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Great Prizes up for grabs. Check out the Science Fair topics and start your project today!
1 - INTRODUCTION
1 - INTRODUCTION
GO here to check out all the categories in our Taranaki Science Fair... so many great prizes up for grabs!! https://taranakisciencefair.co.nz/#top
1) Watch one of the videos above about scientific investigations. Answer the questions below;
a) Why investigate in Science?
b) What is an investigation in Science?
c) What does the scientific method involve?
Scientists conduct investigations for all kinds of reasons. They may want to explore new ideas, answer questions, gather evidence or prove or disprove previous results. Although scientists must follow certain methods to ensure their results are fair and accurate (the scientific method), there are many ways they can conduct an investigation.
Some aspects scientists need to consider are;
how big their investigation will be (small scale versus large scale)
how long it will run (short term versus long term).
how many Independent variables it will have
how many repeats will be done
what will the controlled variables be
how will results be measured
2 - LOOKING AT INVESTIGATIONS
2 - LOOKING AT INVESTIGATIONS
What could a science investigation look like?
a) Observe a project previously completed by a student at Waitara High School displayed in your classroom, or look at one of the digital versions below: Plant Puree, Which Wing Width Wins or Bioplastics.
b) Complete the 'Evaluating a Science Fair project sheet' below thinking critically about the good and bad things about the projects.
Y9_MRGS_Adalia Lobo.pdfY9_MRGS_Baraa Zara.pdfOliver Brown - ACGP_Y08_Kylie Koh_MAT.pdf
3 - WHAT MAKES A GOOD OR BAD INVESTIGATION?
3 - WHAT MAKES A GOOD OR BAD INVESTIGATION?
How do we do good science?
a) Look at the different images below to give you ideas, then complete 4 bullet points each for what makes a good or bad science investigation.
Good Science investigation has/does: Bad Science investigation has/does:
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4 - BREAD MOULD CLASS INVESTIGATION
4 - BREAD MOULD CLASS INVESTIGATION
1) Look at the images below, write ideas about what they all have in common.
2) Look at the images below, answer the question:
How can fungi be beneficial to humans?
3) Watch the videos and answer these questions:
a) What is mould?
b) How does it grow?
c) What conditions does it need to grow?
4) Identifying variables
Below are three key terms and their definitions;
Independent variable - the one condition that is changed during a scientific experiment, by the scientist.
Dependent variable - the one condition that is observed or measured during a scientific experiment. Data collected.
Control variables - these are the elements that are kept the same during a scientific experiment to make it fair and reliable.
EXAMPLE: Imagine you want to see which type of fertiliser helps plants grow fastest, so you add a different brand of fertiliser to each plant and see how tall they grow.
Independent variable = the type of fertiliser given to the plant
Dependent variable = plant height
Control variables = the type of plant used, the amount of fertiliser given, the time given to grow. And all other conditions kept the same between each plant e.g. the amount of water each plant receives, the temperature of the room, the amount of sunlight etc.
Check your understanding Questions:
1) Hineata is performing a test in which she is trying to see if plants can grow when given fizzy drinks instead of water. She gives one plant water and a second identical plant the same amount of fizzy drink for two weeks, then measures how tall each plant has grown.
a) What is the Independent variable?
b) What is the Dependent variable?
c) What is one thing she needed to control to make her experiment fair?
2) Another student wanted to find out if he dropped eggs from a greater height would they make a bigger splat on the ground when they smashed.
a) What is the Independent variable?
b) What is the Dependent variable?
c) What is one thing he needed to control to make his experiment fair?
3) Watch the video with some mythbusters experiments and try to identify the IV and DV for each experiment.
5) Use the template below to complete your class investigation about Bread Mould
5 - CANON BALL LAUNCHER TECHNOLOGICAL DEVELOPMENT
5 - CANON BALL LAUNCHER TECHNOLOGICAL DEVELOPMENT
INTRODUCTION TO TECHNOLOGY?
Technology is hard to define.
One definition could be:
“Technology is a human-made object, system, or process (step by step procedure) whose purpose is to solve a problem or make life easier (meet a need)”
Another definition could be:
“Technology is the development and use of tools to solve a problem or meet a need”
We are going to spend some class time unpacking what technology is AND then we are going to follow the ENGINEERING DESIGN PROCESS to develop some technologies of our own
The first challenge:
Designing a Cannonball Launcher device
For this challenge you will be given:
a pack of materials
some conditions you have to meet in order to make a device that can launch a table tennis ball as far as possible.
In stage 1 of the design process you will need to look up some ideas of what others have done
You might like to look at the videos below to get a feel for homemade launchers.
Note these launchers are for ideas only, they don't have the same list of materials or conditions that you do.
WHAT SHOULD YOUR FINAL PROJECT HAVE?
WHAT SHOULD YOUR FINAL PROJECT HAVE?
Use the checklists below to help you think about if your project contains all the things it should/
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