Crest Awards

Creativity.

Perseverance.

Solving a problem which concerns individuals, our community or the environment

Types of Crest Awards You Can Earn.

Choose a Topic!

Select a topic that interests you. Something you are prepared to

WORK on for a few weeks. Be creative and original. Some ideas: are use by dates

accurate?

UV tolerance of microorganisms.

Stain removal from clothing.

Prolonging the life of cut flowers.

What material makes the best lab coat?

More ideas

How can you grow a bigger pumpkin?

How can you prevent bread from going mouldy?

How can I stop snails from eating lettuce seedlings

How polluted is Stoney Creek? Brainstorm ideas with friends

and family. Don’t criticise, just come up with ideas.

Possible topics to research Write down a few things that

interest you. Make a list of ideas you have for

your research topic. You can use ideas from previous slides, from brainstorming or try going to http://www.csiro.au/resources/ps1z1.html

For a video clip and more ideas to get you started.

Decide on your problem to solve!

What are you actually going to do?

What are you going to find out? What measurements and

observations will you need to take?

What results do you expect to obtain?

Which factors will affect the results?

Your Experiment

The hypothesis is an educated guess about what you think will happen in a certain set of circumstances or conditions.

You will need to decide on what the conditions are.

Keep as many factors the same as possible, so that the results can be clearly interpreted.

Equipment

Decide on the equipment that you are going to use and the method you that you will use.

You may need to borrow or build equipment ( or use equipment in another facility).

Designing you experiment

The Variables- factors that could change during the experiment.

For your experiment to be a fair test, as many variables as possible are kept the same, while you change only one particular variable.

In this way you can sort out which change lead to the results that you obtained.

The independent variable is what you deliberately change. It is what you are testing.

The dependent variable is what changes as a result. This must be measurable.

Accuracy

When making measurements, you need to be careful to ensure that they are as accurate as possible.

Measuring carefully, reduces errors.

Repeating an experiment more than once, will give you confidence in your results.

You need to repeat the experiment until you get consistent results.

Scientists then average these to get an answer to their question.

All measuring instruments have their limits. A wooden ruler has an accuracy of 1mm, so the most accurate a reading could be, would be to the nearest 0.5mm. You cannot use 3.42685cm !

Keeping a log. Record your hypothesis, aim,

equipment list, method, diagrams of equipment, results, research and all other work and problems in a book, NOT on scraps of paper. Photographs are easy.

We have emailed a sample book to you at your DET address.

Print it out and put it into a folder.

This needs to be handed in to your teacher for checking.

Also include the date and time spent on each activity. Depending on your project, you might also include weather conditions, time etc.

??????Sample log

Date/Time

Work done

20/02/102-2.30pm

Read “science Project Ideas” on the net. Saw a couple of possibilities. Had a chat to Katrina on the phone about stuff going out of date early. Might do some research on that.

21/02/10 9-9.30am

Just finished brekky and made a cup of tea. The milk was OFF! Use by date was the 22nd Feb. What is going on? This will be a good to research.

Remember

Experiments usually don’t work the first time.

Modify. Alter equipment, solutions etc. Record alterations, problems, how

they were overcome. Repeat your experiment. Do the work yourself. Please

discuss your research freely, ask advice, find answers BUT do the work yourself.

Recording Results.

Photographs? Can you tabulate, graph,

diagram, spreadsheet? Get creative! Look at the results: what do they

mean? Do you need to modify? Are the results unexpected? Have you repeated your experiment enough times?

Reflection Work through your results to see if

they support your hypothesis or not. Do you need to do more experimenting?

The final part of the project involves a discussion of results. Describe difficulties you encountered and how they were overcome. Include suggestions for further improvement.

Write a conclusion, based on the results you got and your hypothesis.

Acknowledgments

It is important to acknowledge any help you had from friends, teachers, parents, mentors etc.

Include a bibliography, include websites, books, experts in the field, anything or one that gave you ideas or help.