUSION

12. TOPICS TO AVOID
EXPERIMENTS WITH HUMAN PARTICIPANTS
EXPERIMENTS WITH VERTEBRATE ANIMALS
EXPERIMENTS WITH HAZARDOUS
BIOLOGICAL AGENTS
EXPERIMENTS WITH HAZARDOUS
CHEMICALS, ACTIVITIES, OR DEVICES

13. CONSTRUCT A
PRESENTATION BOARD.
THIS IS YOUR CHANCE TO BE CREATIVE!
SNAPPY PRESENTATION BOARDS BRING
ATTENTION TO YOUR PROJECT.
CHARTS, GRAPHS, AND PHOTOGRAPHS
MAKE YOUR PRESENTATION BOARD
INTERESTING AND PERSONAL.

14. EXAMPLE OF BOARD