Transcript St. Mary’s Science Fair

St. Mary’s Catholic School
Science Fair 2013-2014
Student Kickoff
St. Mary’s Science Fair

Resources you can call on


Teachers (Mrs. Cwalina & Mrs. Genth)
Science Fair Coordinators



Mr. & Mrs. Grossbauer : (610-489-5598 /
[email protected] )
Parents
Guidebook

Take some time to read through it now, refer to it later
St. Mary’s Science Fair
A Quick Review…
St. Mary’s Science Fair
How do I start ?

Choose a Topic

There are many different fields in science (GB pg 4-5).
Pick something that interests you; it will make the
project an enjoyable experience


You can get ideas from books, your teachers, or just by
looking around you and wondering how something works
Use websites with “pre-canned” experiments as a last resort;
the best projects tend to be those that were most creative, and
designed by a student to test something that they were
interested in
St. Mary’s Science Fair

Follow the Scientific Method (GB pg 6-7)


The Scientific Method is a logical approach to
performing an experiment
It starts with learning about the subject. Do some
research on the subject. References are plentiful :




Books
Internet resources
Experts
Friends, neighbors, relatives
St. Mary’s Science Fair

Spend time doing research

Books, Magazines, Internet sources, Experts

The more you know and understand the subject, the better you
will be able to conduct the experiment, and then to be able to
communicate it with others

Judges are looking for you to have understood your subject

A bibliography with 1 source is not sufficient research; MCSRC is
looking for at least 5 sources

Use the SMS Science Fair website as your first reference!
St. Mary’s Science Fair

Follow the Scientific Method

Form a hypothesis

A hypothesis is what you believe will be the answer to the
question your experiment is trying to answer

Examples :


I believe that the taller a cup of water, the longer it will take to
freeze.
I believe that seeds will not germinate without light.
St. Mary’s Science Fair

Follow the Scientific Method

Design the Experimental Procedure

This is the set of instructions you will follow to test your hypothesis


Remember, often times many factors can affect the outcome; change
only one variable at a time




If you were testing the “freezing cups of water” hypothesis, you might
design an experiment that has you fill different sized cups with water, put
them all in the freezer, and time to see how long each takes to freeze
Does the location inside the freezer matter ?
Does the kind of cup (plastic, metal, paper) matter ?
Execute multiple trials!!
The procedure should be a recipe that someone else can
follow
St. Mary’s Science Fair

Follow the Scientific Method

Perform the Experiment



Follow your instructions
Repeat the experiment more than once
Keep a journal



A logbook of your experiment trials. Mark down dates, data,
anything else you think is important.
Note that all measurements and data need to be in metric units
Change the procedure if something happens that you didn’t
expect
St. Mary’s Science Fair

Follow the Scientific Method

Analyze the data



Look at the data you captured during your experiment
Draw a graph, compute an average, etc to help understand
the data
Draw a conclusion


Is the answer to your hypothesis right or wrong ?
Is there something more you should have done, or some other
hypothesis that can be tested ?
St. Mary’s Science Fair

Research Plans

Each student must submit a typed research plan (GB
pg 8)



Describes the experiment, the hypothesis being made along
with the description of the experimental procedure
Should include a bibliography of the resources used for
researching the subject
Research plans must be approved by the teacher and
science fair coordinator

You will receive a feedback form approving or rejecting your
experiment, along with some suggestions (GB pg 10)
Example Research Plan
St. Mary’s Science Fair

As part of your project, we will ask you to
complete and display an Abstract (GB pg7)




The abstract is done once your experiment is
complete
A short report which gives the judges a quick overview
of the project
It should be no more than 250 words
It should include



The purpose
A brief description of the procedure
A review of the data and conclusions
St. Mary’s Science Fair

Display (GB pg-11)

For the day of the science
fair, all the experiments will
be put on display
Purpose
Project Title
Abstract

Your display should show
all the major parts of doing
the project. Make it look
good !
Hypothesis
Data
Tables
Bibliography
Graphs
Procedure
Photos
Experimental
Materials
Conclusion
Journal
Typical Display Setup
St. Mary’s Science Fair

Display restrictions (GB pg-12)



Displays can be no wider than 36” and no taller than 48”
Do NOT place your name or the school name on your display
Not allowed on/with your display :





Take pictures and display the pictures


Living things, including plants
Food
Chemicals including water
Glass or glass objects
Photographs of people other than yourself or your immediate
family are not allow
Use Metric units for all measurements and data
St. Mary’s Science Fair

Science Fair Day



Involves displaying & judging
Judges will be non-SMS people taken from
various walks of life
Judges will score each of your experiments using
the rubric in the GB pg13

Part of the judging will be an oral presentation
St. Mary’s Science Fair

What areas do we need to focus on ?

Research

Judges are looking for you to have understood your subject



Questions they’ll ask during oral judging
Looking for your bibliography, to see that you have researched
your project using multiple sources; 5 resources are required
Journal / Logbook


Keep and display the original
It should be a record of everything you did; it’s ok if it includes
mistakes made along the way. Many great things were
discovered by mistake!
St. Mary’s Science Fair

What areas should we focus on ?

Data analysis



Don’t just list data, analyze and evaluate it
Use graphs as appropriate to show your results
Display


First thing anyone sees when they approach your project
Make it eye-catching! Be creative
St. Mary’s Science Fair

What does it mean to go to Montco Fair?


After our science fair is complete, we will be
selecting a handful of projects to compete at the
Montgomery County Science Research
Competition (MCSRC)
The MCSRC works very similar to ours



Judges review the project
Judges perform an oral interview of the scientist
MCSRC is held March 13th – 14th

DVSF Fair is April 1st – April 3rd
St. Mary’s Science Fair

Certain kinds of experiments require approval
from the MCSRC Science Committee before
you are allowed to start

Any experiment that involves animals or humans

This includes any experiment that involves surveys

We are asking that NO projects involve ingestion –
eating or drinking of anything

Done for safety reasons
St. Mary’s Science Fair

There are a forms to be filled out (GB pg-9)

When you submit your research plan, there are a couple
of forms (simple!) for you to complete and submit




Your package will include a Research plan, Form 1A & 1B
Anything involving humans needs Form 4 too
Depending upon your particular project, there may be
other forms required; we will contact you if needed
All forms are on the SMS Website
There are some instructions in the guidebook, if you
have any questions on the forms, just ask.
St. Mary’s Science Fair
Calendar

GB pg-3




Student Kickoff
Research plans due
Projects Due
SMS Science Fair
September 17, 2012
October 25, 2013
January 15, 2014
January 16, 2014
St. Mary’s Science Fair
Final Reminder Notes









Do research – many sources are available; you should have at least 5
Research plans need to be typed
Return the required forms, including parent signatures
No ingestion experiments please
Keep a journal – record everything you do
Change only one variable at a time
Do a sufficient number of trials
Units on your display must be in metric
It’s OK if your hypothesis was wrong
DON’T WAIT UNTIL THE LAST WEEK TO WORK ON YOUR PROJECT!!
St. Mary’s Science Fair