| Home
About the Fair
About the
Egg-Drop Contest
Fair Rules
Registration
Types of
Projects
Collections
Demonstrations
Models
Observations
Experiments
Research Projects
Choose a Topic
Develop a
Question
Answer the
Question
Present
at the Fair
Schedule
for Day of Fair
Frequently Asked
Questions
Links
Return to Home Page
|
|
Experiments
Can Test an Answer
When
children think they know the answer to their question, they may
want to develop an experiment that tests their
answer. Scientists
use experiments to test their understandings of the world and how it
works.
As
you consider the sort of experimental project outlined below, consider
that younger children often have trouble understanding more
sophisticated aspects of experimental design, like hypotheses,
variables and controls. If that's the case with your child,
don't worry about. You can try out several things at once
without having a hypothesis, and you can talk about what happens
without controlling all the variables but one. Use this
opportunity to explore together and realize that your child will
understand scientific experiments better in a year or two.
The key steps in a
developing an experimental research project are to:
-
Understand
the question you are trying to answer. This may take
some research in the library or on the Web.
-
Think
of a potential answer that you want to test. This is
called the hypothesis.
-
Devise
a test for the hypothesis. This is called the experiment.
Depending
on the results, you should be able show either that the hypothesis
is false or that it may be true. A lot of thought
goes into designing real scientific experiments. For
instance, it's easiest to analyze the results if you change only
one thing at a time, while keeping the others constant.
-
Do
the experiment. Write down and follow the procedure
you follow as you do the experiment. Find
ways to measure what happens. Try the experiment
several times and compare the results.
-
Analyze
the results. Graph the measurements in a way that makes
it clear what they tell you about the hypothesis you are testing.
-
Draw
your conclusions. Did your proposed answer survive the
test, or
must you go looking for other answers to your question?
-
Present
your results. The display board for an experimental
science project may be set up like this:
Left
Panel
Purpose
Problem
Hypothesis
Procedure
|
Center
Panel
Title
Illustrations/photos of procedure
Graphs/charts of results
|
Right
Panel
Results
Conclusion |
Here are some examples of experimental projects
from the 2002 Irving School Science Fair:
 |
 |
| The above
presentation answered the question, "Which batteries last
the longest?"
The one on the right answered the
question, "How do icicles form?"
|
|
|
There
are many books and websites that can help you plan this type of
project:
Return to the Types of Projects page.
|