The Physical World

THE PHYSICAL UNIVERSE CATEGORY COVERS EXPERIMENTATION IN THE NON-BIOLOGICAL, NON-BEHAVIORAL AREA. CHEMISTRY, PHYSICS, EARTH SCIENCE, AND SPACE SCIENCE ALL FIT INTO THIS GROUPING.

This category is for explorations of the physical aspect of the world around us. A successful project in this category will commonly ask a question of a non-biological nature, then using research and experimentation it will attempt to answer the question and, finally, will present a conclusion.

PROJECT SCOPE

This is one of the basic experimentation (scientific inquiry) categories. Most commonly a question is asked, a hypothesis is created, research is done, an investigation is performed, and a conclusion is reached. The Science and Engineering Practices described earlier in this document are very apparent in any entry in this category.

Projects in this category should have some form of log of the progress through the entire sequence. This log should be in electronic form (Google Docs or Google Sheets).

Projects should have an original or innovative aspect to the work at least in either concept or approach. If an existing project is modified or continued from a previous year, such work should be noted and credited, and the expanded and/or innovative portions clarified or explained and documented.

PROJECT DISPLAY AND DESCRIPTION

The project display is a summary of all the work done on your project. It should include an understandable description of the idea or concept being explored, the methods used in that exploration, and the conclusions generated.

Information that should be part of the display include:

•  Graphical information that will clarify the project’s scope or details

•  A list of materials used, and any construction methods used to build any custom apparatus

•  A bibliography that shows any research sources.