All project types are eligible for the District Six Science Expo in June. Each school will be asked to pick 4 projects to represent their school at the Science Expo. All Science Expo projects must be displayed on standard science fair display boards, but for the initial project and for classroom/school-wide presentations, students may present lab reports. In fact, the lab report should be the foundation of the formal display board. A good general principle is that the lab report should be completed before any work begins on a competitive display. Projects may be completed at any time before the Science Expo.

Components of a lab report

Lab reports will vary slightly, depending on the project. Below is a list of essential elements for each project. In addition each lab report should have a title page including: title of project, name, date, class, and school.

Controlled Experiment

1. Project Design Diagram
2. Problem question: "How does _____ affect ______?" Discuss problem question in terms of conceptual understanding: What key concepts from earth, life, or physical science are applicable to the problem?
3. Hypothesis: Proposed solution supported by reason/research.
4. Materials List: Metric based, specific.
5. Narrative Procedure: Complete sentences in paragraph format detailing the steps taken and explaining how all the materials were used and in the proper sequence.
6. Data: Tables, diagrams, graphs, log of observations.
7. Conclusions: Written in narrative form. Analyze data to answer problem question, explain anomalies/discrepancies in data, and suggest further investigations. Conclusions should be related to understanding of key concepts.

Design Project

1. Project Design Diagram (for Design Projects)
2. Problem: Narrative description of problem being addressed, clearly defined problem question, such as "How can we make ______ work better?" Identify constraints.
3. Goal: For example, "We will construct a _______ (product) that will result in time savings of 10 minutes (outcome)."
4. Conceptual understanding: What key concepts from earth, life, or physical science are applicable to the design project? What technology exists that already addresses the problem, what attempts have been made to improve the technology, how do you plan to address the problem (new design, fix existing design, etc.), what alternatives did you consider?
5. Summary of one or more controlled experiments that were used to evaluate or refine the design. Include data tables, graphs, etc.
6. Diagram of design: Important parts identified by name and function.
7. Conclusions: Analysis of data to answer these questions: Did the design work, did you meet your goals, and how might you improve your design even more? Conclusions should be related to understanding of key concepts.

Fieldwork Project

1. Project Design Diagram
2. Problem question: "How does _____ affect ______?" Discuss problem in terms of conceptual understanding: What key concepts from earth, life, or physical science are applicable to the problem?
3. Hypothesis: Proposed solution supported by reason/research.
4. Narrative Procedure: Complete sentences in paragraph format detailing tools and techniques used to gather data in the field.
5. Data: Tables, diagrams, graphs, log of observations.
6. Conclusions: Analyze data to answer problem question, explain anomalies/discrepancies, and suggest further investigations. Conclusions should be related to understanding of key concepts.

Secondary Research Project

1. Project Design Diagram
2. Problem question: How does ____ affect _____? Discuss problem question in terms conceptual understanding: What key concepts from earth, life, or physical science are applicable to the problem?
3. Hypothesis: Proposed solution supported by reason/research.
4. Critical Analysis: Narrative analysis of sources. For each source, students should consider the accuracy of the information, date of the sources, and the possible biases of the author.
5. Research Process: Explain precisely what variables you are correlating, and what other variables you considered. What were some constants in your study? Can you identify a control group in your study?
6. Data: tables, diagrams, and appropriate graphs (student-generated).
7. Conclusions, analysis of the data, problems with the data, explain discrepancies. Conclusions should be related to understanding of key concepts.

Eighth Grade Exit Projects

Exit projects can be any one of the above projects. As of now, a lab report, poster, or triptych-style (3 panel) display board may be used for presentation of the exit project. Eighth graders participating in the Science Expo will be required to submit the standard display board. In addition to the project and display, students should deliver an oral presentation.

MSSCF Contents

[Introduction] [Matrix] [Guide] [Our Vision]
[Grade 5] [Grade 6] [Grade 7] [Grade 8] [Projects] [Presentations]
[Rubrics & Design Diagrams] [Standards]