Sample

Example Science Fair

Here is a project I work on with the younger grades.  I also model this for the fifth graders.

Title:  Magic Grow Mania

Tip:  Make it catchy and have fun.  The title may come with time as you work on your project.  It does not need to be created first.

Question:  What type of water will help Magic Grow Creatures grow larger?  Tap, distilled, or spring water?

Tip:  The question MUST be testable.  I have so many students that want to research their favorite animal or planet.  Example:  How do dolphins eat?  This is not a testable question.  More of a research question.

Hypothesis:  If I place a magic grow in tap, distilled and spring water, then the magic grow in tap water will grow the largest.  

Tip:  A hypothesis should be an if/then statement.  It's cause and effect.  If I do this, then I think this will happen.  Remember, it's okay if your data does not match your hypothesis.  That's part of the FUN about science.  We learn!!!  You will NOT fail your project if the hypothesis does not match your data.  It's important to be ethical (do the right thing!) and report your findings.  Do not change your hypothesis to match your data.

Research:  Magic grow creatures are made from a special chemical called hydrogel (Spangler, 2023).  This hydrogel is a super absorbent material.  The Spangler website did not include any information about the types of water to help them grow larger.

In my other research, I found a middle school student who completed this experiment with salt, sugar and distilled water.  Melanie Anderson’s data showed that the sugar water magic grow grew the largest during her experiment.  She did state that the water was cloudy and she had an ant problem, but her magic grow frog grew the most in sugar water (2014).

Here's another way to cite sources in your research paper (this is a twist on the first paragraph above):

According to Steve Spangler’s article, Growing Creatures – Superabsorbent Polymers, magic grow creatures are made from a special chemical called hydrogel.  This hydrogel is a super absorbent material.  The Spangler website did not include any information about the types of water to help them grow larger.

Tip:  It's important to do some research about your question.  Has anyone done this experiment before?  Try to gather as many sources as possible.  A variety would be best (videos, websites, books, journals, etc.).  Be mindful of the websites you use.  Wikipedia's can be edited by anyone online.  Check your sources!

Works Cited (Bibliography) Page:  

“Growing Creatures - Superabsorbent Polymers.” Steve Spangler, 23 Feb. 2022, https://stevespangler.com/experiments/giant-growing-creatures/.

“In Which Type of Liquid Do Magic Grow Animals Grow in Best?” Prezi.com, https://prezi.com/ukd9x1xewm6t/in-which-type-of-liquid-do-magic-grow-animals-grow-in-best/.

Tip:  Use Easybib.com to create your works cited page!  It does the work for you (for the most part).  I modeled this in class.  Students need at least three to five sources.

Materials:

• Four magic grow creatures (all the same)

• Six bins (same size) – I used the blanket bins that fit under a bed from Walmart.

• 12 gallons of each water (tap, distilled and spring)

• Labels for bins

• Markers to label bins

• Data recording sheet and a pencil

• Papers towels to clean up water (when measuring creatures)

• Measuring tape

Tip:  List everything you need to complete the experiment.  Add as you go if needed.  

Procedure:

1.Purchase 9 of the exact same Magic Grow creatures.  I purchased the ones for this experiment at the dollar store.  I have the snakes.

2.On Monday, remove magic grow creatures from packages.  Measure length and record data.

3.Label each bin with water types (tap water, distilled water, and spring water).

4.Add 3 gallons of water to proper bins.  Three gallons of tap water to the tap water bin, 3 gallons of distilled water to the distilled bin, and 3 gallons of spring water to the spring bin.

5.Do this two more times for a total of 9 bins (three trials).

6.Record length of magic grow creatures every afternoon at 4:00 PM (except on weekends) for one week.

7.Magic Grows were placed on a  clean table for measuring.  We measured the creatures from the tip of the tongue to tail each time using a piece of yarn since the creatures are curved (measuring over the back).  Then we measured the length of the string.

8.Use towel to clean up water mess on table before measuring the next magic grow creature.

9.A gallon of water was added to each bin to compensate for evaporation on Wednesday.

10.On Friday,  measure all creatures one last time and record data.  Empty and clean bins and materials.

Tip:  Make sure you're as detailed as possible.  Anyone should be able to complete your experiment by following your procedure without asking for help.  Scientists like to share and learn from each other!!!  Someone might want to try your experiment!!!

Perform Experiment and Record Data

Complete your experiment.  Make sure you edit your materials list and procedure if necessary.  When you're completing your experiment, remember to control variables and do the experiment three or more times - the same way each trial.  Be consistent.  In the magic grow experiment, I used the same containers, type of water, etc. for each trial.  

You can track your data on a piece of paper or in your MOS journal.  Remember to put your data on your science fair board - along with a graph.  I have a chart of data and then a graph of the final measurements.  

Tip:  Be consistent, control variables, and do the experiment three or more times!  Remember, it's okay if the data does not match your hypothesis.

Recording Data

Here are the data charts we used for the Magic Grow Creatures.  

Here is the graph to display some of the data (final measurements).  Graphs are a great visual way to represent data.  

Tip:  Make sure the data is quantitative.  You need to be recording numerical data.  Written observations are also great - but numbers are facts!

Results

My hypothesis did NOT match the data.  The Magic Grow creature in the distilled water grew the longest.

Tap water creatures grew the second largest and spring water magic grows grew the least.

If you take the largest creature growth from each trial, the distilled water creature was over 90 cm longer than the tap and spring water creatures!

Conclusion

Based on my experiment, I recommend using distilled water to grow the largest Magic Grow creatures.  Not only did they grow the largest, but the water looked the cleanest after the project concluded. 

If I were to do this experiment again, I would try different liquids because I’m curious to see if seltzer water would work too.

Some issues during this experiment involved measuring the snakes with yarn.  Sometimes it wasn’t consistent (yarn stretches easily).  I would use string next time and get more people to help me measure it for better accuracy.  The tap water developed some mold. 

It would also be great to see if this project could make a difference in our waters.  Can hydrogel be used to absorb oil spills?