Goals
 To provide students with an opportunity to explore and creatively
exhibit areas of scientific interest
 To stimulate children’s interest in Science
 To increase understanding of Scientific principles
 To develop an interest in and recognition of science in the school
community
Guidelines
o Projects will be completed at home and parental help is encouraged.
Teachers will provide ideas, advice and check on progress.
o No live animals, preserved animals or animal parts may be displayed.
o Nothing harmful to people or property is allowed – including flames
or dangerous chemicals.
o All food items must be in a sealed container.
o Limited electrical power is available.
o A brief written explanation of the project, no more than 250 words,
is required to be displayed with the project.
o Student name(s) must be clearly displayed with the project.
o Projects may be the work of one or more students and can be across
different year levels.
How to choose a project
Choosing can often be the most difficult part of the project.
There are many different fields of science.
Biological Sciences
Biology – study of living things
Zoology – study of animals
Anatomy – study of the structure of animals and plants
Physiology - study dealing with the working of living organisms or their
parts
Botany – study of plants
Ecology – study of interactions of plants and animals and how this affects
them and their environment.
Earth and Space Sciences
Geography – study of land, its formation and location
Oceanography – study of oceans
Geology – study of rocks and their formation, including volcanoes.
Meteorology – study of weather : wind, rain, temperature etc.
Astronomy – study of stars, planets and other objects in the Universe.
Physical and Chemical Sciences
Mechanics – study of the action of forces on matter – includes friction,
gravity, velocity, pulleys, levers, springs, pendulums, orbits.
Thermodynamics – study of heat and its effects on solids, liquids and gases.
Hydraulics – study of the effects of pressure on fluids, includes pumps and
hydraulic tools like jacks.
Electricity and Magnetism – study of the movement of electrons and the
principles of resistance and magnetism – includes radio waves and circuits.
Optics – study of light and its interaction with matter – mainly lenses and
mirrors.
Chemistry - study of substances and the changes they go through when
combined or acted upon by heat or light.
Decide whether you want to create a display,
demonstration or experiment
Display – a display is a visual representation of anything scientific. These displays could
include – rock collections, life cycles of an animal or plant or how things work eg. A solar
eclipse; it could be a model of a rain forest or how mountains are formed.
Demonstration – Like a display except that a demonstration includes a piece of
equipment which is a working model that demonstrates a process.
Experiment – asks a question about a specific area of science. By performing tests or
procedures to gain information to answer the question and then drawing a conclusion
as a result of the experiment. This choice is often the most interesting. The following
explanation may help you design an interesting experiment.
How to conduct an experiment
Question – pose a question
Scientific inquiry and investigation are focused on and driven by questions. Ask a
question about a subject or experience which you would like to answer and which, most
importantly, you can explore through investigation. The way that a question is posed in
a scientific investigation affects the type of investigation that is carried out and the way
information is collected.
Examples of different types of questions for investigation include:
• How does/do…?
• What effect does…?
• Which type of…?
• What happens to…?
Ideally: ‘What happens to ___________ when we change __________?’
For example, ‘What happens to the melting time when we change the size of the pieces
of chocolate?’
Prediction – make a claim
Make a claim as to what you believe to be a likely answer or outcome. Write it down.
For example, ‘A piece of chocolate melts faster when it is broken into lots of pieces than
one piece only.’
Decide what test/s you could do to investigate your question to see if your claim is
correct.
Write down the procedures you will use.
 What things may affect the outcome of your investigation (variables)?
 What will you measure, change and keep the same?
 What equipment and/or materials will you need to conduct your investigation?
Procedures – plan and conduct tests
Conduct your investigation. If you are investigating the effects of one or more things on
something, ‘What happens to ___________ when we change __________?’, be sure to
have one sample that you do not experiment on. This is called a CONTROL, and it will
give you something with which to compare all the other samples.
Make careful observations and record all of your findings using words, diagrams, tables,
etc.
Results – gather, interpret and represent evidence
Check your results and compare them. If you are using a control, compare the results to
the control.
Think carefully about why you got the results that you did.
You may like to graph your results to make them easier to interpret and understand.
Conclusions – communicate findings
Using your results, think carefully about what claim you can make to answer your
original question for investigation. What evidence do you have to support your claim?
Now you can build your display. Be sure to state what question you are investigating,
your prediction or claim, your procedure and materials, your results and your
conclusion.
Your display can include examples of the materials and equipment you used during your
investigation.
Important
Even if your claim was unsupported by your evidence or your investigation didn’t work
out, you will have learned something about fair testing or have gathered evidence that
shows your claim was not accurate.
In Science, knowing what does not work is just as important as knowing what does.
Making claims and predictions that are not supported by evidence changes our thinking
just as much as making accurate claims and predictions.
Keeping careful notes of investigations that do not work in the expected way helps
scientists to change their thinking and change the way they conduct their investigations.
How to display your project at our Science Fair
The result of your investigation will be displayed for viewing by the whole school
community. All of your hard work on your project can be overlooked if you don’t take
time to plan and construct an attractive, eye catching exhibit.
The following gives you an idea about how to exhibit your Science experiment.
The backboard should be three-sided as shown below.
Try to keep the project to a size of approximately 120cm long and 40cm deep (smaller if
appropriate). Use height for extra display space where possible.
Backboards can be made of any suitable material that will support its own weight.
Cardboard appliance boxes work very well.
The centre panel should contain the project title – large and clear enough to be seen
from a distance – and any visual material eg. Photos, drawings, graphs etc.
Side panels should have supporting materials plus any extra photos, drawings etc. If you
are presenting a display the side panels and base may present different
classifications/categories eg. of rocks/ insects/seeds – depending on your topic.
If you are doing an experiment it is suggested that you put the question on the centre
panel; the procedure and the hypothesis on the left panel and your results on the right
hand side panel. Equipment/products/models etc. will be displayed on the base.
A possible display:
Science Project Ideas
Product
Year 1, 2 and 3 ideas
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How much salt does it take to float an egg?
What kind of juice cleans coins best?
Do all watches keep the same time?
On which surface does a snail move fastest – dirt, cement or glass?
What brand of sultana cereal has the most sultanas?
How can you measure the strength of a magnet?
Do the roots of plants always grow downwards?
Which design of paper aeroplane can fly the furthest?
Can you tell what something is by touching it?
What things do magnets attract?
How long will it take a drop of food dye to colour a glass of water?
Does a bath take less water than a shower?
Can you tell where a sound comes from if you’re blindfolded?
Can plants grow without soil?
Does warm water freeze faster than cool water?
In your class who is taller – boys or girls?
Do different types of apples have the same number of seeds?
Do bigger seeds produce bigger plants?
Which materials absorb the most water?
What things dissolve in water?
Does holding a mirror in front of a fish change what it does? Other pets?
What holds two boards together better - a nail or a screw?
Will bananas grow brown faster on the shelf or in the refrigerator?
Does temperature affect the growth of plants?
Does a ball roll further on dirt or grass?
Do all objects fall to the ground at the same speed?
Which paper towel is the strongest?
Can things be identified by just their smell?
Does anyone in the class have the same fingerprints?
Can plants grow from leaves?
How far does a snail travel in one minute?
Do different types of soil hold different amounts of water?
Does water with salt boil faster than plain water?
Does an ice cube melt faster in the air or in water?
How much of an orange is liquid?
Will more air inside a ball make it bounce higher?
Does the colour of light affect plant growth?
Can you separate salt from water?
Do suction cups stick equally well to different surfaces?
Will water with salt evaporate faster than plain water?
Does it matter in which direction seeds are planted?
Which cheese grows mould faster?
Do all colours fade at the same rate?
Which brand of nappy holds the most water?
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Which gets warmer – sand or dirt?
Year 4, 5 and 6 ideas
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What type of line carries sound waves best?
Can the Sun’s energy be used to clean water?
Which metal conducts heat best?
Does the human tongue have different areas for different tastes?
Do children’s heart rates increase as they get older?
Is using two eyes to judge distance better than one eye?
Do different kinds of caterpillars eat different amounts of food?
Which keeps things colder – plastic wrap or aluminium foil?
Do girls or boys have higher heart rates?
Which way does the wind blow most frequently?
Which grows mould faster – moist bread or dry bread?
Does the length of a vibrating object affect the sound it produces?
Which soap makes the longest lasting suds?
How accurately can people judge temperatures?
For how long a distance can speech be transmitted through a tube?
Who can balance better – boys or girls?
How do waterwheels work?
How big are planets?
How does electricity turn motors?
How is it possible to predict a cyclone?
How is it possible to predict a tidal wave?
What effect does salt have on the freezing point of water and other liquids?
Is the air the same temperature throughout your house? Why not?
What is dew and how does it from?
Why are earthworms important to the soil and plant life?
How hard are various rocks and minerals?
What causes weathering and erosion? How can it be slowed or halted?
Why, how and with what is city water treated?
How does a city like Melbourne get water to the taps of the population?
Do some substances conduct heat better than others?
Does temperature affect solubility? Use sugar or salt.
What is the best wing shape for an aeroplane? Is it the same for a glider?
How do magnets work? How are they made?
How is light affected when it passes through a liquid?
How does a camera work? Can you make one?