My Experiment

For your science fair project, you will be carrying out experiments.

Examples of experiments can be: “Which laundry detergent works best?”, “Do sleds go faster in colder or warmer temperatures?” or “Does the number of wheels of a toy vehicle affect it speed?”.


You can tell you have an experiment if you are testing something several times and making small changes to the experiment each time to see what will happen.


Why do experiments ? Well, they are interesting and fun. They take you through the SCIENTIFIC METHOD, which is the way real scientists investigate in real science labs.


So, what is the scientific method?

Here are the steps to the scientific method that scientists use to solve problems:



You can print this handy guide to take you through each step of creating an experiment.

Launching my Experiment

Collecting Data


  • Keep a science journal: A science journal is a type of science diary that you can keep especially if your experiment is taking place over a long period of time. We suggest you do that if your experiment is over a period of a week or more. In your journal you can record observations, collect research, draw and diagram pictures and jot down any additional questions you might have for later.

  • Have the right tools to do the job: make sure you have the stuff you need to take accurate measurements like rulers, meter tapes, thermometers, graduated cylinders or measuring cups that measure volume. The recommended standard of measurement in science is metric so if you can keep your measurements in meters, liters, Celsius, grams, etc., you are doing great!

  • Tables, charts and diagrams are generally the way a good scientist like you would keep track of your experiment trials. Remember you are testing at least 5 times or more. A table is organized in columns and rows and ALWAYS has labels or headings telling what the columns or rows mean. You will probably need a row for every time you did the experiment and a column telling what the independent variable was (what you tested) and the responding variable (the result that happened because of the independent variable)

  • Be accurate and neat! When you are writing your tables and charts please make sure that you record your data in the correct column or row, that you write neatly, and most of all that you record your data as soon as you collect it SO YOU DON’T FORGET WHAT HAPPENED!!!! Sometimes an experiment might be hard to explain with just a table, so if you have to draw and label a diagram (or picture) to explain what happened, it is recommended that you do.

  • Use the right graph for your experiment.

  • Bar graphs are good to use if you are comparing amounts of things because the bars show those amounts in an easy to read way. This way the judges will be able to tell your results at a glance. Usually the bars go up and down. The x axis (or horizontal axis) is where you label what is being measured, (like plant A, B, C and D) and the y axis (or vertical axis) is labeled to show the unit being measured (in this case it would be centimeters that the plant grew)



  • Line graphs are good to use if you are showing how changes occurred in your experiments over time. In this particular case you would be using the x axis to show the time increments (minutes, hours, days, weeks, months) and then you would use the Y axis to show what you were measuring at that point in time.



Bar Graph:

Line graph: