Deciding on a project that interests you can seem like one of the more difficult parts of preparing for a science fair. But don’t worry, here are some suggestions to get you started. First of all try to think about things in the world around you that you’re curious about. Not sure? Here are some areas in science to consider: 

● Physical Science topics related to 

○ the chemistry of food, the environment,or biotechnology 

○ the physics of how things work in the world around us, man-made or natural, and sports-related phenomena too 

● Life Science topics related to 

○ plants 

○ nutrition 

○ the environment 

○ and more! 

● Astronomy and Earth Science topics related to 

○ the seasons 

○ what affects how we see stars 

○ geology 

○ human impacts 

As you think about what interests you remember that your project will need to be approved by submitting a Proposal and Permission Slip. Note that projects involving animals or people must meet the criteria attached to the Proposal and Permission Slip to be approved. You can find even more information about project safety by visiting Science Buddies - Safety Guidelines. 

TIP: Set up a science fair notebook as you get started and use it to do all of your planning, data-collecting, research, and thinking. You’ll be glad you did when it comes time to put your presentation together in the end! 

For more specific brainstorming you can probably get help from your local library, school library, museum visits, or internet searches. In terms of the internet, here are a couple of places to start. 

• Science Buddies is an awesome resource for science project planning. This link takes you to a quiz that helps you find a project, but there’s so much more as well, so take some time and look around. ScienceBuddies- help me find a project 
•  Here’s a link to some project ideas that may help you find interests of your own. 

Once you have an area of interest in mind, you’ll want to narrow it down to a question that you’d like to learn more about. Your project will be based on designing an experiment to try and do just that, learn more about the answer to your question. 

For example, you may have a general interest in Life Science, and then narrow that down to the general topic of plants. Maybe you’re interested in understanding more about what plants need to grow. Here are some example questions about how plants grow: 

Question 1: Can plants grow without light? 

Question 2: Which plant food works best? 

Question 3: Is it possible to give plants too much water? 

An important feature of a good scientific question is that it tests to see the effect of one thing. In each of our example questions one thing is changed and we measure how it affects the plants. In question 1 we change the light. In question 2 we change the kind of food. In question 3 we change the amount of water. We call the thing that gets changed the experimental variable, or the independent variable. Plan so that your experiment has only one experimental variable - everything else about your experiment should stay the same. 

Finally you’ll need a hypothesis. A hypothesis is a prediction that you make about what you think will happen in your experiment. People sometimes call it an “educated guess” because you don’t know for sure what will happen, but you’re saying what you think will happen, based on what you already know. Here are some example hypotheses for the example questions: 

Hypothesis 1: If I put some plants in the dark they will not grow as well as plants that I put in the light. 

Hypothesis 2: I think that plants that are fed with Miracle-Grow will grow taller than plants that are fed Flora Bloom. 

Hypothesis 3: I hypothesize that if I over-water cactus plants they will be harmed as compared to cactus plants watered as directed. 

“Preparation is the key to success” - Alexander Graham Bell

This is an important planning phase. Being thorough and careful here will make your experiment go so much more smoothly and save time in the long run.

Here’s a checklist to follow:

• If your plan involves animals or people, make sure it meets the safety criteria as explained in the Science Fair Project Safety Requirements.
• Identify your experimental variable, the condition or factor that you’re testing. In question #1, the experimental variable is the amount of light given to the plants.
• Decide how you’ll measure the effect of the experimental variable. For question #1, we could measure and compare the height of plants grown in the dark to the height of plants grown in the light.
• Decide on all of the things that will need to be controlled, or stay the same, so that you know that changes you see are due to your experimental variable.
• Write out a step-by-step procedure of how you’ll set up and do the experiment. Include how you’ll collect your data.
• If possible, try to plan so that you can do the experiment a few times - making sure that you do the experiment the same way each time. This is one of the things that scientists do to make sure that their results are accurate.
• Plan a way to keep notes of your observations as you do the experiment and experiment-related thoughts that you have along the way.
• Write a list of all the materials that you’ll need, and get them before you set up and do your experiment.

Important Note: Share this checklist with your parent or guardian to make sure that you’ll be able to do all of this and make sure that you submit the required Proposal and Permission Slip

Now that you’re ready to get started and test your ideas, take a moment to set up before you begin. Gather all of your materials together in your work space. Check off each item to make sure that it’s all there. Review your procedure. Make sure that you have all the space that you need. By reviewing the procedure you are also refreshing your memory of what you plan to do. This will make things go more smoothly for you. With your notebook in hand, you can also review your plans for data collection! 

Here is a helpful worksheet to help you through the planning and note-taking process.

Follow your procedure carefully and collect your data. Think about your data in these ways. 

1. Qualitative or observation data. This is something that you see, hear, or feel (taste - only if you know that it’s food material and safe) and then describe in words. Observe carefully and write it down in your science fair notebook. 

2. Quantitative, usually numbers from something that you’ve measured. Always write down and use the number and unit of measure. It will help you stay organized if you put your quantitative data into a table like this: 

3. Make drawings and take pictures of what you see. Drawings and photos can be a great addition to your presentation and they can help you understand your data as well. 

Here, the most important thing to remember is to look at your data with an open mind. It may or may not turn out the way you expected. Being right is not what’s most important. What’s most important is to learn and try to make sense of what the data shows. Here are some ways to look at your data to help you understand it, much like a scientist would do in their own research. 

1. What do you notice overall about your data? 

2. If you repeat the experiment a couple of times. Are the results the same or different? Look back at your notes in your science notebook to see how you might be able to explain this. 

3. Are there any patterns in the data? Some patterns can be hard to see. So make a graph for a better look. You can also use this in your presentation. Label your graph carefully, label the X and Y axis. Give it a title that explains what it shows. Here’s an example. 

4. Write out in words what you think your data shows - this is your project conclusion. Tie this back to your question and hypothesis. Also remember that your claims about your project should be based on the evidence in your data. If the data doesn’t support your hypothesis, say this in your conclusion. Consider doing more research to help you better understand what your data shows. Maybe you’ll come up with ideas on what you'd do differently if you tried another experiment. 

Congratulations! You should be proud of all your hard work and what you’ve learned about your topic and doing science! Now it’s time to put it all together and share what you’ve done at the science fair! 

At the science fair you’ll present your project on a regular or trifold poster board. If you wish, you can have a model to show some aspect of your project, but this still must be explained in the poster presentation. 

Your poster or trifold must include: 

• A title
• Your guiding question and hypothesis
• Summary of research you did to learn about your topic
• A list of your materials and your step-by-step procedure
• Your results - described in words, in drawings, in charts, in graphs
• Your conclusion
• Any other drawings or photos you may have 

Here’s an example trifold layout: 

Download Student Self Assessment Here

All students are required to print and complete this project self-assessment, and hand in at the project set up session on March 29, 2023.