Cathedral Chapel School Science Fair March 18th 20th, 2014

Information Packet for Student Science Projects

Included: Important dates, Proposal form, Scientific Method planning sheet, And project ideas.

Important Dates
Mon., February 10th Mon., February 10th February through March Tues., March 18th March 19-20th Thurs., March 20th All proposal forms must be turned into your teacher. Your parent/guardian must sign this form. Project display boards order forms will be handed out to homeroom teachers. All order forms are due by Tuesday, February 18th. Complete your science fair project. Use the CCS science fair website for updates, project ideas and online forms. Science Fair registration takes place between 7:30 and 8:30. Projects submitted after 9 AM will not be eligible for the competition. During the day classes can tour the Science Fair. Students take home projects at the end of the school day.
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Science Fair Proposal Form

Cathedral Chapel School

Return form by Monday, February 10, 2014

Students Name______________________________Grade_________
First Last

Teacher____________________________________ Partner Name:_____________________________________________

(This is optional. You may work with just one partner. You must submit a group permission slip.)

Science Fair Project Information:

All 3 - 5th grade students will do an experiment. Other types of projects will not be accepted. Students must adhere to their class theme. Grades 1 2nd grade students may do an individual experiment or demonstration. Participation in the science fair is strongly suggested. Kindergarten students may do an individual experiment, demonstration, collection or model. Participation in the science fair is strongly suggested.

Kindergarten: Health & Nutrition First: Plant Biology Second: Earth Science Third: Physical Science Science Fair Topic:

Fourth: Space Science Fifth: Engineering Sixth-Eighth: Free Choice

(The Big Question! What do you want to find out? Describe your project.)

____________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________ Parent/Guardian Authorization:

__________________________________________________________________ Parent Name (please print) Date ___________________________________________________________________________________ Parent/Guardian signature

Name__________________________________________ Teacher___________________________ The Scientific Method Use this as a guide to organize the sections on your tri-fold board. 1. Project Title ________________________________________________________________ 2. Question Keep your question simple. Do some background research to understand your topic. _____________________________________________________________________________________? 3. Hypothesis A hypothesis is an educated guess. What do you think will happen in your experiment? An experiment is testing cause and effect. If ________________________________________________________________________, then ______________________________________________________________________. 4. Variables Variables are the things that change in the experiment. An independent variable is the cause you are testing and the dependent variable is the effect created. List your variables. Independent variable_______________________________ Dependent variable____________________ Controlled variables are things that remain the same in each experiment. What are the controls in your experiment? _______________________________________________________________________________________ 5. Materials List all the things you used in your experiment in a numbered list. 1. 2. Etc 6. Steps- Procedure List the steps explaining how you did your project. Use diagrams and photos to help describe them. Again, use numbers. 1. 2. Etc 7. Results What happened? Take very careful notes during your experiment. Record everything so you can make chart or graph to analyze the results. Photographs are helpful too.

8. Conclusion
In a conclusion you will describe your entire project. The following questions will help you write your concluding paragraph(s).

!" What is the answer to your question? (Compare what happened with what you thought would happen.)
In my experiment ______________________________________________________________________.

#" Was your hypothesis supported in your experiment? Its okay to not support your hypothesis.
What did you learn instead? My hypothesis (was or was not) supported by my experiment. I thought___________________________________________________ would happen and ___________.

$" Discuss what happened in your experiment. Just the facts. You can use one of the sentences below or your own words. Describe what
happened in several sentences. I started off my experiment testing____________________________________________________. When I _____________________________ (what happened?)_____________________________. Each time I _____________________________________ then_______________________________. I repeated my experiment _______ times and got the results______________________________________.

%" Did you have any problems or surprises?

Some of the problems I had were ____________________________________________________. I didnt expect ____________________________________________________________________________.

&" What could you have done to make the experiment work better or different? Give an example of one thing that can be changed?
Next time I do this experiment I could change_____________________________________________ to make ______________________________________________________________________happen.

'" In conclusion.

Why do you think this happened? What did you learn about your topic? The reason _______________________________________________(happened) is because, _____________.

Science Fair Ideas

1. LIBRARY:
Our own CCS library, as well as any Los Angles County public library, has a great selection of books on science fair projects and experiments. Ask the librarian to help find the science section in the kids area.

2. INTERNET:
Always ask your parents permission before using the internet. Some of the words you could use in your online search are: Science fair; Science fair projects; science fair ideas Include any words from your area of interest like; volcanoes, animals, solar system, plants, electricity You can also get specific like, light and plants, perfume and smell, make a volcano, or Make electricity from a potato Two websites which list many Science Fair ideas are: www.sciencenewsforkids.org Go to the Science Fair Zone section www.sciencebuddies.org

3. EXAMPLES:
Below are a few Science Fair project examples. Experiment: A good Science Fair project can be very simple, testing one idea. Which plant will grow faster, one with full sunlight or one in the dark? Which bridge is stronger? Design two bridges to hold varying weights. Which type of paint fades faster in sunlight? How does this effect museum art? Demonstration: You can demonstrate a scientific concept. How does an electric current power a light? How does a camera work? What do owls eat? Unravel an owl pellet showing the bones & fur of a mouse. Collection: You can show a collection of scientific samples. Show the rock cycle with examples of igneous, sedimentary and metamorphic rocks. Show several succulent plants and discuss how they retain water in a dessert. Show many different feathers and the birds they belong to. Model: Show how something works using a model. Make a model of an eye, describing all the parts and what they do. Make a model of a simple machine and explain how it works.