1. Janice VanCleave’sJanice VanCleave’s
Science Fair HandbookScience Fair Handbook
This is information is copied from the Science Fair Central website at
http://school.discovery.com/sciencefaircentral/scifairstudio/handbook/

2. A science project is like a mystery in
which you are the detective searching
for answers. Science projects let you
practice and exhibit your detective
skills. You not only get to select which
mystery to solve, but you can creatively
design methods for uncovering clues
that will lead to the final revelation of
who, what, when, where, how, and
why.

3. Types of Science FairTypes of Science Fair
ProjectsProjects
There are three basic types of projects:
1. An Investigation (or experiment)
2. An Invention
3. Demonstration of a scientific principal

4. The Scientific MethodThe Scientific Method
Before you begin your project you must
remember the steps in the scientific method:
Problem/Question
Research
Hypothesis
Experimentation/Analysis
Conclusion
Read about it….

5. Choose a topicChoose a topic
You may be assigned a topic or need to
choose from a list, but either way the next
step in your science fair project is to choose
a topic. Be sure to choose a topic that
interests you.
Get some ideas here…

6. ResearchResearch
The next step in your project is to research
your topic. You will want to start with
general information sources (like an
encyclopedia) in order to understand it well.
The more you know about your topic the
better you will be able to formulate a
problem. You will also want to read books
and search databases.

7. ProblemProblem
Now you must formulate a question, or
problem, that your experiment will solve.
Here are some places that have ideas for
problems:
Science Buddies
Gateway to Educational Materials
Intermediate Project Ideas

8. HypothesisHypothesis
Your hypothesis is your prediction of what
you think the answer to your problem is. It
may be right or it may be wrong! That’s
what your experiment will help you learn!

9. ExperimentationExperimentation
You will need to determine:
 Materials – what do you need to perform this
experiment?
 Procedures – make a list of the steps you must
take to carry out the experiment
 Results or data – you must record your findings
(This is where you can look in books and on
websites for experiments that are already written
up! Just don’t forget to give credit where it is
due!!)

10. ConclusionConclusion
In the conclusion you will analyze your
data. Was your hypothesis correct? If not,
why not? Can you make any guesses about
why the results were different than what
you expected? Can you make any
generalizations based on your findings? Be
a scientist and tell us what you learned!!

11. Ready to Get Started?Ready to Get Started?
Here are sample projects for each type:
1. An Investigation
2. An Invention
3. Demonstration of a scientific principal
With these ideas in mind –
Let’s get started with our research!!