SCIENTIFIC METHOD

PURPOSE STATEMENT

The Purpose Statement should explain what it is you are trying to discover or prove. The Purpose should be written in a form of a statement. Try to make your statement original and creative.

The statement should clearly explain: The problem that you are trying to solve with your experiment. Why you want to do this experiment. How you think the information gained from the experiment will help other people. Example of a Purpose Statement: The purpose of this experiment was to find out how the density of plant cover affects soil erosion. I became interested in this experiment when the hillside next to our yard began to erode. The information from this experiment will help people to determine how many plants they should plant on their yards hillside.

Fill in the blanks below to create a quality Purpose Statement. The purpose of this experiment was to ____________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________ I became interested in this experiment when ______________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________ The information gained from this experiment will help others by ________________ ___________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________

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HYPOTHESIS

The Hypothesis is an educated guess that tries to answer a question or solve a problem that you are trying to find out more about. The hypothesis is done after you do your research on a specific topic and before you do any experimenting.

The Hypothesis should follow these rules: 1.  A hypothesis is a question, which has been reworded into a form that can be tested by an experiment. 2.  There is usually one hypothesis for each question you have. 3.  You must do at least one experiment to test each hypothesis. This is a very   important step.

Example of a Hypothesis: My hypothesis is that grass will do a better job at preventing soil erosion on the hillside than shrubs. I base my hypothesis on the idea that there are more roots in the grass than the shrubs. Fill in the blanks below to create a quality Hypothesis. My hypothesis is ___________________________________________ ________________________________________________________ I base my hypothesis on ____________________________________ ________________________________________________________

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MATERIALS

The materials list is a complete list of all materials including details and amounts. Be sure to include quantities (how much), length, volume, and mass. List these in metric units. Be specific in your description of the item needed. Include photos, or drawings of the materials if it helps the person to identify the material needed in the project.

The Material List should follow these rules: Be specific to amount, size and length. Listed in metric units where appropriate. Example of a Material List: Bad Material List: Good Material List: Water Watch Ruler Dirt 20 Liters of Water Stop watch with second hand Metric Ruler with millimeters listed 3 cubic meters of potting soil

Fill in the blanks below to create a quality Materials List. Quantity: Description of Item: __________ __________________________________________ __________ __________________________________________ __________ __________________________________________

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PROCEDURES

The procedures are a detailed, step-by-step set of instructions on how to prepare and carry out your experiement. These should be written so that the experiement can be recreated by anyone who picks up your procedures. Write the procedure as you do the steps of a lab. Be very specific; don't assume that the reader knows how much, how many, or how long.

The Procedures should follow these rules: Label each step with a number or letter. Write your procedures in a cookbook format Be very specific with quantities, amounts and the order that things need to be done or completed. Example of a Procedures / Method list: Prepare three trays by putting an equal amount of potting soil in each tray. If you are using pans or cookie sheets, spread a layer of gravel on the bottom of the pan before adding the soil. This will allow for drainage since you will be watering all three pans while the grass is growing. Set Tray 1 aside. In Tray 2, cover the soil with a  layer of leaves and grass clippings. In Tray 3, sprinkle grass seed on the top of the soil. Place the three trays in a place where they are level and have similar light and temperature conditions. (The temperature must be above 50°F (10°C) for the grass to grow.) Use the sprinkling can to give each tray the same amount of water. Continue watering all three trays approximately every 3 days until the grass in Tray 3 is about .5 inches (1.25 centimeters) tall. This may take one week or longer. You may have to adjust your watering schedule depending on how fast the soil dries. Check the soil daily to see if it looks and feels moist.

Fill in the blanks below to create a quality Procedure / Method list. Procedures: 1) __________________________________________ 2)__________________________________________ 3)__________________________________________

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PROJECT LOG

Use a notebook or a booklet. Like a diary, write down all the things you have done on your project each day. Be sure to include any and all details. A good scientist keeps careful, detailed records of findings and test results. Include such things as amounts / quantities used, color changes, growth etc.. Record any procedure that you carry out during the experiment. Include the date and time that this was completed.

Example of Project Experimental Log: Date: Time Procedures/ Observations Jan. 5, 2005 10:45am Began research on the different types of soil and how erosion occures on a hillside. Checked out books on grass and shrubs. Worked on this for 45 minutes. Jan. 9, 2005 4:25pm Worked on cutting plywood sheets to build hillside slopes. Placed slopes on racks and hung growth lights over surfaces. Readied for soiil, sod and shrubs. Worked on for 2 hours.

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SUMMARY REPORT

The written research report is a gathering of everything that you did to investigate the selected topic. It contains all the information you collected or learned during the weeks leading up to the actual experiment and science fair. It should be written from notes, personal interviews, and sources from the library and electronic media. Be sure to write this information in your own words and not that of the author.

The Research Summary Report should follow these rules: This written report provides observers with important data on the scope of a project as well as your understanding of the topic you are presenting. Write your report with an introductory paragraph, body paragraphs and a conclusion paragraph. Be sure to give credit where credit is due in your report. That means cite your sources in your bibliography! Use APA citation and double check the spelling in your paper. See homeowork help link for the Bibliography Citation machine and access to infotrac for electronic library access.

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WRITING THE RESULTS

Writing the Results will include both text and illustrative materials AKA the tables and charts. Use the text to explain and guide the reader through your key results, i.e., the information which answer the hypothesis you investigated. Use the tables and charts to help strengthen and explain what you are stating in your text.

Your results should follow these guidelines: Include what you wanted to accomplish and prove during your experiment. Describe and report what you discovered. Be sure to include any data that might have been collected. It is important to show this data even if it did not support your hypothesis. The process of completing the experiment with true data is what is important. The function of the Results section is to objectively present your key results, without interpretation. Example of how to write the results: The original purpose of this experiment was to see how a seeds germination is effected by the time of exposure to running water. The results of the experiment were that the duration of exposure to running water had a great effect on overall seed germination. (See chart #1). The seeds exposed to the 48-hour treatment had the highest percentage rate of germination (See chart #2). This was 2 times that of the 12-h group and 5 times that of our control group that was not exposed to the running water treatment.

Fill in the blanks below to create a quality Results page. The original purpose of this experiment was to ______________________________ ___________________________________________________________________ The results of the experiment were _______________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________

Pointers for your Table / Graph: •  Big or little? A good rule of thumb is to size your figures to fill about one-half of a page. The viewer should not have to get a magnifying glass to make out the details. •  Color or no color? Most often black and white is preferred. The idea is that if you need to photocopy or fax your paper, any information conveyed by colors will be lost to the reader. However, for a poster presentation or a talk with projected images, color can be helpful in distinguishing different data sets. Every aspect of your Figure should convey information; never use color simply because it is pretty. •  Title or no title? When you are making a   posters or projected images , where people may have a harder time reading the small print of a legend, a larger font title is very helpful.

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CONCLUSION

What is a conclusion? A conclusion is a reexamination of your original hypothesis in regards to the data you have collected. Your conclusion will continue by describing how your results prove or disprove your hypothesis. Your conclusion included what questions you have developed in doing the experiment. It also includes how you might change your experiment if you were to continue this topic in order to explore those questions that you developed during the experiment.

Example of a conclusion: My hypothesis was that grass would do a better job at preventing soil erosion on the hillside than shrubs. I base my hypothesis on the idea that there are more roots in the grass than the shrubs. The results indicate that this hypothesis should be considered false. The dense amount of shrub cover shielded the underlying dirt better than the grass. Because of the results of this experiment, I wonder if different kinds of shrubs have the same effect on preventing erosion. If I were to conduct this science fair project again I would try both deciduous as well as coniferous shrubs.

Fill in the following lines to create a successful Conclusion: My hypothesis was ____________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________ The Results indicate that this hypothesis should be considered__________________ ___________________________________________________________________ Becuase of the results of this experiment __________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________ If I were to conduct this science fair project again I would _____________________ ___________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________

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ABSTRACT

What is a Abstract? The Abstract is a summary of your science fair project. Your abstract is made up of a brief statement of the essential, or most important, thoughts about your project. Abstracts should summarize, clearly and simply, the main points of the experiment. Spelling, grammar,punctuation, neatness, and originality are important. It should be 250 to 300 words in length. It is one of the last parts of your science fair project that you will complete. It is an easy part if you are using a computer to record and type your journal entries and other parts of the project. If you are using a computer then you will only have to cut and paste this information into the abstract.

Include the following to create your abstract: Your projects purpose statement. The hypothesis A description of your variables and the control / constants. A description of what variable you are manipulating (changing) in your experiment. How you went about measuring and observing the variables / controls. Your results and data collected from your experiment. Your conclusion statement.

Fill in the following lines to create a successful Abstract: The purpose of my science fair project was _________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________ My hypothesis for this project was________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________ The constants and controls in my experiment were_____________________________ ___________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________ The variable in my experiment was_____________________________ ___________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________ The way that I measured the responding or dependent variable was _____________ ___________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________ The results of this experiment were _______________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________ The results show that my hypothesis should be (give brief reason why to accept or not) ___________________________________________________________________ If I were going to do this experiment again in the future or expand on this experiment I would ___________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________