Google Science Fair Finalists - check out these amazing young scientists!

I am incredibly humbled by the accomplishments of these young scientists. They are doing work at a level not achieved by many adults and doing it with their own drive and innovation. I hope for the best for each one of them and wish they could all receive massive amounts of additional funding for their research. Check out the projects, be impressed by the innovation and vote for the "Viewer's Choice" project at the Google Science Fair website between now and August 30th. The winners will be announced in the end of September. Good luck to all of them!

Cool Experiment with ICE!

This post is not strictly science fair related, however, it is a really great demonstration of the effects of density and the fact that water is denser than ice. I found out about this experiment via a weekly email and have a few suggestions on helpful ways to change it. The original is here: Spangler's version . The run down is that you will use a layer of vegetable oil (density=0.91), a layer of mineral oil (density=0.8) and a piece of ice which will become water (densities = 0.91 and 1 respectively). Add a little food coloring in the bottom and you get some awesome magic!

So, here we go... Take a clear container and add a few drops of food coloring. Add the vegetable oil... only make it corn oil because it is slightly denser than vegetable oil (density=0.92). The food coloring will not mix with the oil because it is water soluable.  Now add the mineral oil (baby oil works) by pouring it gently and slowly onto a spoon slanted to the surface. Make sure there is a good couple of inches of mineral oil on the top. Next comes the fun part... Grab an ice cube and place it gently on the surface and watch what happens.



Go... Do it... Then come back.




OK, (that was a pause so you could watch your setup) so what happens is that the ice floats between the two oils and then melts... Water (melted ice) is heavier than both the ice and the oil so it drips off and falls to the bottom where it mixes with the food coloring! Shazam!

Now, in my experiment, pictured below there is already a large layer of water in the bottom and the top of that layer looks a little dusty. The surface tension of the water layer at the bottom holds up the drips for a little while before they 'fall through' and mix with the water.

The importance of a lab notebook

Hello Scientists!

We had a very good question submitted about one of the required elements of a science fair project. We ask in the guidelines for the fair that you keep a lab note book during the course of your project. The question was about what is expected to be in a lab notebook.

An elementary school science fair lab note book should contain:

*brainstormed experiment ideas or things to include in an experiment you have already decided on

*some background information you have learned about your topic

*possible variables and the other things you must hold constant so that your experimental results show ONLY the effect of the one thing you changed (your variable) in each experimental trail

*one or more possible hypotheses about your experiment (what you think is going to happen when you perform your experiments)

*your experimental set up - how are you going to perform your experiment? What will be varied, what held constant? What will be measured and how will you measure it? What equipment will you need?


*Once the experimental design has been decided, draw out a diagram and write a step by step plan (your 'procedure') that you can refer back to so you can always do the experiment the same way


*Begin a new page for every experiment, date the page and write all the important details of what happens - some little things might not seem important at the time but may explain an unexpected result later! Remember to perform every trial of your experiment several times to see if the data is the same every time. Record your data in the notebook so you can make a snazzy chart or graph to display it on your project board later. 

*Any conclusions you might make about your results can be worked out in the lab book as well.

You should write clearly enough that you can read it later, but perfect spelling is not very important. If you do want to change something, just cross it out with one or two lines and write it again.

That seems like a lot of stuff!!! Just think of it as a diary for your science fair project. Write everything down in there first, and then go back to the lab book later when it is time to write up the project and make your poster. Everything will be there waiting for you... no lost papers with important data or revolutionary ideas that you can't quite recall. If you aren't the fastest writer and your fabulous ideas come too fast and furious for you to keep up you can enlist the help of an older helper, but try to write some of it yourself because practice makes your skills better and faster. When it is time to turn your project in write the title of the project on the cover (but NOT YOUR NAME) and turn it in with the poster.

Remember that the deadline for submission of your hypotheses is February 13th. The forms are in the Media Center by Mrs Burro's office. I am excited to report that I have had to put more in the stack once already and the first hypothesis has been turned in! As always, email me with any questions or post them to the blog as a comment. 

Cheatham Hill Elementary Science Fair... The 2013 edition!

Welcome back all you fabulous CHES scientists! 

The 2013 Fair will take place beginning Wednesday March 13th and last one week until March 20th. We are requesting that you turn in a title and hypothesis for your project by February 13th so that we can plan for display space and judging and so that you can decide on a topic with ample time to conduct experiments and make your write up and display.We had such fabulous experiments last year we can't wait to see what our scientists come up with this year.

The guidelines have not changed from last year and can be found at the tab at the top of the blog entitled Science Fair Guidelines. I believe that you should be able to highlight the content you wish to print and 'print selection' from most devices. If you have trouble and need a printed version of the guidelines please let us know and we will make them available in the Media Center at CHES. We will again be awarding 1st, 2nd and 3rd place ribbons and the small science experiment prizes that were a big hit last year. The top two winners at each grade level will be entered into the Tom Matthis Council PTA district Science Fair which begins March 21st. 

The above photo is an example of the type of display we are expecting. This one was last year's 2nd grade first place project. The title and hypothesis are clearly evident. The background research is summarized (here on the right), the method and experimental conditions are also summarized (here shown on the left). The experimental data is represented by graphs and photographs. A written report is included (in a folder attached to the board) and the lab notebook is included in front of the board. The scientist's name and school are NOT visible on the display, although they are written on the back of the display. 

If you have questions about any of this information or about the Science Fair in general please feel free to comment on this post or email the blog owner (Eden Hunt). If you are interested in helping out with the fair in any way... at check in time on the 13th of March, coordinating judging, project transport to and from the TMC Fair in north Metro Atlanta please contact Eden. If you need ideas for projects many of the links on the right sidebar have experiment ideas and we can help you with ideas on how to turn many interesting science demonstration into a science fair worthy project in no time! 

Good luck and we can not wait to see the projects in March!