Science Fair Research Plan Due: 10/25/2013 Teacher Approval _________________ Date ____________________________

Name ________________________ Parent Signature ________________

Objective: Please use this plan to begin developing your science fair project. If you alter your plan, or design something new, a new plan will need to be downloaded and submitted for approval. Plans without approval will not be graded and all future work will not be accepted until an approved plan is submitted. Restrictions/Ethics: Science Fair protocol prohibits any middle school student from working with bacteria or fungi. Similarly, any work involving human or animal tissues will not be allowed in middle school fairs. The student must read guidelines for any chemical that is used in the experiment. Experiments with human participants must have signed release statements for each participant or the data will not be valid. Safety of the experimenter and the community must always be a priority! Step 1: Forming a Question What question are you going to try to answer for your project? Your question should contain your manipulated and responding variables in it. Your question should be easily measurable.

Step 2: Branch of Science Which branch of science or sub branch does your question best address? Use the Science Fair Website sciencemccoy.weebly.com, or our class discussions to explain this part.

Step 3: Variables Identify your manipulated and responding variables and how they will be measured. What units will be used to measure each one? Manipulated Variable Responding Variable

Step 4: Control In order to be a true experimental project, you must have a control group. What will this control group be? If there is no control group, state why.

Step 5: Constants What things must stay the same in each trial of your experiment?

Step 6: The Main Scientific Principle, Law or Theory being investigated Think about what topics in science that project might be part of. Explain what laws, principles, theories, facts in science that would be important for you to understand to explain your question better. (Examples Newtons Law of Universal Gravitation, Conservation of momentum, Bernoullis Principle, Hubbles Law etc.)

Step 7: Safety Concerns Please examine your idea and list any materials or procedures that may cause a safety concern. Be very specific about what it is and what you will do to use it safely.

Step 8: Responsible Adult and Setting Who will be responsible for you while you carry out this investigation? Where will the experiment take place? Setting Responsible Adult Signature of Adult - _______________________