How to Complete a Successful Science Fair Project Katherine Van Schaik Harvard 2008 "Some of the most important scientific discoveries have come from 'accidents' and unexpected results." Council Member Katherine Van Schaik has competed in 11 science fairs at the local, national, and international level, most notably the 2002 and 2003 Intel International Science and Engineering Fairs, where she won 5 awards, including a Best of Category Award in Environmental Science. Choosing a topic: Choose a topic in which you're interested. If you pick a topic just because you think "it's a winner" or "that's what everybody is researching today," then your lack of personal connection to the topic will come through when you speak to judges. When you select a topic, take your time to make sure that it's something you'll be happy researching and talking about. Designing an experiment: When you have selected your topic, begin to form an experiment out of it. What are you going to test? Which facet of your research (called an independent variable) will you be manipulating or changing? What will change in response to the manipulation of the independent variable (called the dependent variable)? What do you expect to happen? What are the other, external variables that you can control (called constants) to make sure that, as much as possible, you are measuring the effect of only one variable on only one other variable? You should try to answer all of these questions before you begin gathering any materials or getting advice from professionals about your project. Gathering materials/Soliciting advice: Once you've set up your own experiment, write down everything that you will need and the exact amounts of the materials you will need. If there are any parts of your procedure that you are unsure about, speak with a science teacher at your school or a professor at a local college or university. Also, figure out where you are going to perform your experiments. Will you do them at home or at a school lab? Will you deal with any strong chemicals or biological agents (like certain types of bacteria or cells) that will require you to work at a university or industrial lab? Once you've answered all these questions and acquired your materials, you're ready to begin experimenting. Experimentation and Data Collection: As you experiment, don't forget to record everything that happens. Did the temperature first drop, then rise? Did something unexpected grow in your Petri dish? Even if you have absolutely no idea why something happened, or if you think it doesn't relate to what you're testing, write it down anyway. Some of the most important scientific discoveries have come from "accidents" and unexpected results. Data Analysis: It's hard for most people to picture numbers in their head, and judges are no different. Display your data in a chart or a graph so that those to whom you explain your results can have a pictorial representation of your work. Bar charts, pie graphs, and line graphs are a few good ways to display data; just make sure that the way in which you display your results is appropriate for the results themselves. Significance: Never forget why your research is important. If you followed the above suggestions for choosing a topic, then your research will be important to at least one person, and that's you. Make this importance clear for everyone to whom you explain your work, especially judges.