INTRODUCING:

The Most Fabulous, Scientific, All Helpful, Kid Friendly and

Most Excellent Science Fair Project Planner
Known to Kid Kind:

Elementary
Science Fair
Planning
Guide

Just follow these easy steps and you too can create a wonderful
award winning science project, thought up entirely by you!!!

VERY IMPORTANT: Before you turn this page, recruit an adult to

help you. They come in very handy, especially if you
are nice to them and tell them you won’t blow up anything….

My adult’s name is __________________________

From this point forward you are now… A SCIENTIST!!

Lora Holt Copyright 2006

 Table of Contents
-or-
What is inside this packet in case you are impatient and you want to jump around

Types of Science Projects: 2

What the is the Scientific Method? 3

Choosing a category that interests you… 4

Now it’s Your Turn: 4

Step 1: Coming up with a Good Question… 5

Now it’s Your Turn: 5

Step 2 : Doing the Research and 6

forming a Hypothesis 6
Now it’s Your Turn: 7

Step 3: Testing your Hypothesis by 8

doing an experiment 8

Timeout: How Do You Collect Data?!! 9

Now it’s Your Turn: 10

Step 4: The Presentation or Why you needed all those pictures…. 12

Types of Science Projects:

There are two types of science projects: Models and Experiments. Here is the
difference between the two:

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 So What Type of Project Should You Do?
Even though you can learn a lot from building a model or display, we recommend that you do an
Experiment! Why? Well, they are fun, they are more interesting and most of all, they take you through
the SCIENTIFIC METHOD, which is the way real scientists investigate in real science labs. Besides
that, the scientific method is what the judges are looking for!!

What is the Scientific Method?

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3
 Choosing a category that interests you…
All Great Projects start with great questions but before you get started on a great question you need to pick a
subject or topic that you like. There are three different categories of the Science Fair to choose from. They are:

Life science: This category deals with all animal, plant and human body questions that you might have and
want to do an experiment about. Remember that it is against Science Fair Rules to intentionally hurt an animal
during an experiment. If you are dealing with animals, please let an adult assist you. It is okay to do experiment
on plants, as long as they don’t belong to someone else, like don’t do an experiment on your mom’s rose
bushes unless you ask her first…

Life science also includes studying behaviors, so it's a perfect category to try taste tests, opinion surveys,
animal behavior training (or even training behavior in humans...like baby brothers or sisters...)

Physical Science: If you like trying to figure out how things work, then this is the category for you! It includes
topics about matter and structure, as well as electricity, magnetism, sound, light or anything else that you might
question, “How does it work and what if I do this to it, will it still work?” But remember, you always need to ask
an adult first (and always make sure there is one of those adult guys with you when you try it.)

Physical Science also includes the composition of matter and how it reacts to each other. These are the
science experiments that may have bubbling and oozing going on, like figuring out what is an acid and what is
a base. It is a perfect category to try to mix things together to see what will happen. Again, if you are
experimenting with possibly dangerous things, you need to recruit an adult to help you out.

Earth and Space Sciences: This category is really awesome because it covers all sorts of topics that deal
with the Earth or objects in space. This includes studying weather, Geology (which is the study of everything
that makes up the Earth, like rocks, fossils, volcanoes, etc..), and the study of all that is in space, including the
stars, our sun and our planets. Unfortunately this topic is also where most kids mess up and do a collection or
model project instead of an “Experiment,” so be careful!!!

Now it’s Your Turn:

Write down your favorite Science Fair Category and what it is you want to learn more about:

My favorite Category was ______________________________________________________

(Life Science, Physical Science, Earth and Space Science)

I want to do an experiment involving

_________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________

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 Step 1: Coming up with a Good Question…
Now that you have picked out a topic that you like and that you are interested in, it’s time to write a question or identify a
problem within that topic. To give you an idea of what we mean you can start off by filling in the question blanks with the
following list of words:

The Effect Question:

What is the effect of _________________________ on ___________________________?

sunlight on the growth of plants
eye color pupil dilation
brands of soda a piece of meat
temperature the size of a balloon
oil a ramp

The How Does Affect Question:

How does the ______________________________ affect _________________________?
color of light the growth of plants
Humidity the growth of fungi
color of a material its absorption of heat

The Which/What and Verb Question

Which/What ______________________________ (verb) __________________________?

paper towel is most absorbent
foods do mealworms prefer
detergent makes the most bubbles
paper towel is strongest
peanut butter tastes the best

Now it’s Your Turn:

Create your Science Fair question using either the “Effect Question”, the “How does Affect Question”
or the “Which/What and Verb Question”:
________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________

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 Step 2 : Doing the Research and
forming a Hypothesis
So you’ve picked your category and you’ve chosen a topic. You even wrote a question using our cool fill in the
blank template. Now it is time to research your problem as much as possible. Becoming an expert at your topic
is what real scientists do in real labs.

So How do you become an expert?

YOU READ!
READ about your topic. READ encyclopedias. READ magazine articles and books from the
library. READ articles from the internet. Take note of any new science words you learn and use
them. It makes you sound more like a real scientist. Keep Track of all the books and articles you
read. You’ll need that list for later.

YOU DISCUSS!
Talk about it with your parents. Talk about it with your teachers. Talk about it with experts like
Veterinarians, Doctors, Weathermen or others who work with the things you are studying.
Sometimes websites will give you e-mail addresses to experts who can answer questions…. But
again, do not write to anyone on the internet without letting an adult supervise it. (*hint: take
pictures of yourself interviewing people)

Whew…..
Then when you think that you can’t possibly learn anymore and the information just keeps repeating itself.. You
are ready to…

Write a Hypothesis
Now it is the time to PREDICT what you think will happen if you test your problem. This type of
“SMART GUESS” or PREDICTION is what real scientists call A HYPOTHESIS. Using this fancy word
will amaze your friends and will have you thinking like a full fledged scientist.

So how do you begin? Well, just answer this very simple question:

What do you think will happen, (even before you start your experiment)?
Example Problem: Which Paper Towel is more absorbent?

Example Hypothesis: I think Brand X will be more absorbent because it’s a more
popular brand, it is thicker and the people I interviewed
said that the more expensive brands would work better
(This hypothesis not only predicts what will happen in the experiment, but also shows that the“Scientist” used research to
back up his prediction.)

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Now it’s Your Turn:
Write down the problem and create a Hypothesis based on what you have researched.

Problem:________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________

Research: My problem is about this subject: ____________________________________

(sample topics could be magnetism, electricity, buoyancy, absorbency, taste, plant growth, simple machines or other
scientific topics that relate to your problem. If you are having problems finding out what the topic is, ask your teacher or an
adult to help you on this one….)

Books I found in the library on my topic are:

Title: Author:
_____________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________
Internet sites that I found on my topic are:
_____________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________
People I talked to about my topic are:
_____________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________
Some important points that I learned about my topic are
• ____________________________________________________________________________
• ____________________________________________________________________________
• ____________________________________________________________________________
• ____________________________________________________________________________

Hypothesis: I think that __________________________________________________________

(will happen) because (my research shows…)_________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________

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 Step 3: Testing your Hypothesis by
doing an experiment
Now we’ve come to the good part. The part that all scientists can’t wait to get their grubby little hands
on… you guessed it… The EXPERIMENT!

Designing an experiment is really cool because you get to use your imagination to come up with a test
for your problem, and most of all, you get to prove (or disprove) your Hypothesis. Now Science Fair
Rules state that you cannot perform your experiment live, so you’ll have to take plenty of
pictures as you go through these seven very simple steps.

First: Gather up your materials. What will you need to perform your experiment? The safest way to
do this is get that adult you recruited to help you get the stuff you need. Oh, did we mention to take
pictures or draw pictures of your materials. This will come in handy when you are making your board
display.

Second: Write a PROCEDURE. A procedure is a list of steps that you did to perform an experiment. Why do you
need to write it down? Well it’s like giving someone a recipe to your favorite dish. If they want to try it, they can follow your
steps to test if it’s true. Scientists do this so that people will believe that they did the experiment and also to let other
people test what they found out. Did we mention to take pictures of yourself doing the steps?

Third: Identify your variables. The variables are any factors that can change in an experiment. Remember that
when you are testing your experiment you should only test one variable at a time in order to get accurate results. In
other words, if you want to test the effect that water has on plant growth, then all the plants you test should be in the same
conditions, these are called controlled variables: same type of dirt, same type of plant, same type of location, same
amount of sunlight, etc. The only variable you would change from plant to plant would be the amount of water it received.
This is called the independent or manipulated variable. The independent variable is the factor you are testing. The
results
of the test that you do are called the dependent or responding variables. The responding variable is what happens as a
result of your test. Knowing what your variables are is very important because if you don’t know them you won’t be able to
collect your data or read your results.

Fourth: TEST, TEST, TEST. Remember that the judges expect your results to be consistent in order to be a good
experiment, in other words, when you cook from a recipe you expect the outcomes to be the same if you followed the
directions (or procedure) step by step. So that means you need to do the experiment more than once in order to test it
properly. We recommend five times or more. More is better! Don’t forget to take pictures of the science project being done
and the results.

Fifth: Collect your DATA. This means write down or record the results of the experiment every time you test it. Be sure
You also need to organize it in a way that it is easy to read the results. Most scientists use tables, graphs and other
organizers to show their results. Organizing makes the results easy to read, and much easier to recognize patterns that
might be occurring in your results. (Besides, it impresses the judges when you use them.) But don’t make a graph or table
because we asked you to, use it to benefit your project and to help you make sense of the results. There is nothing worse
than having graphs and tables that have nothing to do with answering the question of a science project.

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 Timeout: How Do You Collect Data?!!
● Keep a science journal: A science journal is a type of science diary that you can keep especially if
your experiment is taking place over a long period of time. We
suggest you do that if your experiment is over a period of a week or
more. In your journal you can record observations, collect research,
draw and diagram pictures and jot down any additional questions
you might have for later.

● Have the right tools to do the job: make sure you have the stuff
you need to take accurate measurements like rulers, meter tapes,
thermometers, graduated cylinders or measuring cups that measure
volume. The recommended standard of measurement in science is
metric so if you can keep your measurements in meters, liters,
Celsius, grams, etc, you are doing great!

● Tables, charts and diagrams are generally the way a good scientist like you would keep track of your
experiment trials. Remember you are testing at least 5 times or more. A table is organized in columns and rows
and ALWAYS has labels or headings telling what the columns or rows mean. You will probably need a row for
every time you did the experiment and a column telling what the independent variable was (what you tested) and
the responding variable (the result that happened because of the independent variable).

● Be accurate and neat! When you are writing your tables and charts please make sure that you record your data
in the correct column or row, that you write neatly, and most of all that you record your data as soon as you collect
it SO YOU DON’T FORGET WHAT HAPPENED!!!! Sometimes an experiment might be hard to explain with just
a table, so if you have to draw and label a diagram (or picture) to explain what happened, it is recommended that
you do.

● Use the right graph for your experiment. There is nothing worse than a bad graph. There are all types of graph
designs, but these seem to be easy to use for science fair experiments.
○ Pie graphs are good to use if you are showing percentages of groups. Remember that you
can’t have more than 100% and all the pieces need to add up to 100%. This type of graph is
great if you are doing surveys.
○ Bar graphs are good to use if you are comparing amounts of things
because the bars show those amounts in an easy to read way. This
way the judges will be able to tell your results at a glance. Usually
the bars go up and down. The x axis (or horizontal axis) is where
you label what is being measured, (like plant A, B, C and D) and the y
axis (or vertical axis) is labeled to show the unit being measured (in
this case it would be centimeters that the plant grew)
○ Line graphs are good to use if you are showing how changes
occurred in your experiments over time. In this particular case you would be using
the x axis to show the time increments (minutes, hours, days, weeks, months) and
then you would use the Y axis to show what you were measuring at that point in
time.

….And Now back to the Experiment Steps

Sixth: Write a Conclusion: tell us what happened. Was your hypothesis right or wrong or neither? Were you
successful, did it turn out okay? Would you change anything about the experiment or are you curious about something
else now that you’ve completed your experiment. And most of all, TELL WHAT YOU LEARNED FROM DOING THIS.

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Seventh: Understand its Application. Write about how this experiment can be used in a real life
situation. Why was it important to know about it?

Now it’s Your Turn:

Materials: (take pictures!)
List the Materials that you will need for your science experiment here:

1 6

2 7

3 8

4 9

5 10

Variables:
List the variables that you will control, the variable that you will change and the variables that will be the results of your
experiment:

My controlled variables are (the stuff that will always stay the same):
____________________________________________________________________________________________

____________________________________________________________________________________________

My independent variable is (this is the thing that changes from one experiment to the next, it is what you are
testing): ________________________________________________________________________________________

My responding variables might be (in other words, the results of the experiment):
____________________________________________________________________________________________

____________________________________________________________________________________________

Procedure: (the steps…. Don't forget to take pictures without people in them)
List the steps that you have to do in order to perform the experiment here:
1. _____________________________________________________________________
2. _____________________________________________________________________
3. _____________________________________________________________________
4. _____________________________________________________________________
5. _____________________________________________________________________

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Design a table or chart here to collect your information
(Did we mention that you needed to take pictures of you doing the actual experiment?)

Use the Graph paper at the end of this booklet to make a graph of your results from your table.

Conclusion:
Now tell us what you learned from this and if you were able to prove your hypothesis. Did it work? Why did it work or why
didn’t it work? What did the results tell you? Sometimes not being able to prove a hypothesis is important because you still
proved something. What did you prove?
____________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________

Application:
(How does this apply to real life?)
It’s important to know about this experiment because…...
______________________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________________

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 Step 4: The Presentation or Why you needed all
those pictures….
But First, a school Fable….
Sammy and Sally both baked cakes for the bake sale with the same cake mix and by following the same
directions. When Sammy got his cake out of the oven, he carefully took it out of the pan, smoothed the
chocolate frosting neatly and decorated his cake so that it looked delicious. Sally on the other hand,
smashed her cake slightly when getting it out of the pan and globbed the frosting on parts of the cake. As
you may have already guessed, everyone wanted some of Sammy’s cake and no one wanted Sally’s. Sally
couldn’t figure out why, because she tasted both and they both tasted the same…

You may have become the leading expert of your topic and had the most interesting experiment results, but if you
don’t make your science project look delicious for the judges eyes to see, well, your chances of winning sweepstakes will
crumble like Sally’s cake. Your display board is kind of like an advertisement for all your hard work. So take our advice:
BE NEAT!! The judges like to see a nice, easy to read display, that has neat writing, easy to read graphs and tables and
you guessed it…. lots and lots of pictures!! (Did you remember to make sure no one is seen in the pictures?)

MAKING A MOUTH WATERING DISPLAY

This is an example of a neat looking Science Fair Display Board. It is just an example. Depending on your information and
the amount pictures, tables and graphs, you may have a different layout. Just make sure it is neat.

Display Beauty Secrets:

● Use a computer to type out your information, but if you can’t, write out your information in your best writing.
Printing the titles is usually best. If you are using a computer, make sure the fonts are readable and only use one
or two typefaces.

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● Use spray adhesive or glue stick to paste up your papers. It is less messy
● Mount white paper, pictures, graphs and tables on colored papers (making sure the colored paper is larger so it
creates a border for the white paper.

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