1. The Science Fair is February 25^th
2. A completed science fair project presented at the district fair will be worth one half a full grade raise per 9 weeks for the first 3 weeks and for the 4^th 9 weeks if you go to the state science fair.

3. To get the extra credit each 9 weeks you have to complete the following schedule
1. Have three problem or question ideas to solve by the end of week two.
2. Have one problem chosen and approved by your teacher by week four.
3. Have research completed with a hypothesis, a materials list, and procedure by week nine or the end of the nine weeks.(First term credit)
4. Have your experiment in progress by mid-term of second 9 weeks
5. Have your experiment completed by end of second term(Second term credit)
6. Have your application completed to turn in by February 12^th
7. Have your project background completed and be able to present your project February 25^th(Third term credit)
8. Improve your project and show it at the state science fair, if your project is chosen.(Fourth term credit)

4. The hardest part of any project is to find a problem or question that could compete on a high school science fair level. To help you do this I suggest you think of a scientific area you are interested in and then narrow that area down. For example. I like astronomy, I am interested in the Sun, I wonder about the effects of sun spots on our climate, I wonder if there are more sunspots if the average temperature is warmer. Ah! Hah! My question is, “What is the relationship of number of sunspots to the daily average temperature?”
5. You have several science fair project sources of ideas on the department webpage and I will give additional resources, if you are interested and attempt to do a science project. If you are a Sterling Scholar caliber of student this or outside research are the only ways that you will ever be able to compete on the state level. For the rest of us it would be a good learning experience of how science works and would give you a good step up for science in your future. Good luck. I hope you give it a try.

THINGS TO KNOW:

Term One

1.Your research paper, due at the end of term one, can remain informal and functional for you to use to develop a question and a hypothesis. When you write up your project it will be formal and should never be in first person (I, we, us). Poor example of language in a formal project like you are doing. I took the water etc. is too informal. You would write instead. Water was taken etc.

2. Your hypothesis has to be backed up by your research. It is an educated answer to your problem and that means it is backed up by research.

3. A hypothesis statement is a simple CAUSE AND EFFECT answer to your problem. You do not want a lengthy explanation.

Example: Because Pepsi has sugar, it will be more dense than water and a can of it will sink when placed in water.

4. All necessary material should be listed.
5. Your procedure should again not be in first person (I, we, us). It needs to be very precise so others could duplicate it to verify your findings.

Term Two

1. Your hypothesis has to be testable.
2. There needs to be two halves to an experiment. You need a control half and an experimental half. The control half is a comparison that is exactly like the experimental half except for the one variable that is being tested in the experimental half. When you observe your results, any difference between the two halves is then due to the variable being tested.
3. You need to collect data. The data should contain what was being tested (independent variable) and the what happened or the results (dependent variable).
4. Once the data has been collected, it then needs to be graphed. You place the dependent variable on the y axis and the independent variable on the x axis of your graph.