RCES PTA Science Fair
The PTA is proud to sponsor a Science Fair at Rachel Carson Elementary School for students in Kindergarten through Fifth grade. The Science Fair will be held Wednesday, January 14, 2009 and is non competitive. The fair will run from 6:30-7:30 with set up from 6:00-6:30. Participation is strictly voluntary, but we are encouraging all students to participate.
Our goal is to get students excited about science and passionate about learning! We want to provide an opportunity for kids to apply the scientific process to an area of their personal interest. RCES parents Paul Sforza
(psforza@verizon.net) and Chris and Bry Soltis (soltis333@yahoo.com) are available to help students with general questions about their projects. Students are allowed to work individually, in pairs or in groups. We want them to have fun with their project!
Mad Science is coming to the school to give science demonstrations and give students project ideas. There are many books about science projects, as well as websites with ideas for science projects. We are including a list of websites we found particularly helpful as well as information about the scientific process. Students should choose an idea they are interested in learning more about and have fun with their project!
If there are any questions, please do not hesitate to contact us.
Amanda Lee
Amanda6069@hotmail.com
Meredith Fogle Kentlandshomes@longandfoster.com
What is the Scientific Method?
At the Rachel Carson Science Fair, students will complete an experimental project using the scientific method.
The scientific method is the process of investigating a scientific method by:
1.) asking a question 2.) testing a hypothesis 3.) performing an experiment and 4.) drawing conclusions. We want to keep all experiments age appropriate and hands on for the children.
The level of expectations for kindergartners creating a project will vary greatly from that of a fifth grader.
All students will need to answer the following questions:
What do I want to find out? (purpose and hypothesis)
What did I do to find out? (materials, procedure, results)
What did I find out? (conclusion)
Using the Scientific Method
The purpose (Detail the problem you were trying to solve and why you thought this was a problem worth solving)
The hypothesis (What do you expect to happen?)
List of materials (What did you use to complete your project?)
Procedure (How do you plan to do things? How you are going to conduct your experiment; step-by step instructions on what you will do)
Results (List your collection of data and/or your daily log book of changes you observed)
Conclusions (What did you learn? Was your hypothesis correct?)
Acknowledgements and Bibliography (What books or materials did you use or reference?)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Listed below are some popular science websites. There are many, many other websites devoted to science. Have fun planning your project!
http://all-science-fair-projects.com
http://www.cdlI.ca/sciencefairs/
http://school.discovery.com/sciencefaircentral/
http://madsci.org/libs/areas/sci_fair.html
http://www.scifair.org
http://www.ipl.org/div/kidspace/projectguide
http://askanexpert.com
***************************************************
** this form may be printed and turned in to the office or you may e-mail me a copy of the form (fill it out on your computer, save it and send it as an e-mail attachment) to Kentlandshomes@longandfoster.com **