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Eight Steps to the
Centennial Middle School Science Fair
Science fair projects are a great way to learn about time management and responsibility. Pace yourself. Projects should not be rushed at the last minute.

Time Line / Due Date
Step One / Write Your Proposal
Step Two / Conduct Your Background Research / Step A: ______
Step B: ______
Step C: ______
Step D: ______
Step Three / Identify Your Hypothesis, Groups and Variables, Design Your Data Table
Step Four / Write Your Experiment
Step Five / Conduct Your Experiment and Record Your Data
Step Six / Write about Your Results
Step Seven / Write a Formal Lab Report
Step Eight / Make a Tri-Fold Poster Display of Your Project

Step One
WriteYourProposal
Problem (What problem are you trying to solve?:
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Description of your experiment:
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Materials you intend to use:
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Parent Approval(I will help provide the resources and materials related to this experiment and will help supervise as needed): ______
Teacher Approval: ______

Step Two
Conduct Your Background Research
A. Complete at least 6 source cardswith science information related to your problem. You will need enough information to write a one page “Background” sectionand the “Works Cited” section in your formal lab report. Include information about what the reader needs to know in order to understand your project. You can also include information about research related to your problem that has been conducted by other scientists. The bottom of each source card shows you how to write your citation.
Attached are 2 of each type of source cards (book, reference book, web site, online data base). Use the appropriate card for each source. If you need more source cards, make copies, go to our science fair web site or forms may be available in the school library.

B. Write a rough draft of your reportusing the source cards.

C. Edit the rough draftwith your parent

D. Write the final version of your background report

Background ReportRough Draft

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Final Version of Background Report

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Step Three
Identify Your Hypothesis, Groups and Variables, Design Your Data Table
Write your hypothesis
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For example: If a plant is watered with vinegar water, then it will be shorter than a plant grown with plain water because vinegar is an acid which damages plants.

What is your experimental group (the group you are testing)?
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What is your control group (the group you are comparing to)?
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List the constants in your experiment (everything that is the same between your two groups):
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What is your independent variable (the one thing that is different between your two groups)?
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What is your dependent variable (what you are going to measure for your data collection)?
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For example, if your hypothesis was: If a plant is watered with vinegar water, then it will be shorter than a plant grown with plain water because vinegar is an acid which damages plants.
Experimental Group: plant watered with vinegar water
Control Group: plant watered with plain water
Constants: same type of plant, same type of soil, same amount of water, same amount of light, same type of container
Independent Variable: Vinegar (one has vinegar in the water and one does not)
Dependent Variable: The height of the plants

4. Design the data table you will use to collect your results.

Example of a data table:

Height of Plants in Centimeters

Plant Watered With Vinegar Water / Plant Watered With Plain Water
Day 5
Day 10
Day 15

Draw your data table on the next page.

Step Four
Write Your Experiment
1. Problem
What is the purpose of my experiment, what problem am I trying to solve?
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2. Hypothesis
(Copy directly from step three)
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then ______
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For example: If a plant is watered with vinegar water, then it will be shorter than a plant grown with plain water because vinegar is an acid which damages plants.
3. Materials
What materials do I need?
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4. Procedures
What am I going to do step by step?
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Step Five
Conduct Your Experimentand Record Your Data
*conduct your experiment and record the results in your data table
*make at least one graph illustrating your results (graph paper attached)
*take photos as you carry out your experiment for your display
Rewrite Data Table Below:

Step Six
Write about Your Results
Conclusion
Was my hypothesis true or false? What happened? Why do I think this happened? What did I learn? Talk about the data fromyour data table in the conclusion.
The hypothesis for my experiment was______
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According to the results of the experiment, my hypothesis was true/false. ______
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Next Time
What would I do the same or differently next time?
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Step Seven
Write a Formal Lab Report
Lab reports must be typed.
The following text is from/based on

At this point, you are in the home stretch. Except for writing the abstract, preparing your science fair project final report will just entail pulling together the information you have already collected into one large document.

  • Your final report will include these sections:
  • Title page
  • Abstract (An abstract is an abbreviated version of your final report)
  • Background research (one page).
  • Problem,Groups, Variables, and Hypothesis.
  • Materials
  • Procedures
  • Data (data table and graphs)
  • Conclusion
  • Next Time
  • Works Cited
  • Write the abstractsection last, even though it will be one of the first sections of your final report.
  • Your final report will be several pages long, but don't be overwhelmed! Most of the sections are made up of information that you have already written. Gather up the information for each section and type it in a word processor if you haven't already.
  • Save your document often! You do not want to work hard getting something written the perfect way, only to have your computer crash and the information lost. Frequent file saving could save you a lot of trouble!
  • Remember to do a spelling and grammar check in your word processor. Also, have a few people proof read your final report. They may have some helpful comments!

An abstract is an abbreviated version of your science fair project final report. For most science fairs it is limited to a maximum of 250 words. The science fair project abstract appears at the beginning of the report as well as on your display board.

Almost all scientists and engineers agree that 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. Did you explain something that should cause people to change the way they go about their daily business? If you made an invention or developed a new procedure how is it better, faster, or cheaper than what is already out there? Motivate the reader to finish the abstract and read the entire paper or display board.
  • 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.

Sample Abstract:
Advertisers are always touting more powerful and longer lasting batteries, but which batteries really do last longer, and is battery life impacted by the speed of the current drain? This projects looks at which AA battery maintains its voltage for the longest period of time in low, medium, and high current drain devices. The batteries were tested in a CD player (low drain device), a flashlight (medium drain device), and a camera flash (high drain device) by measuring the battery voltage (dependent variable) at different time intervals (independent variable) for each of the battery types in each of the devices. My hypothesis was that Energizer would last the longest in all of the devices tested. The experimental results supported my hypothesis by showing that the Energizer performs with increasing superiority, the higher the current drain of the device. The experiment also showed that the heavy-duty non-alkaline batteries do not maintain their voltage as long as either alkaline battery at any level of current drain.
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Abstract Rough Draft

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Lab report and abstracthave been edited with parent or adult assistance
Parent Signature: ______
Step Eight
Make a Tri-Fold Poster Display of Your Project

Make a display board for presenting your project. Display boards are usually available at office stores such as Staples and Office Max, some of the craft stores such as Michaels, Walmart, etc.. You may also choose to make your own display board out of cardboard. Make your display visually appealing (make it look nice). For example, use construction paper to frame your titles and photos, decorate your display, be creative.
Use the layout below when making your display board. In the “Experiment” section; briefly explain what you did, list your experimental and control groups and define your variables.

At the science fair, you will display your board, formal report and science notebook. You may also display other items related to your project such as models, demonstrations, your set up etc.. If your project is messy, bring a drop cloth. You are responsible for cleaning up your project at the end of the science fair. Talk to your teacher about special needs such as electricity by ______. No flames or explosives.
Dress professionally on the day of the science fair (dresses/nice pants for girls and shirts and ties for boys). Stand next to your project prepared to answer questions.

For support on your project visit Marilyn.Jesrani, 2008