The Scientific Method is the procedure used to investigate and then explain experiments. The steps of the Scientific Method are outlined below. Fifth-grade students should follow the guidelines and requirements provided by their teachers in class.
As you select the experiment you want to do for the Science Fair and Family Engineering Night, you will go through some trial and error trying to formulate your question and develop a prediction (hypothesis). The key is to carefully define your question and identify the important variables so that your experiment stands a good chance of testing what you expected to test.
When you finish your experiment, you need to condense all you have learned into a display space, such as a standard tri-fold board, pictured above. When folded to self-stand, this 48" display board should fit into an area 30" wide, 36" tall, and 14" deep.
Display Board:
The important things to document on your display board are:
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Title - Identifies your subject area
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Question - What do you want to know?
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Prediction (Hypothesis) - Make a statement predicting what you think will happen
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Materials - Document everything used so that someone else could repeat your experiment
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Procedure - Document every step so that someone else could repeat your experiment
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Variables - Document what variables were in your experiment. Which were controlled and which were uncontrolled?
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Data and Results - Observations, charts, graphs, pictures, diagrams, tables, models, etc.
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Conclusions - Did you prove or disprove your hypothesis? If someone were to repeat your experiment, what recommendations can you give that person? What could they do to learn more?
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Your name, teacher, and grade
The display board should be easy to read and should clearly illustrate what you have learned. Pictures, graphs, and samples all help to convey clearly what you have accomplished.
For those classes where participation in the Science Fair is part of your science grade, your teacher will provide guidance for what s/he requires and how they will grade. Regardless of whether you are doing this for a grade or for fun, remember that neatness, organization, and clarity are all important. For those being graded, difficulty and depth of investigation also should be considered.
Method for Scientific Investigation:
1. Ask a Question. (Why? What?)
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Choose a subject area (what do you want to explore?) and formulate a problem.
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Make it something that interests you.
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What do you want to know about the subject you selected?
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Find a question you do not know the answer to!
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Visit the library, look in books, get advice, research your question.
2. Make a Prediction for what you think will happen (your Hypothesis).
3. Identify the Materials needed to run your experiment.
4. Plan the Procedure for your experiment.
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What will you do to test your prediction (hypothesis)?
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Identify the steps.
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Is there anything you have not considered that could affect your experiment?
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Identify which data you will collect - the data is what will prove or disprove your hypothesis.
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Make sure that you are testing your hypothesis.
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Document your procedure so you know what to do at each step and so someone else could repeat your experiment.
5. Identify the Variables important to the investigation.
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A variable is anything that can change or vary during an experiment.
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Which variables will you control (dependent) and which will change (independent)?
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In your experiment, everything should be the same each time you test, except the variable you are testing.
6. Data and Results
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Keep a log as you run your experiment, make observations, and collect data.
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Be honest as you record your data. You may discover unexpected surprises!
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Make tables, charts, and/or graphs. Draw pictures, take photographs.
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Write a summary.
7. Conclusions
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What happened? Did the results support or refute your prediction?
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Was it what you expected? Were there any surprises? What did you learn?
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It's OK to find your experiment did not do what you expected! But when writing the conclusions, tell what should be done next time to make the experiment work. For example, did you miss a variable? Did a controlled variable go uncontrolled?
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If you or someone else ran this experiment again, would you do anything different?
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Do you see where there is something more to investigate? Can you recommend steps how someone might go farther to learn more?