Perry Honors Chemistry Science Fair Packet Page 1

Introduction

Every year, Perry High, and the rest of the Chandler Unified School District, participates in the Hamilton Invitational Science and Engineering Fair (HISEF). The date of the Perry Science Fair is February 2, 2013 from 11AM- 1PM. Keeping that date in mind, we will begin working on Science Fair activities on October 18, 2012.

The objective of completing a Science Fair Project is to develop a working knowledge of the Scientific Inquiry Method. You will learn in Science Class that this method, used by scientists all over the world, involves the following steps:

Posing Questions
Forming a Hypothesis
Designing an Experiment
Performing the Experiment to Collect Data
Interpreting Data
Drawing Conclusions
Communication of Scientific Method Process

Within each of these steps are activities that are performed to ensure your experiment makes sense and could be repeated with similar results (this is known as being “accurate” and “valid”). You will be required to read the packet, but please DO NOT PRINT THE ENTIRE PACKET. (You may want to print certain pages to assist the process of developing your project.)

This packet was put together to help guide you through each activity within the Scientific Inquiry Method process. They can be summarized as follows:

See Page(s) / CUSD Curriculum Standard*
Strand / Concept / Performance Objective
1 / Posing Questions
Topic Selection / 5 / 1 / 1 / 1 and 2
Research / 8 - 14 / 1 / 1 / 1and 2
2 / Forming a Hypothesis
Identifying Variables / 6 - 7 / 1 / 2 / 3
Posing a Question / 6 - 7 / 1 / 1 / 1 and 2
Developing a Hypothesis / 15 / 1 / 1 / 3
3 / Designing an Experiment
Materials List / 16 / 1 / 2 / 2
Procedures / 17 / 1 / 4 / 3
Data Table / 18 / 1 / 2 / 3
4 / Performing the Experiment to Collect Data
Perform Multiple Trials / 17 / 1 / 2 / 3
Completing Data Table / 18 / 1 / 2 / 5
5 / Interpreting Data
Data Summary / 19 / 1 / 3 / 1 and 2
Graph / 20 / 1 / 4 / 2 and 2H
6 / Drawing Conclusions
Formulate Conclusion / 21 - 22 / 1 / 3 and 4 / all
7 / Communicating Results
Summary / 12 - 14 / 1 / 4 / 3 and 3H
Abstract / 23 - 24 / 1 / 4 / 3H and 4H
Display Board / 25 - 26 / 1 / 4 / 1-4H
Oral Presentation / 27 / 1 / 2 / 4H
*

Science Fair Guidelines

Below is a list of guidelines, explanations, and rules. Make sure you are clear about them. Share them with the people helping you at home. Ultimately, YOU ARE RESPONSIBLE!

You will do your own project. Groups of 2 are permissible.
Your project must be based on an experiment. You will follow the Scientific Inquiry Method (see page 2) and collect MEASURED, OBJECTIVE DATA.
Choosing an experiment from the provided list is encouraged. Please keep in mind not all topics selected from outside the list will be approved. Also some projects require additional approval and lengthy form completion (working with humans, surveys, etc.). You cannot work with mold, bacteria, explosives, fire and or other dangerous materials. Human subjects cannot eat or drink any substance.
All projects must be approved before beginning.
Multiple trials (a minimum of 3, however more than 3 trials are recommended) are required for data collection.
Follow the sheets included in this packet. They will guide you through each step of the Scientific Inquiry Method.
The sheets in this packet are rough drafts and are due on specific dates during the development of your Science Fair Project. There is a deadline checklist paper included in the beginning of this packet to keep track of what you have done and when things are due.
You may NOT change your project idea after your science teacher has approved it. Make sure you have thought about what you want to do before starting. If you have to purchase items to complete your project, make sure your parents/guardians have approved the purchases.
Even if you are absent on the due date, your project is due.
The information in this packet must be placed in its own section in your Biology binder designated as your science fair project section. You will need to use your Science Fair Project Section many times during the next 14 weeks. Do not lose it. This will also serve as your working notebook where you will collect and record data, research, and have portions of your project graded.

Project Due Date:

January 28, 2013

Project Timeline

Due Date / Points Possible / Points Earned / Approval / Comments
Topic Selection
Group Selection
Parent Signature
Page 5 / 10/29/12
Research and Bibliography
Pages 6-13 / 11/15/12
Experimental Protocol

Hypothesis
Variables
Materials
Procedures

Pages 14-18 / 11/19/12
Data and Results

Data Table
Graph
Summary

Pages 19-23 / 1/10/13
Conclusion
Page 22-23 / 1/17/13
Abstract and Display Board
Page 24 - 27 / 1/28/13
Oral Presentation
Page 28-29 / week of 1/28/13

Name ______

Partner (optional ) ______

Topic Selection

Pick a topic that interests you and one you will enjoy working with for the next 10 - 12 weeks. Consider issues such as costs of materials, availability of materials, and the project timeframe. Also check that your parents agree with your choice of topic. Remember, you may not change your project idea once it has been approved by your science teacher. Human and animal studies require district level (IRB) approval.

My Topic:

______

Why does this topic interest you? What do you hope to learn from this experiment and experience (10 sentences):

______

3. Parent Signature ______

Research

When you do research, you want to find articles and books that will teach you something about the manipulated (independent) and responding (dependent) variables in your experiment. Learning about these will allow you to form a hypothesis based on intelligent and objective information. Once your experiments are completed, you will form a conclusion (see page 21) and your conclusion should be related to not only what you learned by performing your experiment, but also what you learned from your research.

It is important that you do not just look for basic, elementary, information. Your research should help you truly understand the science of your selected topic and the relationship of your manipulated and responding variables

In the example of “What is the effect of rocket fin shapes on the height of rocket flight”, information such as the following would be helpful:

“The best fin shape for a small competition model is a rectangle or the parallelogram”. FROM: What Type of Fin Shape is Best?
By Tim Van Milligan

There are many resources available for research. Take advantage of the librarians and interlibrary loan. Visit other libraries. Speak with someone who has a job or a hobby related to your subject.

Your research must include AT LEAST 4 SOURCES:

Must have 1 BOOK
Must have 1 PERIODICAL (magazine or newspaper)
Must have 1 Internet (only from a .org, .edu, .gov site)
1 OTHER (encyclopedia, Internet, interview with an expert in the field, book, etc.)

To search for resources, it is best to identify some keywords. These should include: your manipulated (independent) and responding (dependent) variables; any words or phrases related to them; and any synonyms or acronyms. In the example above, “Rocket” and “Fin Shape” were keywords. List your keywords below:

KEYWORDS:

______

Once you have found your sources, complete the following forms to help you remember where you discovered your information. It is very important to be able to give the original author of your information the credit they deserve for putting the information together. More help on citing sources can be found at http://www.fcps.edu/KeyMS/library/bibliography.html

Source 1 – Book

Example: Ashby, R. (2003). The Earth and Its Moon. North Mankato, Minnesota: Smart Apple Books.

Author’s Last Name / First Initial / Middle Initial / (Publication Date) /

Book title

/ Place of Publication: / Publisher / Pages Used
Ashby / R / (2003) / The Earth and Its Moon / North Mankato, MN / Smart Apple Media / 34

List two very specific things learned from this book:

1.______

2.______

Source 2 - Periodical

Magazine Article: Example: Svoboda, E. (2006, June). Flawless Man-made Diamonds. Popular Science, 43, 60 - 61.

Author Last Name(s) / First Initial / Middle Initial / (Publication Date) / Article title /

Magazine/Scholarly title

/ Volume number / Page Numbers
Svoboda / E / (2006, June) / Flawless Man-made Diamonds. / Popular Science / 43 / 60-61

List two very specific things you learned from this source:

1.______

2.______

Source 3 - Internet

Example:NASA (2007, August 3). Helping Phoenix Land. Accessed August 20, 2008 from http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/phoenix/mission/phoenix-edl.html

Agency or Author Last Name / First Initial / Middle Initial / (Publication date) / Article Title / Date Accessed / Article URL
NASA / (2007, August 3) / Helping Phoenix Land / August 20, 2007 / http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/phoenix/mission/phoenix-edl.html

List two very specific things you learned from this source:

1.__Example: University of Arizona is leading this mission to Mars to determine if Mars has water .______

2.___Example: Phoenix will land on the northern polar regions of Mars, and using its 7.7-foot-long robotic arm retrieve samples of soil and water ice and then analyze the samples._____

Source 4 - Your choice

If this source is a book or periodical, see the previous pages for Completion of bibliography.

List two very specific things you learned from this source:

1.______

2.______

Extra Source(s) if you need

If this source is a book or periodical, see the previous pages for creation of the bibliography.

1.______

2.______

Bibliography

A Bibliography is a list of the sources you used in your research. To finalize your Bibliography, rewrite each of the sources you listed on the previous pages in alphabetical order by author’s last name below. Be sure to use correct Bibliographic format.

The correct Bibliographic format is provided in each of the examples on Pages 9 and 10. For example: The correct format for a book is:

Ashby, R. (2003). The Earth and Its Moon. North Mankato, Minnesota: Smart Apple Books.

Source 1: ______

______

Source 2: ______

______

Source 3: ______

______

Source 4: ______

______

Source, other (if needed): ______

______

Research - Summary

Now that you have completed your research and collected new information on your topic and your manipulated and responding variables, it is important to communicate this new information. Summarize what you have learned in 4-5 paragraphs (a minimum of 5 sentences each). Reread your notes on pages 9 and 10. Organize the information in a logical way; don’t just list in order what each source told you. Think of this as a mini-report about your variables.

Pay attention to grammar, spelling, and sentence structure. Do not use the 1st person (I, we, my, etc.). Use introductory and concluding sentences. Be sure to give credit to the original authors of your information by using parenthetical documentation whenever you are writing about their information.

Before you begin, be sure you read pages 13 and 14 on Parenthetical Documentation and the PJHS Policy on Plagiarism.

Type your summary using 12 Point Font in New Times Roman or Arial on the computer and attach it to this page (be sure to save your work electronically!)

Parenthetical Documentation

When you write research papers of any type it is necessary for you to use the ideas of others to support your own views. There are three different ways that you can use the ideas of other people:

1. Summarizing

2. Paraphrasing

3. Quoting directly

All of these examples require you to give credit to the person who originally wrote what you are including in your writing. It shows the reader of your paper that the ideas or words are not your own, and that you have researched the subject. Whenever you write something you must identify which ideas are not your own and indicate where they came from. People reading your paper must know when things you write are not your own thinking and how to find the original source if they need to find it. To do this, the name of the original author, the date of publication, and the pages where the information you are referring to can be found, are put in parenthesis after using their ideas.

Examples using this quote from Carl Sagan found in:

Sagan, Carl, (2006) Conversation with Carl Sagan. University Press of Mississippi, Page 36.

There are many hypotheses in science which are wrong. That's perfectly all right; they're the aperture to finding out what's right. Science is a self-correcting process.

Summarizing:

When you summarize the major point, the general position, or an overall thought of an author, then a reference to the work as a whole without a page number is okay.

Hypotheses do not always have to be correct. (Sagan, 2006).

Paraphrasing:

A good way to use another author's work is to take their ideas and put them into your own words. In this way you can put emphasis on the parts that relate to what you are studying. However, to reword what another author has said can be difficult. Make sure that your paraphrase is accurate. Paraphrasing should be in your own words. Paraphrasing works best if you read the whole section you wish to refer to several times until it is clear to you. Be careful, you cannot paraphrase by taking sentences or phrases and just changing a few words - that is plagiarism.

In the scientific inquiry process there is much to be learned even if the hypothesis is incorrect. (Sagan, 2006, pg. 34)

Quoting Directly:

Quoting directly is using the author's exact words. You should only do this if the author has a very exceptional way of stating something. A good thing to do is paraphrase most ideas and use one or two direct quotes to capture something an author said. Direct quotes should be in quotation marks unless the quote is longer than 3 lines, then it should be indented without quotes (such as the Sagan quote above).

Example: “One step for man, one giant leap for mankind.” (Armstrong, Neil. 1979)

Plagiarism

The Perry High School policy on plagiarism is as follows:

PLAGIARISM is considered a serious offense. Students, like other writers, are expected to acknowledge the work of others and to assist their readers in finding specific locations from which their ideas are drawn. In other words, if you are summarizing, paraphrasing, or quoting another person, you need to attribute that material to its source. You may be taking the information from an interview or other oral text, or from the Internet, or from the conventional printed text. In either case, the source MUST be documented. Cutting and pasting a sentence or paragraph from the internet without parenthetical documentation is considered plagiarism.

Failure to document carries severe penalties.

Perry High School has determined that a plagiarized paper (essay, research paper, or other document) will warrant an automatic grade of zero (0). This also includes using the work of another student; all assignments submitted must be your own individual work with proper credit given to those who you have referenced. The majority of your written work needs to be in your own words.

Identifying Variables/Posing a Question

The process of Scientific Inquiry involves testing the effect of changing one thing (the manipulated variable) on another (the responding variable).

Manipulated variable:The variable or factor that you decide to change or “manipulate”

Independent variable

Responding variable:The result or effect that you measure as a result of Dependent variable: changing the Manipulated or Independent variable

An easy way to remember Manipulated and Responding Variables is to Pose your question in a “What is the Effect” format. The words that come before the word “on” form the Manipulated Variable and the words that follow the word “on” are the Responding Variable:

Example QuestionWhat is the effect of the shape of a rocket fin on how high the rocket will fly?

Manipulated variable:shape of fin

Responding variable:height of flight path

It is important in Scientific Inquiry to keep all other things (variables) that could affect the responding variable the same. These are called “controlled variables” or “constant variables”, because they are controlled, as best we can, to make sure they stay constant (stay the same).

In the example above, for instance, when firing rockets with different shaped fins, it would be important to try and launch them in similar weather conditions. Launching a rocket in a 5 mph wind would produce a different flight path than one launched in a 25 mph wind.

Notice in the example that all variables are measurable in metric units.

Other controlled variables temperature, light, water, soil type, plant type….keep in mind that everything in your experiment must remain the same ALL THE TIME except for your manipulated variable.

Name ______

Partner (optional) ______

Variable/Question Worksheet

Complete your Question (also called your Problem Statement):

What is the effect of ______

on ______?

What is the Manipulated or Independent variable in your experiment? Why? Be sure to include the units of measurement.

______

Units of measurement (metric)______

What is the Responding or Dependent variable in your experiment? Why? Be sure to include the units of measurement.

______

Units of measurement (metric)______

What variables will you control in your experiment? Why? Be sure to include the units of measurement.

______

Units of measurement (metric)______