Science Fair Projects For Dummies

Maxine Levaren

• Publisher: For Dummies
• Year: 2011
• ISBN:
  9781118069783
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Pedagogía
• Subtopic: Enseñanza de ciencia y tecnología

Uh-oh, now you've gone and done it, you volunteered to do a science fair project. Don't sweat it, presenting at a science fair can be a lot of fun. Just remember, the science fair is for your benefit. It's your chance to show that you understand the scientific method and how to apply it. Also, it's an opportunity for you to delve more deeply into a topic you're interested in. Quite a few scientists, including a few Nobel laureates, claim that they had their first major breakthrough while researching a science fair project. And besides, a good science fair project can open a lot of doors academically and professionally—but you already knew that.

Stuck on what to do for your science project? This easy-to-follow guide is chock-full of more than 50 fun ideas and experiments in everything from astronomy to zoology. Your ultimate guide to creating crowd-pleasing displays, it shows you everything you need to know to:

• Choose the best project idea for you
• Make sure your project idea is safe, affordable, and doable
• Research, take notes, and organize your facts
• Write a clear informative research paper
• Design and execute your projects
• Ace the presentation and wow the judges

Science fair guru Maxine Levaren gives walks you step-by-step through every phase of choosing, designing, assembling and presenting a blue ribbon science fair project. She gives you the inside scoop on what the judges are really looking for and coaches you on all the dos and don'ts of science fairs. And she arms you with in-depth coverage of more than 50 winning projects, including:

• Projects involving experiments in virtually every scientific disciplines
• Computer projects that develop programs to solve a particular problem or analyze system performance
• Engineering projects that design and build new devices or test existing devices to compare and analyze performance
• Research projects involving data collection and mathematical analysis of results

Your complete guide to doing memorable science projects and having fun in the process, Science Fair Projects For Dummies is a science fair survival guide for budding scientists at every grade level.

Part I

A Magical Mystery Tour of Science Fair Projects

In this part . . .

**IN a DROPCAP**

If you’re here, you’ve decided to do a science fair project (or perhaps your teacher decided for you). Either way, the whole thing can be easier if you know a bit more. In Part I, I give you a bird’s eye view of the entire process and summarize everything you need to know to carry out a great science project. I also tell you how doing a project can help you in your educational career.

Doing a science project is perhaps the biggest job you’ve had so far in school, so dig in and read about how much fun it can be!

Chapter 1

Science Fair Projects 101: Discovering What They’re All About

In This Chapter

Defining what’s involved

Getting started without getting stymied

Finding the facts

Doing the deed

Promoting your work

Reaping the rewards

Y ou don’t have to be a rocket scientist (or even a brain surgeon) to do a successful and fun science fair project, especially if you read this book.

You may be dreading the entire experience, remembering the horror stories that your older siblings or cousins told you about finishing their projects at 3 a.m., only five hours before the project was due. Or you may be looking forward to sinking your teeth into your science project, confident that your project will result in a great discovery.

No matter how you’re feeling now, I guarantee that you’ll be stronger, smarter, and more self-confident when you’re done.

But to gain that strength, courage, and confidence, you have to make a commitment to do the best project you possibly can. I know that’s kind of hard without knowing what you’re in for, so in this chapter I give you a preview of coming attractions, so you can see what a science fair project is all about and how Science Fair Projects For Dummies can give you all the help you need.

Explaining What’s Involved in a Science Fair

A science fair is an exhibition where students display scientific experiments, computer programs or systems, or engineering designs and tests that they’ve created. Each project in the fair demonstrates that the students understand the scientific method (see Chapter 8) and can apply it, while having an independent, hands-on learning experience.

Science fairs grew out of teachers’ desire to advance interest in scientific knowledge. When the Russians launched Sputnik, the world’s first artificial space satellite in 1957, many Americans became anxious to encourage students to study the sciences so as not to fall behind other nations in scientific research.

With the support of businesses, universities and research facilities, government agencies, and other organizations, science fairs have grown from many small school exhibitions into one huge international science and engineering fair (oddly enough, it’s called the International Science and Engineering Fair [ISEF]), where students from all over the world show off their work and compete for recognition and valuable prizes. (In fact, if you’re curious, Chapter 15 has more details about the types of prizes you can win.)

The purpose of a science fair is to help you (the student) find out more about a specific topic. Don’t think that you need to choose a difficult or complex project to impress the judges. Selecting a project that you can understand, doing it by yourself, and explaining it to the judges at the fair is better.

Here are a few more reminders as you begin working on a project and preparing to display it at a fair:

Don’t compare your progress with others. If you’re a seventh grader doing your first project, don’t compare yourself to a twelfth grader who’s worked on the same topic for five or six years, and won several awards along the way.

At first, compete only with yourself to do the best project that you can. Later, when you go to the science fair, you can size up the competition.

Figure 1-1 shows a chart of the activities involved in doing a science fair project.

Figure 1-1: A flowchart showing science project activities.

Finding the Best Project for You

Science fair projects can range from the simplest experiment to a complex project that involves experimentation, observation, and advanced mathematical calculations.

Where you fall on that scale, naturally depends on your prior knowledge of science, particularly in the subject matter you are dealing with.

Identifying the different types of projects

You can choose from several different types of projects. Chapter 3 has a full explanation, but here’s a quick breakdown:

In an experiment, you conduct a test to prove that a certain assumption is true.

With a computer science project, you do one of the following:

• Develop one or more computer programs to perform a specific task.

• Test and analyze computer performance.

In an engineering project, you do one of the following:

• Design and build a new device that performs a specific function.

• Test and analyze the performance and capabilities of an existing device.

With a research project, you gather data, either by doing research or conducting surveys, and then mathematically analyze that data.

Choosing among the categories

Science fair projects are also broken down into a number of categories in the biological and physical sciences. In Chapter 3, I list the official ISEF categories, and give examples of the types of projects in each category.

Making the project suit you

A science project can be a great experience if you’re working on something that’s interesting and fun. Just ask someone whom computers fascinate whether she’d like to spend four months developing some new software. I’m sure that the answer would be a resounding yes!

So, it really doesn’t matter whether you choose botany, physics, or computer science — the winning formula is selecting something that you like, that you have the skills to do, and that stretches your abilities. Check out Chapter 4 for some hints on how to ...

Table of contents

• Title
• Contents
• Introduction
• Part I : A Magical Mystery Tour of Science Fair Projects
• Chapter 1: Science Fair Projects 101: Discovering What They’re All About
• Chapter 2: Getting the Skinny on Science Fair Projects (And How They Can Help You)
• Chapter 3: Tackling and Categorizing Your Projects
• Part II : Choosing a Project and Getting Started
• Chapter 4: What’s the Big Idea? Finding a Project Topic
• Chapter 5: Getting the 4-1-1: Information Please!
• Chapter 6: Writing Your Background Research Paper
• Part III : The Nitty-Gritty: Stepping Through the Project
• Chapter 7: Keeping Your Project on Track
• Chapter 8: Getting to the Nuts and Bolts: The Scientific Method
• Chapter 9: Over Here, Igor: Doing Your Project
• Chapter 10: That’s a Wrap: Winding Up Your Project!
• Part IV : Show and Tell
• Chapter 11: Creating a Project Notebook
• Chapter 12: Displaying Your Project
• Part V : The Finals: Knowing What to Expect at the Fair
• Chapter 13: Entering the Construction Zone: Setting Up Your Project
• Chapter 14: Bringing On the Judges
• Chapter 15: Going for the Gold: Science Fair Awards
• Part VI : Some Superb Science Project Picks
• Chapter 16: Easy As Pie
• Chapter 17: Kicking It Up a Notch
• Chapter 18: Taking the Challenge
• Part VII : The Part of Tens
• Chapter 19: Ten Bad Project Ideas and Why You Should Avoid Them
• Chapter 20: Ten Great Web Sites (Okay, 23 Actually)
• Chapter 21: Ten Fun Things to Do at the Science Fair
• Chapter 22: Ten Science Project Survival Tips for Parents
• Chapter 23: Ten MVPS (Most Valuable Project Supplies)