Science Fair
What you should be doing NOW
Science Fair has OFFICIALLY begun.
So what does your teacher expect
you to do now?
Start making
OBSERVATIONS
Observations will help
you to find a TOPIC
for your project
Look around you –
maybe you see
something that looks
cool and you want to
learn more about it.
Maybe you have a
hobby or interest or
even play a sport.
These are great
places to start your
project.
Your Project will be
more FUN if you care
about what you’re
doing.
Most of what you find
on ScienceBuddies is
NOT a good topic for
Science Fair.
So, this week you
need to choose your
TOPIC and tell your
teacher what it is.
They can help you.
Any
Questions?
Let’s see how
Bob is doing on
his Science Fair
project.
Bob likes to play
Basketball. He
has an idea for
his Science Fair
TOPIC
Very Good Bob !
I want to see
what is the effect
of air pressure on
how high a ball
can bounce.
Bob will inflate a ball to 8
psi of air pressure. This is
his CONTROL Group.
NBA balls are
inflated to 8 psi
He will measure how high
the control ball bounces.
This measurement is what
he will compare other
measurements against.
Then he will change the
pressure to 6 psi and
measure how high the ball
bounces.
The amount of air pressure
is his INDEPENDENT
Variable
Bob always drops the
ball from the same
height. This is a
CONTROLLED
Variable
(or CONSTANT)
Bob measures how
high the ball will
bounce. This is his
DEPENDENT
Variable
For Bob’s experiment,
he will try 4 psi, 6 psi,
10 psi, and 12 psi.
Bob will record the
heights in his Data
Journal.
Since Bob is recording
numbers, this is called
Quantitative Data.
Bob will also record
observations he
makes. Sometimes,
this is called
Qualitative Data.
So Bob,
How did your
experiment go?
Very Good Bob !
GREAT! I did it
3 times and I
looked at my
Data and all the
measurements
proved that air
pressure really
affects how high
a basketball can
bounce.
I wonder if it is the
same with other
types of balls?
I did hear that air
pressure can be
very important in
professional
sports.