Archived material from 2014
Last minute check:
have you presented your results in a table
have you drawn a graph to present your results?
have your discussed your results?
have you done a conclusion where you talk about your hypothesis?
have you written down references for images or text used?
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Your project needs:
A title: What are you investigating?
e.g. Investigation of the effect of cola on student heart rate
If you have not started your project by now, you should use one of the experiments from class, such as acidity of common drinks, or speed of the common garden snail
A hypothesis: What is your educated guess about what will happen?
e.g. Hypothesis: drinking 150mL of cola will cause a student's heart rate to increase
List your variables: independent (input/what you change each time) and dependent (output/what you measure); AND what you hold constant
e.g. our independent variable is the student (we have a different one each time)
our dependent variable is the heart rate measurement difference (final heart rate - first heart rate)
variables we held constant included: type of cola, amount of cola (150mL), age of student, sex of student, time till heart rate was re-measured
Method: a detailed description of what you did, that any other scientist could follow easily. Include any amounts, brands, sizes, etc. You may include diagrams.
e.g. Method for heart rate and cola experiment
A student had their heart rate measured (beats per minute). They then drank a 150mL glass of cola in less than 1 minute. After a further nine minutes (a total of ten minutes since the first measurement) the student's heart rate was measured again. The measurements were recorded in a table. This experiment was repeated on a further 29 students, giving a total of 30 students as a sample number for the test.
Results: these should be illustrated in a table, AND a graph. A statement of what the results show is often a good idea (a few sentences stating what the results were)
e.g. Table showing change in heart rate for all 30 students 10 minutes after drinking cola (including an average)
with the words "the average change in heart rate was a rise of 7.3 beats per minute. No one showed a decrease in heart rate."
Discussion: where we relate the results to other information
e.g. Our results show that cola appears to increase the heart rate of 14 year old boys after 10 minutes (minus the time to drink the cola). This is consistent with studies that show caffeine can increase heart rate temporarily, as cola contains caffeine. It also contains sugar which has been shown to increase heart rate. We are unsure whether one or both is contributing to the increase in average heart rate, but we suspect both are involved.
You will get a better mark if you include a reference to the studies/articles/webpages you saw your information on (give the website or book title and author)
Conclusion: where you tell people if your hypothesis was supported by your results or not
e.g. we feel these results support our hypothesis that drinking 150mL of cola will increase a student's heart rate.
Presenting your project
Including photos is a great idea - state where they are from and who the photographer is: be sure not to breach copyright.
Make sure your project is neat and clear.
When putting information on a poster or Science Fair board, don't leave too much white space.
Make the type size big - you want people (including the judges) to be able to read your work easily.
Ensure your name is on your poster or board.
Have you included your references? The details for the books or webpages you got information from.
Have you illustrated your results with a graph and/or diagram and/or table?
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Inspiration. You need to find a question for your investigation. Here is an example of the power of young people in science, you can make discoveries for your community.
Here are some ideas for investigating food products
This Food Chemistry page has instructions on how to test for various substances, including simple sugars, protein, and fats, as well as more complex tests such as what instruments you will need to test for things like the concentration of sugars in a liquid.
For the SCIENTIFIC METHOD go to this page.