Science Fair

Lake Eola Charter School’s Cluster 2 is about to begin

working on the Science Fair for this year. This is NOT
meant to be stressful or overwhelming for the students, nor
is it a competitive event between students. My goal for the
first several weeks is to teach the Scientific Method to my
students in a way that they can understand. I do not want
the students to simply memorize terms, but to truly
understand the meanings.
This is meant to be fun, educational, and hopefully a life-
long learning experience. With this said, here are some
basic requirements for the Science Fair.

1. All 4th and 5th graders must participate.

2. Students may work independently or in groups of 2,
as long as they are in the same block or class.
3. If students choose to work in pairs on this project,
then everyone must be equally involved. Students
working in pairs will have to document in their
journals the dates, times, and location of their
meetings with a parent signature for verification.
Also included must be a list of what each student did
specifically on the project. It is very important that if
the students work together in pairs that everyone does
an equal amount of the work.
4. This officially begins today Monday, March 15th,
2010 and the finished product is due on Monday,
May 24, 2010.
 5. Procedures will be taught and explained in class, but
the individual project will be done outside of the
classroom.
6. Projects will be scored on the attached rubric.

7. Students must review this packet with their

parents. Parents please sign and return the last
page by Wednesday, March 24, 2010.
8. Students will have until Wednesday, March 24, 2009
to decide the topic for their Science Fair project. On
Wednesday, March 24, 2010 students must submit
their questions being researched in their projects.
The students may write their problem (questions) on
the last page of hits packet. Below is a sample of what
I will need each student to turn in to me.

John Smith
Mrs. Joerg’s 2nd Period Class
Wednesday, March 24, 2010

Question: Which popcorn popper is the most efficient?

I will be working with one other student: Sally Smith.

Parents: There are wonderful websites available for 4th

and 5th grade science fair projects. Also you can find great
books for these projects at the library.

Notes for the science fair must be written in ink and kept in a
Science Fair journal and will be used to make their Science
Fair display board. I will help the students properly label
sections of their journals. The students will also be graded on
their journals.
 Sections to be kept in your notebook
(please write in ink)
• Table of contents of the following items with dates
• Problem: (must be in the form of a question)
• Research: (1 page for 4th graders, 2 pages for 5th )
• Hypothesis: (your educated guess)
• Materials: all materials needed to do this project
• Variables: things that change in the experiment
• Controls: (control group) – things that stay the same in
the experiment
• Procedures: all steps needed to do the project
• Observations: (pictures)
• Results:
a. Collect Data: What happened when you did
the experiment?
b. Conduct at least three trials for each variable
in your experiment.
c. Record the results in some sort of graph.
Examples: bar graph, circle graph, picture
graph, ect.
• Conclusion: Was your hypothesis right or wrong?
What happened and what did you learn?
• Bibliography: (list of sources)
 Sections to be
Typed on the Display Board
• Problem: (must be in the form of a question)
• Hypothesis: (your educated guess)
• Materials: all materials needed to do this project
• Procedures: all steps needed to do the project
• Observations: (pictures)
• Results:
a. Collect Data: What happened when you did
the experiment?
b. Conduct at least three trials for each
variable
in your experiment.
c. Record the results in some sort of graph.
Examples: bar graph, circle graph, picture
graph, ect.
• Conclusion: 1. Was your hypothesis right or
wrong?
2. What happened and what did you
learn from your experiment?
3. If you did the experiment again
how would you do it differently
and would you get the same
results? Why or why not?

*Please note: The written part of your display board

must be typed and displayed attractively and neatly.
 How to write a bibliography

Record the following information from

a book:

1. Name of the author (last name first)

2. Title of the book (underlined)
3. Place of publication (city)
4. Name of publisher
5. Year of publication (most recent year)

Example:

Skelsey, Alice. Growing Up Green. New York:

Workman Publishing Company. 1973.

Record the information from an internet site

1. Name of internet article

2. Date of article
3. Address of internet website

“Boiling Point.” Online. 2 January, 2001.

www.Britannica.com

It you cannot find the date of the internet article,

use the date the student looked at it.
 Cluster II
Science Fair Timeline

Event Date Due

Science fair packet 3/24/2010

AND problem due in class
(need parent signatures)

Hypothesis due in class 4/14/2010

Students must begin all projects 4/15/2010

Projects due in class 5/24/2010

***I will be checking the students’ journals on a regular basis.

It is imperative that they keep up with their journals. They
will receive a separate grade on their journals.
 Science Fair Projects: Websites

http://www.scienceproject.com/projects/index/elementary.asp

http://www.sciencebuddies.org/science-fair-
projects/recommender_register.php (this website ask questions
and suggests possible project ideas based on interests)

http://chemistry.about.com/od/sciencefairprojects/a/sciproelem
.htm

http://www.sciencefairsanity.com/home/sci/smartlist_9/free_ele
mentary_science_fair_projects_3rd___5th_gr.html

http://www.hometrainingtools.com/articles/elementary-
project-ideas.html

http://school.discoveryeducation.com/sciencefaircentral/
 Lake Eola Charter School
Science Fair Project

Name: ________________________ Teacher: Mrs. Joerg

Date: ______________

CATEGORY 4 3 2 1
Creativity The project is The project is good The project is The project is
outstanding overall. fair overall. poor overall.
overall.

Scientific Content The student has The student has a The student has The student does
mastered all proficient a basic not understand
aspects of the understanding of understanding the project or
project and all of the project and of the project much of the
the information most of the and some of the information
related to the information related information related to the
scientific method. to the scientific related to the scientific
method. scientific method.
method.
Data Collection Student provided Student provided a Student No conclusion
a detailed somewhat detailed provided a was apparent OR
conclusion conclusion clearly conclusion with important details
clearly based on based on the data some reference were
the data and and related to the to the data and overlooked.
related to hypothesis the hypothesis
previous research statement(s). statement(s).
findings and the
hypothesis
statement(s).
 Science Fair

My child and I have read the science fair packet.

Parent Signature: _______________________________

Student Signature:______________________________

Science Fair Problem (Question)

Due Wednesday March 24, 2010