Jacksonville Commons Middles School
315 Commons Drive South
Jacksonville, NC 28546
October 4 , 2011
Dear Parents,
It’s about that time when we begin thinking about projects for the Science Fair! This is an exciting time of year because your child can explore all the mysteries of science while gaining an appreciation for all that scientists do. The students will come to understand how things work, who fathered these theories we have come to practice, and the countless possibilities which our future will prosper! I encourage you to invest time and energy with your child and his/her project. Encourage them with their ideas and thinking processes. I have no doubt you will be surprised with their creativity and imagination.
Now comes the most difficult part of the project, choosing a topic to investigate. This may come from a variety of resources: television, science texts, books, magazines, the internet, or even from other individuals. Whatever the source, the children must understand, that project must be unique to them. Each topic must be approved by the science teacher. If the project is working with non-human vertebrate animals, human/animal tissue, recombinant DNA, pathogens (bacteria- aka “the bad germs”), human subjects, controlled substances, or hazardous devices, the Scientific Research Committee (SRC)/Institutional Review Board (IRB) will need to be consulted for approval. The topic must be something that is testable.
Please read through each of the items listed on the schedule so you are familiar with what is to be completed. I will be going through the process with the students in school and am available for questions if they have any during this process.
Listed on the following page is a set of deadlines for particular aspects of this scientific process. Extensions are not recognized unless the circumstances are discussed and approved by the teacher prior to the due date. Please keep this letter somewhere easily accessible for reference. The students will not be issued another packet (a copy will be available on my website).
The judging panel will be composed of a number of professional individuals in the surrounding community of Jacksonville. The fair for our school will be on January 12, 2012. More details about that will come later.
The schedule is listed on the next page.
Sincerely,
Gregory J. Law
Deadlines: (Use boxes to check off completed parts)
Meeting #2: 10/13/2011
1. 3 Research topics:
a. Each topic needs to have a research question, hypothesis, and testing procedure.
b. The research topics need to be typed or printed in your best handwriting.
Meeting #3: 10/27/2011
1. Completed Form 1 and 1A
2. Research Topic
a. Research Question
b. Hypothesis
c. Testing Procedure
3. Background Information and Bibliography
a. Typed, single-spacing within the paragraph and double-spacing between paragraphs, proper citation/credit to sources used, minimum 1 page in length, at least three sources at this point.)
b. www.bibme.com
Meeting # 4: 11/10/2010
1st draft of Research Plan including in order:
Title page
Background information (revised if necessary)
Hypothesis (critical to the project)
Materials & Procedures
Observations on first test
Results (data collection thus far – in narrative observations and on a spreadsheet/table— graph not necessary at this point)
Conclusion (thus far)
Bibliography
**(The draft must be typed, spaced correctly,
headed properly, proper format for bibliography
– MLA or APA – and will be explained in school)
– May use www.bibme.com for proper format but must pay attention to alphabetical order!
Meeting # 5: 12/1/11
Final Draft of Research Plan including in order:
Title page
Background information (revised if necessary)
Hypothesis
Materials & Procedures
Observations on ALL tests (VERY DETAILED!)
Conclusion (Thus far)
Bibliography (revised if necessary)
Any additional forms if experiment involved humans, animals, hazardous chemicals, micro-organisms, or biological agents (had to be pre-approved)
**(The entire final draft must be typed, spaced
properly, headed properly, with proper format for
bibliography)**
Good luck with your explorations!
Sincerely,
Mr. Gregory Law
8th Science Teacher
Science Fair Websites
http://school.discovery.com/sciencefaircentral/
This is from the Discovery channel. Good information.
http://www.imschools.org/nextday/science_fair_websites.htm
This link offers a variety of sites to visit for ideas.
http://sciencebuddies.org/
Great site to start from the very beginning throughout the project!
Final Project Format (Due January 4, 2011)
*Remember all font should be a clear, legible font, no larger than 12 pt, spaced properly where required in specific areas, and has the topic heading (such as “Hypothesis”) centered at the top of the page. The only page with an exception is the Title page.*
Title (pg.1) (What is the topic of the experiment? Does it have your name,
date due and topic on it?)
Background Information (pg. 2) (Research on the product/item. How Come you decided to work on this Product? What does it do? What is it for? Are there any significant features about it? Special components/make-up of tested objects?)
Hypothesis (pg. 3) (Should be a true or false statement about what you are testing.)
Materials and Procedures (pg.4) (A list of items necessary to create the project AND a detailed step-by-step list of how you went about the project/experiment. This should be detailed thoroughly so that another person could recreate the same project.)
Observations (pg.5) (Observations while going through the experiment/project. Detailed and descriptive of each test.) –Journal writing
Results & Data Analysis (pg.6) (Any quantitative information on calculations, statistics (tables/spreadsheets required) and computer generated graphs (minimum of 3), about the experiment.
Conclusions (pg.7) (Restatement of the hypothesis and results of The experiment/project. Did you do what you set out to do originally? Would you change anything? Was there anything unique you observed?)
Bibliography/works cited (pg.8) (A compiled list of resources and references used for basis of background information. This needs to be in alphabetical order and follow proper format)
All final projects will be displayed at the science fair on a tri-board.