Monday, November 25, 2013

Thinking about the Science Fair

Photo used with creative commons license from jshontz
We've talked a bit in class about the upcoming science fair. One of the biggest hurdles for students to clear is coming up with an idea to use as a project. It's important to distinguish between a science experiment and a science demonstration. Consider the classic baking soda and vinegar volcano we often see depicted in TV shows or movies as "science fair projects."

I'd argue that the baking soda and vinegar volcano most likely is an example of a demonstration rather than an experiment. Let's discuss this idea a bit further:

  1. What are the characteristics of a science experiment?
  2. How does a science demonstration fall short of an experiment?
  3. Would you agree with my judgement that the volcano project is more likely a demonstration?
  4. Do some searching online of "science fair projects." Can you find other examples projects that students have done that are demonstrations? If so, provide the link in your comments.

Posted by Brian Bearss at 4:24 PM

3 comments:

  1. T.D. (4th)November 27, 2013 at 8:00 PM

    1) Typically, a science experiment sets out to either prove or disprove a hypothesis. There's a hypothesis on why or how something happens, an experiment to test the hypothesis, and then a a conclusion to sum up the results and explain why the hypothesis is correct or incorrect. The big idea is that there's a hypothesis, or some sort of point that needs to be proven.

    2) A science demonstration may look awesome, but there's nothing new to learn from it. An experiment is an attempt to learn something that nobody else knows. In an experiment, the results aren't known. In a demonstration, the results are already known. There's a reason behind what happens, and you're not the one who found it out.

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  2. AnonymousNovember 29, 2013 at 3:34 PM

    Z.S (4th)
    2) When doing a science experiment, you are trying to discover the answer to question that you don't have the answer to. The volcano is a demonstration because we know what the outcome will be and there is no experimenting being done. A science experiment involves using the scientific method. The volcano demonstration falls short of an experiment because it does not use the scientific method.

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  3. AnonymousDecember 12, 2013 at 8:02 AM

    G.W. (6th)
    1.) A scientific experiment is based of a some reasoning among yourself and how you construct out your hypothesis. Experiments are a cause and effect insight on things. Your hypothesis wont always match your results so there also times where you will need to reform your hypothesis and give it another go.

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