Science Fair Packet:
Gr3-5_ScienceFairPacket2011-2012-v1.pdf
Science Fair Packet in Spanish:
Science-Fair-Packet-Spanish-2010-2011.pdf
Science Fair Power Point Template:
Science-Fair-Template.pptx
Science Fair Board Template:
DisplayBoardTemplateEXPv1.pdf
Use the following site to make a graph:
Create a Graph

Name Homeroom____

4^th & 5^th Grade Union Hill Science Fair Time Line

Due Date What is expected to be turned in

Thursday, Sept 30 Science Fair packet is sent home

Monday, Oct 4 Bottom of this timeline signed by parent and student and returned to teacher for a grade

Thursday, Oct. 14 Part 1 (pages 2-3) – Due with parent approval/signature

· Neatly written or typed project idea, hypothesis, materials list and procedures

Thursday, Nov. 11 Parts 2 & 3 (page 4 and attachments) –

Due with parent approval/signature

· Neatly drawn proposed display board with all items included as you plan to place them.

· Graph or table which describes results of experiment (computer generated or hand drawn with ruler)

Nov. 15, 16,18 Optional after-school work sessions

· From 2:45 until 5 p.m., staff members will be available to assist with display boards, etc. (permission slip will be required to attend)

Wednesday, Dec 1 Science Fair Project Drop-Off with Registration Form

· For your convenience, volunteers will be available after school hours for drop off of project display boards UNTIL 4:00 PM. Please let your child’s teacher know if you are coming after school so that we plan accordingly.

· Bring in display board (see rules) and registration form only

Thursday, Dec 2 Science Fair Judging 8 am – 2:45 pm

· Students may be required to explain their projects
(judges’ discretion)

· Judging is closed to all but selected judges

· Public Viewing from 6 – 7 pm

· Prize ceremony from 7 – 7:30 pm

Project ideas will be selected during science class times.

(Cut and return lower section by Monday, October, 4, 2010.)
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

I, ______________________________________________ have read this timeline and understand the due dates.

(PRINT Student’s name)

I, ____________________________________ have read this timeline and will encourage my child to do his/her best.

(PRINT Parent’s name)

This project will be completed for Classroom Credit and will be entered in the Union Hill Science Fair.
Winners of the Union Hill Science Fair may advance to the Austin Energy Regional Science Festival. (winners will receive information about this at a later date)

*** This is a long term project and all parts must be turned in on the assigned dates for classroom credit and Science Fair eligibility.

Student Signature ______________________________ Parent Signature ______________________________

Student’s Name ______________________ Due Date: October 14, 2010

Science Fair

Part I

(2 pages)

Project Title: ___________________________________________________________________________

Project Idea: _______________________________________________________________________________

Hypothesis: _______________________________________________________________________________

Materials list and where you will get supplies (Don’t forget the display board).

______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Do I have special needs? (Ex. Electricity, adult assistance): ______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Procedures: ________________________________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________________________________

How will I record my data? (charts, graphs, lists, etc.) And when? (at what point in the experiment)

__________________________________________________________________________________________

Do you have any concerns or problems? __________________________________________________________________________________________

____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Background Information : What do books, articles (magazines, newspapers, journals,) and/or the Internet say about your topic?_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Remember your project and recording of results (tables or graphs) should be done at home or on after-school project days.

Please sign when you have read and completed this form.

Student ___________________________________ Date ___________________________

Parent ___________________________________ Date ___________________________

Teacher ___________________________________ Date ___________________________

Student’s Name ______________________ Due Date: November 11, 2010

Science Fair

Part 2

On a separate sheet of paper, draw a picture of your proposed display board with all items drawn on it showing where you plan to place them. It is not necessary to have all the details shown on this drawing; however, the display board elements listed on pp. 5-6 must be included.

Science Fair

Part 3

On a separate sheet of paper, make a graph or table (on your own) either by computer or by hand (using a ruler). The graph or table should give the results of your experiment.

________________________________ ____________________________________

Student’s signature Parent’s Signature

4^th & 5^th Grade UHE Students must do EXPERIMENTS!

4^th grade – students may work individually or with a partner. Projects completed with partners cannot advance to the Austin Regional Science Festival if they win at UH Science Fair.

5^th grade – students must complete individual science fair projects.

The information following on this page is from the Austin Energy Regional Science Festival 2010
(http://www.sciencefest.org/pdfs/SF_ElemHndbk_Web.pdf).

An experiment is a test of a question to which you do not already know the answer. To test your question, you must follow the steps of the scientific method. The display board elements below list these steps.

DISPLAY BOARD ELEMENTS

TITLE of experiment
PROBLEM: What question are you trying to answer?

DEFINITIONS: Explain the meanings of any special words stated in the “Problem.”

HYPOTHESIS: This is what you think will happen before you start to test.

BACKGROUND INFORMATION: What do books, articles, and the Internet say about your topic?

EXPERIMENTAL PROCEDURE: These are the steps you follow to test your problem.

RESULTS: What happened? (Use tables of data or graphs plus a description.)

CONCLUSION: What is the answer to the question in your “Problem?” How do you explain your results?

REFERENCES and ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS: Books, resource people, articles (include title and author) or specific Web sites (include the date the site was accessed). Neither search engines, such as Google and Yahoo, nor Wikipedia, are scientific sources.

CRITERIA FOR JUDGING AN EXPERIMENT

· Title of Experiment – Student states project title 1 2

· Problem - Student asks a testable question about the topic. 1 2 3 4 5

· Definitions - Student knows the meaning of the words in 1 2 3 4 5

the problem.

· Hypothesis - Student predicts what the results will be. 1 2 3 4 5

· Background Information - Student provides written research 1 2 3 4 5

information of test.

· Experimental Procedure - Student describes steps of test. 1 2 3 4 5

· Experimental materials - Student lists items needed for test 1 2 3 4 5

· Results - Student describes what happened; tables and 1 2 3 4 5

graphs display data.

· Conclusion - Student answered the question posed in the problem. 1 2 3 4 5

· References and Acknowledgements – Student credits all sources 1 2 3 4 5

Scores generally range from 1-5. One is the lowest possible score and five is the highest.
The only exception to this is the score for Title in which one is for “no title” and two is for “title provided”.

Students should always plan on taking photographs of their project steps as a visual explanation of their effort. Avoid having the entrant’s face in photos!

EXAMPLES

Do ants like diet soda?
Do batteries of the same brand last the same amount of time?
Does warm water freeze faster than cold water?

Union Hill students will follow these Austin Energy Regional Science Festival 2010 rules for elementary students, found on this web site: http://www.sciencefest.org/pdfs/SF_ElemRulesForParticipation.pdf.

1. Projects That Are Not Allowed
No student will be allowed to design or conduct any science project that involves

• firearms, explosives, or discharge air pressure canister devices (i.e. potato guns)

• growing bacteria or mold at home

• causing pain, suffering, sickness, or death of an animal

• any activity or substance that presents a danger to the student or the environment, including hazardous chemicals or radioactive materials

2. Display and Safety Guidelines
All student projects must follow the guidelines listed below to be allowed to display at the science fair.

Items Not Allowed

• No organisms; living, dead or preserved (plants or animals)

• No human/animal parts or body fluids (for example, blood, urine)

• No human or animal food

• No bacteria or mold cultures

• No liquids – laboratory/household chemicals including water (Exceptions: water integral to an enclosed apparatus or water supplied by the Display & Safety Committee)

• No poisons, drugs, controlled or hazardous substances

• No sharp items (for example: syringes, needles, pipettes, knives, tacks, nails)

• No glass or glass objects unless encased or an integral and necessary part of a commercial product (for example, a computer screen)

• No pressurized tanks or containers

• No batteries with open top cells (so that battery acid can be seen)

• No dirt, soil, gravel, rocks, sand, waste product, etc.

• No project, device, activity, or substance that may be deemed hazardous to student health or safety

• No photographs or pictures of animals or people in surgical techniques, dissections, or necropsies.

Discouraged Items

• Expensive, breakable, or fragile items.

Allowed and Encouraged Items

• Photographs, drawings, stuffed animals/artificial plants, or imitation (play) food should be used to depict the prohibited or discouraged items.

• Be sure to properly credit all photographers on the display board (Photograph taken by . .)

• Students should always plan on taking photographs of their project steps as a visual explanation of their effort. Students must ask permission before photographing any other individuals for display on project.

• Students may use a computer and printer for written parts of the project.

• Electrical projects may use batteries as sources of electricity.

3. Display Board

Project display should be on sturdy 36” x 48” tri-fold board which will provided to UHE students. Written material, drawings, and pictures should be securely attached to the display board. Projects will be displayed on tables that are 36 inches high. Size of display boards may not exceed the following measurements: 30” deep, 48” wide, and 72” high. Due to space limitations, displays that exceed these measurements cannot be accepted.

4. Electricity for Your Display
• If a project requires electricity, that need should be indicated on the Part 1 form.

5. Parental Help

Some students are fortunate to have parents who have time to help them. However, parents who do the thinking or build the project for them do not really help students. Parents are encouraged to help their children in these ways:

• Read and discuss science fair information and rules

• Select projects which are appropriate for the child’s age and grade level

• Plan and manage project work times and clean-up times

• Take your child to the public library or other places for research

• Help draw straight lines for a young child

• Listen to your child’s oral explanation of the project

• Ensure the child’s safety

Students must list any parental help in the References and Acknowledgements section of the project.

Internet Resources

Here are a few websites to help get you started with your science fair experiment.

Science Buddies

http://www.sciencebuddies.org

The Science Buddies website consists of free science fair project ideas, answers, and tools for students. Project ideas, guides, competitions, and teacher resources are available. The site includes a helpful “Topic Selection Wizard” which may help students narrow their areas of interest.



Kidspace @ The Internet Public Library: Science Fair Project Resource Guide

http://www.ipl.org/div/kidspace/projectguide/gettingstarted.html

This Internet Public Library site provides a wealth of information and links to sites that are all about science fairs.

Science Fair Central

http://school.discoveryeducation.com/sciencefaircentral/

The Science Fair Central website provides a complete guide to science fairs

DragonflyTV – PBS Kids

http://pbskids.org/dragonflytv/scifair/index.html

This PBS site gives kids ideas for choosing a science fair project of interest to them

Elementary Projects (Gr. 4-6)

http://www.cdli.ca/sciencefairs/elem.html

















This site provides a simple list of many possible science fair project ideas. Be sure to scroll down to the “Gr. 4-6 Experimental Projects” section, as 4^th and 5^th graders cannot do a model or demonstration.