Agenda for Parent Night

1. Agenda for Parent Night • Review of the Science Fair Program • A review of each step of the project • Review of Schedule • Examination of Boards from Previous years • Questions and answers- • County Science Fair • Biolab Program • Requires teacher recommendation

2. ASMS Science O-Rama Schoolwide Expectations 2009-2010

3. Select a Topic www.sciencebuddies.org • ►selection wizard helps students narrow interest and see possible topics? • ►What do you already know about the topic? • ►What else would you like to know about your topic?

4. Getting Started • Students will have the opportunity to participate in a Science Fair Investigation of their own choosing. • Students will follow the engineering model if they are designing something. • Students testing a variable will follow the Scientific Method.

5. The Engineering Process • Define a need • Do background research • Establish design criteria • Prepare preliminary designs • Build and test a prototype • Test & redesign as necessary • Present results

7. The Scientific method • Identify a Problem or Question • State a Hypothesis based on research • Conduct a Controlled Experiment • Collect Data • Analyze Results • Reach a Conclusion • Communicate Findings

9. Research your Topic • After selecting your topic, learn everything about it. Sources: Internet (no Wikipedia) interviews of an expert books science journals like www.sciencenews.org • Write 3 or more work cited summaries to help formulate your hypothesis • Summaries are to help you be more knowledgeable about your topic • http://www.easybib.com/ for citing help

10. Keep a Journal • A journal is a notebook that provides a complete and accurate record of all your research and work. • It should contain the following information: • ►Topic and project research • ►Descriptions of experiments • ►Your observations • ►Diagrams, graphs

11. Hypothesis • Record your hypothesis after you have finished your background research. • Students base their hypothesis on what they learned about their topic after they research what is known.

12. Hypothesis • Write in the • If I do……… THEN……I think that the following will happen because………… • “educated guess” really means you have learned a lot about your topic so it is really not a guess.

13. Experimenting:Testing your hypothesis • Design your experiment with these factors in mind: • Will your experiment answer your question? • To test only one variable at a time • To have a controlled investigation • Number of trials adequate for data reliability (once is NOT ENOUGH)

14. Identify the variables Select only one variable to change • this is the Independent variable • This is the X-Axis in your graphed data

15. Identify what you will measure- • this is the Dependent variable • This is the Y-Axis in your graphed data

16. Controll variable • The control is a particular sample that is treated the same as all the rest of the samples except that it is not exposed to the independent (tested) variables. • It is what you compare the tested group too.

17. Procedures • It is a list of step-by-step directions - much like a recipe in a cookbook. • Anyone who reads it should be able to duplicate your investigation and get the same results.

18. Data Collection • Data should be recorded in a science fair journal. • Data tables need to be labeled and units of measure identified. • All measurements must be done in metric units.

19. Results Results can either be qualitative(non-numerical data) or quantitative (numerical data). • Qualitative results can be presented in a table or graph • Quantitative results can be presented only in graphs.

20. Reaching a Conclusion • Did you find out what you wanted to know? Can you explain what you observed? • Form your conclusion by summarizing the results of the experiment.

21. Conclusion cont…. ►What was discovered by doing the experiment? Include all results even those that do not support your hypothesis. Error analysis ►Was your original hypothesis supported? ► Give possible reasons for the difference between your hypothesis and the results.

22. An abstract should have the following five pieces: • Introduction. This is where you describe the purpose for doing your science fair project or invention. Why should anyone care about the work you did? You have to tell them why. • Problem Statement. Identify the problem you solved or the hypothesis you investigated. • Procedures. What was your approach for investigating the problem? Don't go into detail about materials unless they were critical to your success. Do describe the most important variables if you have room. • Results. What answer did you obtain? Be specific and use numbers to describe your results. Do not use vague terms like "most" or "some." • Conclusions. State what your science fair project or invention contributes to the area you worked in. Did you meet your objectives? For an engineering project state whether you met your design criteria

23. Partner Projects • Students may choose to have a partner if parents approve. • Parents will be assisting students negotiate schedules and project issues as this is mainly an at-home project • Projects will receive one grade for all partners regardless of contributions

24. Presentation of Project • Science Fair Boards or Power Point presentations • Students can choose the format of their project except for Accelerated Science students and students wishing to participate in our county science fair projects (Boards are required) • Oral Presentation of projects is required

25. Science Fair Schedule • See attached calendar • Meet each date and get parent signature • Plan ahead for the deadlines • Remember that all deadlines that are met late will receive a minimum 25% grade deduction

26. Science Fair Schedule • Schedules will be given to all students and are also available on the ASMS Schoolloop in the Science Fair link. • Individual teachers may modify the schedule to meet the needs of their students. Please refer to your students planner and personal schedule for any changes.

27. In Closing……. • Choose a topic that is exciting to you • Follow the schedule for success • Ask for help when you need it • Record every step so you have records • Remember to do enough trials and have a large enough sample size • Have fun while investigating!!!!!!

28. For extra support …… • Attend tutoring in either science or core class for support. • Visit the school website. The science fair folder in the student info section has links to other sites and an on-line graphing program. • Attend special Saturday sessions for science fair support.