Science Fair: 2013

Photo by Mars P.

Getting Started

The complete informational packet for the 16th Annual St. Clair County Science and Engineering Fair is now posted online.

1. There are three major project categories. What are they?
2. What are the maximum allowable dimensions for a high school science fair project's display?
3. What would be the proper way to cite a Times Herald newspaper article called "Great Lakes are Really Great"? The article was written by Joe Smith on January 17, 2013.
4.  Draw a rectangle on your page. If this rectangle represents a typical 3-sided display board, label the major components.
5. What is the difference between an independent variable and a dependent variable? Give an example of each for a hypothetical experiment.
6. What is an abstract? How long should it be?

Choosing a Project Type

One of the first choices to make when thinking about what you want to do with your project is deciding whether to do an engineering project or a science project. Use the Science Buddies' site to answer the following questions.

1. What are the steps of the typical "engineering design process"?
2. What steps are similar when comparing the "engineering design process" and the "scientific method"?

Choosing a Specific Project

Often, the hardest part about doing a science fair project is selecting a topic to study. It's best to choose a topic that interests you. Coming up with an original idea is nice, but sometimes we need a little inspiration.

1. Do a Google image search for winning science fair projects. Try to draw some quick generalizations... ... Are there any similarities among various winners (not in their subjects, but in their presentation or style)?
2. There are many resources online with science fair project ideas. Let's use the one featured at education.com. Browse through the list, read them, and write down at least three topics that you might find interesting. Make sure your choices are not the same as anyone else sitting near you in class (we want unique projects!).

Note about comments: comments have been disabled for this post because this is a specific outline we're following as an in-class assignment.

Looking Back at Semester One

Photo by Andrew Mccluskey used with Crative Commons license

Now that we've finished the first semester, I'd like to take a minute to look back and reflect. Often, teachers ask about what topics were the most interesting or fun to study, but I'd like to take a slightly different approach here.

What topic or topics from semester one did you find the most frustrating? Be clear in why you're choosing what you're choosing... ... was it frustrating because it was difficult? Not well explained? Boring? Something else? I'm curious to see if we notice any recurring ideas. Please post in the comments section!

Projectile Motion

This really cool simulation is courtesy of the PhET project at the University of Colorado. Play around with it until you get comfortable and familiar with the controls.

Answer these questions as comments. Don't answer identically to what someone else has already said--either add to his or her response, indicate that you disagree with the response, or answer a question that hasn't been already answered. Please only comment on 2 questions so everyone has a chance to get some points.

1. What is the range of a golf ball if it is launched at a 40° angle with a speed of 15 m/s?
2. What is the total time the golf ball from question (1) is in flight?
3. Neglecting air resistance, how does the launch speed affect the projectiles overall range?
4. Neglecting air resistance, how does the launch angle affect the projectiles overall range?
5. Neglecting air resistance, how does the projectile's mass affect the projectiles overall range?
6. Of the preset choices, which 3 objects appear to be most affected by air resistance? How do you know this?
7. Neglecting air resistance, what launch angle produces the maximum range for a projectile?
8. Taking air resistance into account, what launch angle produces the maximum range for a pumpkin launched at a speed of 10 m/s?