Science Fair

Each school may enter two students for each grade level, for example, two students for grade 6; two students for grade 7, and so on.

Each participant must present 3 judge forms with the top portion filled out completely. All participants are required to provide a linkage to the Bible and to Christ (Form A). All Scripture references must come from the King James Version of the Bible. Please email the FCAA office (bedell@desoto.net) if you have trouble finding the required linkages. A copy of this form (Form A) must be included with the judge forms, along with a journal which contains observed data. 

Please paper clip each judge form. Do NOT staple them together. Any participant who does not have the judge forms, linkage form, or required journal can be disqualified from the competition. Please do not use sheet protectors to hold the judge forms.

GENERAL RULES

1. The project must follow the six basic steps of the scientific method.

2. The project must involve experimentation. It CANNOT be a demonstration. A simple demonstration will be automatically disqualified.  A good experiment has three main parts:

A. The control group – the test subject that is not exposed to the independent variable.

B. The experimental group(s) – the test subject(s) that are exposed to the independent variable.

C. The variables – the factors that are controlled during testing. 1) Dependent variable: the factor/condition that is used to measure (observe) the outcome of the experiment. 2) Independent variable: the factor/condition that is not held constant for every testing group that could affect the results of the experiment. 3) Controlled variables (constants): the factors/conditions that stay the same throughout each testing group.

An example of the above criteria would be, “What is the effect of a certain fertilizer on the growth of pea plants?” The control group is not given the fertilizer but is treated the same in all other areas. The experimental group is given the fertilizer. The variable is the fertilizer.

--Students should use many test subjects or perform the experiment as many times as possible to gain consistent results. 

--Students must record all observations in a journal and should include the dates and times of all observations.

--Students need to only have ONE variable in their experiment.

3. The science project should be creative, narrowly defined, and appropriate for the grade level of the student. The display should also be done neatly and use color attractively. Points will be deducted for displays that have handwritten elements on them.

4. The display must be a minimum size of 36 by 48 inches but no larger than 48 by 72 inches. Most boards purchased at Walmart and office supply stores will meet the minimum size requirements.

5. The following elements must be present in the display:

● Research Question- this serves as the title of the project

● Research List- students should include the references for the books or websites that they used to research their hypothesis

● Hypothesis– a hypothesis is an educated guess as to the answer to the research question. Research should be done in order to form a proper hypothesis and should provide a reason why the student believes their hypothesis to be correct. Another way to view the hypothesis is: “What do I think the answer is and why do I think it is this?” The hypothesis MUST be given in an “If/Then… because” statement. (i.e., If abc has occurred, then it is because of xyz.)

● Methodology- the step by step procedures the student followed for completing the experiment. (i.e., cookbook directions)

● Charts or graphs- these should show the statistical treatment of the observations gathered from the experiment. The chart/graph should include: a title, the dependent variable, the independent variable, and show the results of the experiment.

● Conclusion- the answer to the research question gathered from the observations of the experiment.

● Abstract- a 200–250-word summary of the project. This should include the hypothesis, methodology, observations, and conclusion.

● Three-dimensional display- not on the display board but on the table in front. These are the tools and subjects used in performing the experiment.

● Each project must have a journal which contains observed data. 

6. Participants must be prepared for an interview (oral presentation) with one of the Science Fair judges. Participants should plan on the interview being approximately 5 minutes in length.

7. The projects will be graded according to four criteria: 

1. Display elements and artistic skill – 30 points possible
2. Journal – 10 points possible
3. Scientific thinking – 45 points possible
4. Oral presentation – 15 points possible