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Are you ready for yourScience Project?
Science Project time is coming soon and many students need to do a science project as a part of their curriculum or for extra credit. Unfortunately some teachers, many parents and most students do not have access to sufficient resources that can tell them the benefits of doing a science project and guide them through the steps.
Organizations such as ScienceProject.com and Science Fair Network offer project guides that outline the steps and suggest the experiments for many different science projects; however, they all charge a fee of $7 up to $25 for their services. Such fees are not affordable for many students and their parents.
There are also some books that offer science project experiments. Although books are often more expensive, students have chance to borrow them from their school library or local library. The problem with most science project books is that they only focus on the experiments and have nothing about the purpose, hypothesis, variables, and many other elements of a science project.
Finally there are companies such as MiniScience.com that offer limited number of free science project guides; however, they are mostly geared towards the science kits and science materials they sell. The projects are really exciting for both adults and children; however, If you try to do one of those projects using the materials you have at home or you purchase locally, chances are you will fail. Many students that try such projects finally end up buying a material kit from them.
All you need to know before selecting a science projectIn this article we explore the benefits and steps of doing a science project. We will introduce some web resources and hope that you will use this information to have a smooth and successful science project experience. What you read in this article is a collection of professional advice from Mohammad Hamzeh, founder and chief project advisor of ScienceProject.com. Mr. Hamzeh is a professional researcher, educator and industrial consultant. Whether you are a teacher, parent or students, we hope you will find this article helpful and benefit from what you read.
Save time and moneyIf you are selecting an exciting new science project topic with an advanced concept, don’t expect to find the supplies in your local hardware store. Most store clerks will have a “deer in the headlight moment” when you ask them about materials you need for your science project. All materials are easily available from catalog stores or online stores. Order them early to avoid high cost of express shipping. While a basic shipping may cost about $7, an overnight shipping with Saturday delivery will cost about $65 (With no real guarantee for on time delivery). You may experience shipment delays, lost packages, and wrong shipments. Make sure you have enough time to reorder. If a kit is available, order the kit. Buying all the parts separately will usually cost much more. To save in shipping cost combine all you need in one order.
Get AdviceYou don’t want to reinvent the wheel or repeat the same mistakes others have done years ago. Get advice and use any help available. If you can afford, consider a membership at ScienceProject.com or buy a project guide at Science-Fair-Network.com. Buy some books or borrow them from your local library. Get help from parents and other family members who have technical knowledge and experience with science projects. Teachers are often a great help and can direct you to the right sources. (Always thank those who advice you or help you with your science project. Thank them even if you did not directly benefit their help or advice.)
Benefits of doing Science ProjectsDoing a science project develops an extra ordinary level of understanding in students.
While doing a science project students gain skills that that may not be achieved with any other activity. Challenges they face during their project will grow them to professional problem solvers. They develop a vision, become creative and transform to sharp, smart and effective individuals. The more challenging a project is, the more benefit they get from doing it. Science projects are not just for science fairs; instead they are the foundation for a successful future. Often science projects are starting points for large and successful business that students create when they grow up.
An important key requirement of many science projects is using scientific method in order to produce reliable results. Science projects and scientific method will allow students to distinguish between facts and fiction. It helps them to identify false and misleading information found in the books, on the Internet and many other publications. Information that look like scientific facts, but they are really produced to advertise specific products.
Types of science projectsBefore you select a science project you need to know about different types of science projects.
Depending on the age, grade and the purpose of the project you must select one of the three project types.
Display projects:
Display projects involve making a display model of something. Models are often made using cardboards, construction paper, balsa wood, glue, modeling clay and other materials found at home or in an art & craft store. Display projects are usually for younger students from kindergarten to the 4th grade. By making a model, students can visualize something or some conditions and learn it better while they also develop their craft skills. For example making the model of winter is one of such projects. After learning about seasons each student may need to make a model to display one specific season. For winter season, students often make a small house using cardboard and cover it with a layer of cotton or white foam dust to simulate snow. Small branches of some plants may also simulate trees that again will be covered with white snow.
Following are some more examples of display projects:
Display projects do not start with a question and do not have a hypothesis. Display projects are mostly art and craft projects that are used as a learning tool. It helps students to visualize and memorize scientific concepts.
Experimental Projects:
Experimental projects also known as investigatory projects are the most common types of science projects for grades 5 and above. Experimental projects are the only type of science projects that must start with one specific question or purpose. In experimental projects students need to identify the independent (manipulated) variables and dependent (responding) variables. They must also predict the results and write them as their hypothesis. Following are samples of experimental projects?
Engineering projects:
Engineering projects are science projects in which you will construct a functioning model. Doing an engineering project is like solving many problems at the same time. A well known engineering project is “Making a Strong Bridge” with certain span, certain weight limit and certain materials. Engineering projects do not start with one specific question and do not focus on one specific variable; instead, they deal with hundreds of challenges and variables at the same time. Engineering projects aim on making something that works or has specific properties. Following are samples of engineering projects:
Engineering projects are ususlly related to one specific science. For example the bridge project is related tp physics/mechanics, the radio project is related to physics/electronics, and the fire retardent project is related to chemistry.
How to select a Science Project Topic?The best practice for selecting a project is using an existing list of science project ideas. An extensive list of science project ideas is available at ScienceProject.com. You don't need to be a member in order to see the list of projects. You can also see a brief introduction to each project. All science project ideas listed at ScienceProject.com may be expanded or changed to make new project ideas. For example the "Egg Floatation" project that study buoyancy may be changed to "Apple Floatation", "Rock Floatation" and "Mineral Floatation". Students can also suggest special benefits and special applications for each new project idea.
While selecting a science project you must be able to determine if a project is a display project, experimental project or engineering project. Most projects at ScienceProject.com are already marked or classified in one of these types.
Come up with a new project idea
Display projects may be the construction of any model related to the subjects you have learned about. When you learn about the earth, you may make a cross section of the earth or a cross section of a volcano. For biology class you may make a model of cell, heart, eye or any other body part you have learned about. Your model must be able to show some details about what you make, but it does not have to work. For example a model heart may be made of plaster and it does not have to pump blood.
Engineering projects are construction of structures, machines and devices. Engineering projects may require some measurements, some calculations, and some tests before and after construction. Construction of a bridge, a solar furnace, a dam, an electric circuit or any electronic circuit are among engineering projects.
Experimental projects are studying the effect of one factor on another. Experimental projects must be very specific on selecting the factors or variables they study. For example someone may decide to study the effect of the air temperature on plant growth. In this example the air temperature is known as independent variable or manipulated variable. Plant growth is the dependent variable or responding variable. In this example plant growth must also be defined more percisely. You may measure increase in plant height, number of leaves or the plant mass as indications of plant growth for the period of your experiment.
The time and plant type in this experiment are constants. It simply means that you must study on one specific plant of your choice. You should not use a variety of plants in your experiments. Your project title must also show this. For example a good project title for this study is:
"The effect of air temperature on the growth of tomato plant".
Finally in experimental project you define some control variables. Control variables are conditions that may affect the results, so you measure and observe such variables and consider any changes in such variables in your final analysis of results. In the above project the air humidity and available light are among the control projects. Since you cannot keep such variables constant, you simply make sure that all your experimental subjects are under the same light condition and humidity condition.
Steps of experimental projects
Step 1: Start with a question or purpose. This is usually the same as the project title.
Step 2: Fine tune your question or purpose by defining specific variables. Variables include independent variables, dependent variables, control variables and constants.
Step 3: Predict your results. Write your predictions as your hypothesis. Hypothesis is an educated guess, not a random guess. Make sure you gather some information before writing your hypothesis.
Step 4: Desighn and conduct an experiment to test your hypothesis. Record your results.
Step 5: Review your experiment results. Transform or compile the results into meaningful format (such as tables) and draw charts and graphs to visualize your results.
Step 6: Analyze your results, discuss what happened and draw a conclusion.
Step 7: Prepare a report or display board to show all the above as well as your conclusion.
Free resources:
Many project ideas and project guides are available on the Internet. Last year many of the students who won the first place in their local science fairs selected their projects from these websites.
1. www.ScienceProject.com
This website offers the largest list of science project ideas with a breif introduction to each project. Access to the project ideas and the introduction page is free. ScienceProject.com also has many project guides that include experiment design. There is a fee to view each project guide. ScienceProject.com is the most comprehensive source of information for science projects on the Internet. This website has samples of best science project ideas. Many of such projects are related to the hot subjects such as unconventional sources of energy. KidsLoveKits.com also has an online store that sell discounted and low cost supplies you may need for your science experiments.
This website offers many project ideas as well as free project guides with step by step experiment design. MiniScience.com also has an online store that offers education supplies and materials or discounted kits for science project experiments.
4.
There are many other websites related to science project ideas and support; however, most of them are simply repeating the same projects that can be found at ScienceProject.com and MiniScience.com. Some of these websites are:
www.BESTSCIENCEPROJECT.COM www.BESTSCIENCEPROJECTS.COM www.EXPERIMENTALPROJECTS.COM www.EXPERIMENTSONLINE.COM www.FUNPROJECT.COM www.GREATSCIENCEFAIRPROJECT.COM www.GREATSCIENCEFAIRPROJECTS.COM www.ITISFAST.COM www.ITISFAST.NET www.MAGICPROJECTS.COM www.NEWSCIENCEPROJECTS.COM www.Science-Fair-Pro.com www.ScienceFairNetwork.com www.ScienceFairNetwork.net www.ScienceFairNetwork.org www.Science-Fair-Network.com www.Science-Fair-Network.net www.SCIENCE-FAIR-PROJECT.NET www.SCIENCE-FAIR-PROJECT.ORG www.SCIENCE-FAIR-PROJECTS.NET www.SCIENCE-FAIR-PROJECTS.ORG www.SCIENCEPROJECT.COM www.SCIENCEPROJECT.US www.SCIENCEPROJECT1.COM www.SCIENCEPROJECTGUIDE.COM www.SCIENCEPROJECTONLINE.COM www.SCIENCEPROJECTS.ORG www.SCIENCEPROJECTSONLINE.COM www.SCIENCE-PROJECTS-ONLINE.COM www.SP2005.COM www.SP2006.COM www.SUPER-SCIENCEFAIR-PROJECT.COM www.SUPER-SCIENCE-FAIR-PROJECT.COM www.SUPER-SCIENCEFAIR-PROJECTS.COM www.SUPERSCIENCEPROJECT.COM www.SUPER-SCIENCE-PROJECT.COM www.SUPERSCIENCEPROJECTS.COM www.SUPER-SCIENCE-PROJECTS.COM www.THISCOVER.COM www.THISCOVERY.COM |
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