1.
Ask a Question
The scientific method starts when you ask a question about
something that you observe: How, What, When, Who,
Which, Why, or Where?
For a science fair project some teachers require that the
question be something you can measure, preferably with a
number.
• Your Question
• Laboratory Notebook to write down what you do,
observe, measure
2. Do Background Research
Rather than starting from scratch in putting together a plan for
answering your question, you want to be a savvy scientist using
library and Internet research to help you find the best way to do
things and ensure that you don't repeat mistakes from the past.
• Background Research Plan
• Finding Information
3. Construct a Hypothesis
A hypothesis is an educated guess about how things work. It is
an attempt to answer your question with an explanation that
can be tested. A good hypothesis allows you to then make a
prediction:
"If _____[I do this] _____, then _____[this]_____ will happen."
State both your hypothesis and the resulting prediction you
will be testing. Predictions must be easy to measure.
4. Test Your Hypothesis by Doing an Experiment
Your experiment tests whether your prediction is accurate and
thus your hypothesis is supported or not. It is important for
your experiment to be a fair test. You conduct a fair test by
making sure that you change only one factor at a time while
keeping all other conditions the same.
You should also repeat your experiments several times to make
sure that the first results weren't just an accident.
• Experimental Procedure, risk management
• Materials List
Risk assessment is important
to avoid accidents and
to be prepared for what
might happen.
Treat the equipment in a proper
way
Make your measurements reliable
by checking:
• Range of values
• Accuracy of measurement
• Looking for anomalous results
5. Analyze Your Data and Draw a Conclusion
Once your experiment is complete, you collect your
measurements and analyze them to see if they support your
hypothesis or not.
Scientists often find that their predictions were not accurate
and their hypothesis was not supported, and in such cases they
will communicate the results of their experiment and then go
back and construct a new hypothesis and prediction based on
the information they learned during their experiment. This
starts much of the process of the scientific method over again.
Even if they find that their hypothesis was supported, they may
want to test it again in a new way.
• Data Analysis & Graphs
• Conclusions
Which graph is the best to present the data?
6. Communicate Your Results
To complete your science project you will communicate your
results to others in a final report and/or a display board.
Professional scientists do almost exactly the same thing by
publishing their final report in a scientific journal or by
presenting their results on a poster or during a talk at a
scientific meeting. In a science fair, judges are interested in
your findings regardless of whether or not they support your
original hypothesis.
• Final Report
• Abstract
• Display Board
