Science Fair preparations

Information for the Southland Science Fair - held in mid-late August each year.

Introductory activities: maybe use to get pupils thinking about scientific process:

• Turn Milk Into Plastic!
• Home experiments from Science Is Fun

With the Sci Fair being held in Week 5, it means we only have four weeks to carry out our investigations and write them up for display and interviews with the judges.

I plan to introduce scientific process in Week One, pupils to then choose their investigation, materials gathered for the start of Week 2 - with on-going record keeping for Weeks 2-4 and the final write up happening at the start of Week 5. So I have looked for quick investigations where results should be showing in the time-frame - I have also selected ideas that flow on nicely from our Term 2 inquiry about our solar system, as well as any that could be related to the Science Fair special theme of 'Living in a Cooling World'...

Pupils will work in groups of 2 or 3 and can choose from any of the ideas below (which are from Science Buddies which has a huge range of fantastic investigation ideas):

1. Is It Getting Hot in Here? - temperature/greenhouse gases - Ben and Jonas
2. How Salty Does the Sea Have to Be? - floating an egg  Jennifer and Caity
3. Is the Soup Ready? - measure the amount of water dried beans can absorb
4. Shaking for Butter - which temperature works best?  Nikka and Anthony #1
5. Mag-nificent Breakfast Cereals - how much iron is in your cereal?  Coebie and Damien
6. How Greasy Are Your Chips? - measuring the fat content of potato chips
7. Bigger is Better - how much baking powder do muffins need?  Kim and BJ
8. Growing, Growing, Gone! - the use of nitrogen fertilizers on plants   Nikka and Anthony #2
9. Radiant Radish Seeds - how much heat can a seed take?
10. Which Way Up? - how does gravity affect plant root growth?
11. Do Plants Need Soil? - a simply hydroponics investigation
12. Home Sweet Biome - which environment is best for plants?  Dylan and Brayden
13. Recycling Grey Water - do the plants like it?  Brock and JM
14. All Packed Up - how does packaging affect the storage of fruit?
15. Can House Colour Reduce Energy Bills? - how colour attracts heat Keegan and Logan 
• instructions            background info**
16. Cold Room - make your own solar air heater  Lisa and Richard
17. Roof-top Gardens - do they help keep your house warm?
18. Colour My World - how do different colours of light affect plant growth?  Maria and Lane
19. Breathe Out - how does increased levels of carbon dioxide affect plant growth?
20. Feed Me - how do different fertilizers affect plant growth?

** background info can be found via the link on the Inquiry page of our classroom blog - scroll down to see the Science Fair heading and select the links for the appropriate investigation/theme!