Guidelines
EXPO PROJECT GUIDELINES:
This project is an opportunity for you to explore a topic of interest in depth as well as to develop skills in critical thinking, implementation of the scientific method, and communication of scientific ideas. There are two types of projects—the Experiment, and the Research Project. The first step is to figure out what you are interested in and ask a question. Your question will tell you what kind of project path to take.
For example, I have a boxer (dog) named Archer. After studying zoology during our coop, I decide that I want to do a project about dogs. I have two questions that I am interested in finding the answer to: (1) How are a dog’s senses different from a human’s senses? And (2) Can my dog run faster than other dogs? The first question lends itself more to a research project, and the second to an experiment.
THE RESEARCH PROJECT:
For a research project, the question you have asked is not something that you could answer by doing an experiment at home. This may be because the question is one about history (e.g. Did Thomas Edison invent the light bulb?) or it may be because you do not have the instrumentation or test subjects to be able to perform an experiment that will answer the question.
In our example, “How are a dog’s senses different from a human’s senses?” Some questions you might want to explore in your project are: What can dogs hear that humans can’t and why is their sense of hearing better? How are dogs better able to track a scent? Can dogs see in the same way that humans see? Who has a more sensitive sense of touch? Do all things that taste good to humans taste good to dogs? Why or why not? How do these differences in senses help the dogs survive? For your project, you would make a project display that answers these questions in detail, including pictures and diagrams to help communicate the concepts.
THE EXPERIMENT:
“An Experiment is an organized procedure to study something under controlled conditions.” (McDougal Littell, 2005) If you do an experiment for your project, you will want to use the same outline as you do when writing a laboratory report. Here are the basic steps in designing an experiment.
Determining a Purpose-This is the question that you would like to answer, or a problem that you want to investigate. You can refine your problem statement or question by learning as much as you can about the topic as possible—research at the library, use the internet, or consult other people. In our example above, the purpose of my experiment is to determine if my dog can run faster than other dogs.
Background Information-As you think about your purpose, you will find that you have more and more questions. Write these questions down and try to answer them by researching the answers. In my example, some things that would be helpful to know before designing an experiment are: How do I measure how fast something is going (i.e. what is speed)? What tools will I need to measure speed? What is the average speed of a boxer? Does the age of my boxer matter? How does the size of a dog affect its average speed? What makes certain animals or dogs faster than others? Much of this information can likely be found on the internet or in books, though take care—you can’t always trust what you read (on the internet or in books)!
Writing a Hypothesis-A hypothesis is your best guess at what will happen in your experiment. A hypothesis is often written in the form of an “If…, then…, because…” statement. Learning as much as you can about a topic will help you come up with a hypothesis. Do not worry if your experiment shows that your hypothesis is wrong—the point of your experiment is not to be right, but to find the answer. “When you conduct your experiment, you will be changing one condition, or variable, and observing and measuring the effect of this change. The condition that you are changing is called the independent variable and should follow the “If…” statement. The effect that you expect to observe is called the dependent variable and should follow the “then…” statement.” (Holt, 2005)
After reading about dogs and their running speeds, I’ve decided that I want to see if there is a relationship between the length of the dog’s legs and its running speed. So the independent variable in my experiment is the length of the dog’s legs and the dependent variable is the speed of the dog. My hypothesis would then be: “If a dog’s legs are longer, then it can run faster.”
Determining Materials-You will likely have to think through the procedure and come up with a basic outline before you come up with your materials list. Once you’ve done this, make a list of all the materials you will need for your experiment, being as specific as you can.
In my example, I have to think about how I’m going to measure the dog’s speed. Since speed is distance divided by time, I’ll need some sort of timer, a tape measure to measure distance, and several dogs with legs of different lengths.
Determining Variables and Constants-Variables are the conditions that can change. Constants are all of the conditions that are the same between the groups that you are experimenting on. We need to think about all the variables in experiments because they will affect the outcome of the experiment—we want to reduce the variables as much as possible so that we can answer the question of our experiment with certainty.
In my example, some variables that could affect the speed of the dogs are: the length of the dog’s legs (which is the independent variable that I want to test), the age of the dog, the breed of the dog (this affects the muscle mass and distribution), the outdoor temperature (if the dogs are going to be tested outside), and whether or not the dog is tired. Aside from the independent variable, I want to minimize the effects of the other variables on my outcome. I decide that I will try to find 3 or more boxers who are about the same age, I will test them on a cool day (since heat makes them tired), and I will try to do it first thing in the morning so that the dogs will be well rested. In other words, the things that I am keeping constant are the breed of the dog, the age of the dog, the outdoor temperature during testing, and the time of day.
Writing a Procedure-Take the basic outline of the procedure that you’ve come up with and now write down every step. You may find that you will need to add items to your Materials List as you hammer out the details. Each step in your procedure should be kept as short as possible and should start with a verb or action word. Make it clear enough so that someone else can repeat the experiment.
Here is the procedure for my example:
- In a field, make a 10 meter running lane using cones as borders. Mark the starting and ending points with tape.
- Have your helper stand at the starting line and you stand at the finish line.
- On the count of three, have the helper throw a ball along the running lane as you start the timer.
- Turn off the timer when the dog reaches the finish line and record the time elapsed.
- Repeat steps 3 and 4 three times for each dog.
- Take three measurements of the length of the each dog’s foreleg, from the middle of the top joint to its paw. Record your data.
Recording Observations-Before you perform your experiment, it is a good idea to make a table where you will record your data. This will make things easy during the experiment. Make notes of anything that goes wrong or is noteworthy in the experiment.
Here are the two sample data tables from my experiment:
Length of Dogs' Forelegs:
Time for 10-meter Dash: