Science Project

Franklin School Science

Science Project

Science Project Information

All students in science are required to do a year long science project. This project, when completed, will show the student's thorough knowledge of the scientific method. It needs to be an experiment, not a demonstration. The student will begin with a question and then find an answer to the question by testing a Hypothesis. If the answer can be found by doing research, then that is NOT an experiment.

Here are the Guidelines for appropriate Science Projects:
Must be creative, imaginative, and original (no mold, please!)
Must follow the scientific method and lab write-up formats
The subject must be something the student finds interesting
It must be student originated and produced
It will take a lot of work

Here are guidelines for projects that are NOT appropriate:
No animals may be used (unless approval by teacher)
No potato guns or other potentially harmful projectiles
"How does a volcano work?"
"How does a car engine work?"
Any question beginning with "How"
Any topic that the student is not excited about

Don't let this happen to you!

Proposal Paper Outline Example

Here is what belongs on the Science Board:

Purpose: Tell what you are trying to do.

Hypothesis: Your prediction of how the experiment will come out.

Materials: What you needed for the experiment.

Procedure: Step by step on how you did the experiment. Must be written in a way that is easy to follow.

Observations: Just the facts. Here is where you show what happened with absolutely no bias (opinion) whatsoever. Just show what happened.

Results: One or two sentences that state the outcome of your Observations.

Discussion/Conclusion: Explain to me why you got the results you did. Here is where your opinion is to be stated. You will use all your knowledge of Science and the world to explain to those who read your board the reasons for your observations.

Important Dates for the Science Project

Important dates to remember:
Phase I
September 28: Topic for science project due for approval (2 copies)
October 5: Hypothesis is due
November 2: Complete Materials list and step-by-step Procedure due

Phase II
December 7: Observations and Results of COMPLETED experiment are due
December 19: Proposal Paper due

Phase III
Science Day (TBA) : Science Fair Board is due for the judging and for the Science Fair
Students need to be prepared to answer questions of the judges and teachers

Please note that this is a new date, and may change. Also, Mr. Muth's dog is named after a Billy Joel song.

The science project will be graded in three separate phases. Each phase will have a significant impact on each trimester grade.

Phase One:
Topic is chosen and turned in for approval by the teacher. Every student will turn in two copies of their topic for review. One copy will be returned, and the other kept be the teacher for reference.
A Hypothesis will be written neatly and turned in
A complete Materials list will be turned in
A step by step Procedure will be completed

Phase Two:
The experiment will be completed in this Phase
Observations and Results will be completed and turned in
The student will review the experiment and then type a 500 word Proposal paper on how they would enhance (improve) or expand upon their science project

Phase Three:

The student will do the experiment for the second time making the changes written in the Proposal Paper. The student will complete a Science Board which will be displayed at the Science Fair and be Judged.

The student will also be prepared to answer questions about their project by the judges and the teacher.

Each phase will be grade on effort and quality of work completed. A rubrik will be made available to the students so they will be able to fully understand the expectations of them. If work is not completed by the assigned deadlines, the student will receive an "Incomplete" in Science until the work is made up. Late work cannot receive any grade above a C. There are no excuses that will be accepted. If the Science Project is not completed by the day of the Science Fair (Open House), the student will not pass Science.

This project won the top award in 2002.

Note that all the required information is clearly shown.

Here is an example of a project from last year

Very nice!