science fair projects with a hypothesis

Do a Science Fair Project!

How do you do a science fair project.

Ask a parent, teacher, or other adult to help you research the topic and find out how to do a science fair project about it.

Test, answer, or show?

Your science fair project may do one of three things:

Test an idea (or hypothesis.)

Answer a question.

Show how nature works.

Topic ideas:

Space topics:.

How do the constellations change in the night sky over different periods of time?

How does the number of stars visible in the sky change from place to place because of light pollution?

Learn about and demonstrate the ancient method of parallax to measure the distance to an object, such as stars and planets.

Study different types of stars and explain different ways they end their life cycles.

Earth topics:

How do the phases of the Moon correspond to the changing tides?

Demonstrate what causes the phases of the Moon?

How does the tilt of Earth’s axis create seasons throughout the year?

How do weather conditions (temperature, humidity) affect how fast a puddle evaporates?

How salty is the ocean?

Solar system topics:

How does the size of a meteorite relate to the size of the crater it makes when it hits Earth?

How does the phase of the Moon affect the number of stars visible in the sky?

Show how a planet’s distance from the Sun affects its temperature.

Sun topics:

Observe and record changes in the number and placement of sun spots over several days. DO NOT look directly at the Sun!

Make a sundial and explain how it works.

Show why the Moon and the Sun appear to be the same size in the sky.

How effective are automobile sunshades?

Study and explain the life space of the sun relative to other stars.

Pick a topic.

Try to find out what people already know about it.

State a hypothesis related to the topic. That is, make a cause-and-effect-statement that you can test using the scientific method .

Explain something.

Make a plan to observe something.

Design and carry out your research, keeping careful records of everything you do or see.

Create an exhibit or display to show and explain to others what you hoped to test (if you had a hypothesis) or what question you wanted to answer, what you did, what your data showed, and your conclusions.

Write a short report that also states the same things as the exhibit or display, and also gives the sources of your initial background research.

Practice describing your project and results, so you will be ready for visitors to your exhibit at the science fair.

Follow these steps to a successful science fair entry!

If you liked this, you may like:

Learn STEM by Doing (and having fun)!

The Ultimate Science Fair Project Guide – From Start to Finish

When our daughter entered her first science fair, we kept seeing references to the Internet Public Library Science Fair Project Resource Guide .  However, the IPL2 permanently closed… taking the guide with it.  Bummer !  After now participating in over a half-dozen elementary school science fairs (including a first-place finish!), we created our own guide to help other students go from start to finish in their next science fair project.  If this is your first science fair, have fun!  If you’ve done it before, we hope this is your best one!  Let’s science!

*Images from Unsplash

How to Use the STEMium Science Fair Project Ultimate Guide?

If you are just starting off and this is your first science fair, here’s how to get started:

• Start with the STEMium Science Fair Project Roadmap . This is an infographic that “maps” out the process from start to finish and shows all the steps in a visual format.
• Getting Started – Why Do a Science Fair Project . Besides walking through some reasons to do a project, we also share links to examples of national science fair competitions, what’s involved and examples of winning science fair experiments .  *Note: this is where you’ll get excited!!
• The Scientific Method – What is It and What’s Involved . One of the great things about a science fair project is that it introduces students to an essential process/concept known as the scientific method.  This is simply the way in which we develop a hypothesis to test.
• Start the Process – Find an Idea . You now have a general idea of what to expect at the science fair, examples of winning ideas, and know about the scientific method.  You’re ready to get started on your own project.  How do you come up with an idea for a science fair project?  We have resources on how to use a Google tool , as well as some other strategies for finding an idea.
• Experiment and Build the Project . Time to roll up those sleeves and put on your lab coat.
• Other Resources for the Fair. Along the way, you will likely encounter challenges or get stuck.  Don’t give up – it’s all part of the scientific process.  Check out our STEMium Resources page for more links and resources from the web.  We also have additional experiments like the germiest spot in school , or the alka-seltzer rocket project that our own kids used.

Getting Started – Why Do a Science Fair Project

For many students, participating in the science fair might be a choice that was made FOR you.  In other words, something you must do as part of a class.  Maybe your parents are making you do it.  For others, maybe it sounded like a cool idea.  Something fun to try.  Whatever your motivation, there are a lot of great reasons to do a science fair project.

• Challenge yourself
• Learn more about science
• Explore cool technology
• Make something to help the world! (seriously!)
• Win prizes (and sometimes even money)
• Do something you can be proud of!

Many students will participate in a science fair at their school.  But there are also national competitions that include 1000s of participants.  There are also engineering fairs, maker events, and hackathons.  It’s an exciting time to be a scientist!!  The list below gives examples of national events.

• Regeneron Science Talent Search
• Regeneron International Science and Engineering Fair
• Google Science Fair
• Conrad Challenge
• Microsoft Imagine Cup
• JSHS Program
• Exploravision

What’s the Scientific Method?

Before we jump into your project, it’s important to introduce a key concept:  The Scientific Method .  The scientific method is the framework scientists use to answer their questions and test their hypothesis.  The figure below illustrates the steps you’ll take to get to the end, but it starts with asking a question (you’ve already finished the first step!).

After we find a problem/idea to tackle, and dig into some background research, we create a guess on a potential solution.  This is known as our hypothesis.

Example of a Hypothesis

My brother can hold his breath underwater longer than I can (“our problem”) –> how can I hold my breath longer? (“our question”) –>  if I drink soda with caffeine before I hold my breath, I will be able to stay underwater longer (“our solution”).  Our hypothesis is that using caffeine before we go underwater will increase the time we hold our breath.  We’re not sure if that is a correct solution or not at this stage – just taking a guess.

Once we have a hypothesis, we design an experiment to TEST our hypothesis.  First, we will change variables/conditions one at a time while keeping everything else the same, so we can compare the outcomes.

Experimental Design Example

Using our underwater example, maybe we will test different drinks and count how long I can hold my breath.  Maybe we can also see if someone else can serve as a “control” – someone who holds their breath but does not drink caffeine.  For the underwater experiment, we can time in seconds how long I hold my breath before I have a drink and then time it again after I have my caffeine drink.  I can also time how long I stay underwater when I have a drink without caffeine.

Then, once we finish with our experiment, we analyze our data and develop a conclusion.

• How many seconds did I stay underwater in the different situations? 
• Which outcome is greater?  Did caffeine help me hold my breath longer? 

Finally, (and most important), we present our findings. Imagine putting together a poster board with a chart showing the number of seconds I stayed underwater in the different conditions.

Hopefully you have a better sense of the scientific method.  If you are completing a science fair project, sticking with these steps is super important.  Just in case there is any lingering confusion, here are some resources for learning more about the scientific method:

• Science Buddies – Steps of the Scientific Method
• Ducksters – Learn About the Scientific Method
• Biology4kids – Scientific Method
• National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences – Scientific Method

What Science Fair Project Should I Do?

And science is no different.

Just know that if you can get through the idea part, the rest of the science fair is relatively smooth sailing.  Remember to keep an open mind and a positive outlook .  Each year 100s of 1000s of kids, teenagers and college students come up with new projects and ideas to test.  You’ve got this!

What Makes a Great Science Fair Project?  Start with a Problem To Solve

As we discuss below, good science experiments attempt to answer a QUESTION.  Why is the sky blue?  Why does my dog bark at her reflection?  First, we will step through some ways to find TESTABLE QUESTIONS.  These questions that you create will be what you work on for your science fair project.  Pick something fun, something interesting and something that you are excited about.  Not sure what that looks like?  Step through some of the tips below for help.

Use the Google Science Fair Idea Generator

Are you surprised Google made a tool for science fair projects??  Our post called the low-stress way to find a science fair project gives a more in-depth overview about how to use it.  It’s a great first stop if you’re early in the brainstorming process.

Answer your own questions

• What type of music makes you run faster?
• Can boys hold their breath underwater longer than girls?
• How can I be sure the sandwich I bought is gluten free?
• If we plant 100 trees in our neighborhood, will the air be cleaner?

Still stuck? Get inspiration from other science fair projects

Check out the Getting Started section and look at some of the winning science project ideas, our STEMium experiments and our Resource page.  We’ve presented a ton of potential idea starters for you – take time to run through some of these, but our suggestion is to give yourself a deadline to pick an idea .  Going through the lists could take you longer than you think, and in many cases sometimes it’s just better to pick something and go for it!  The next section will take you through how to create testable questions for your project.

Starting Your Project: Find A Testable Question

The best experiments start with a question.  Taking that a step further, the questions you useyou’re your science fair project should be ones that are TESTABLE.  That means something you can measure.  Let’s look at an example.  Let’s say I’m super excited about baking.  OH YEA!!  I love baking.  Specifically, baking cakes.  In fact, I love baking cakes so much that I want to do a science project related to cakes.  We’ve got two questions on cakes that we created.  Which question below could be most useful for a science fair project:

1)  Can eating cake before a test improve your score?

2)  Why isn’t carrot cake more popular than chocolate cake?

The second question isn’t necessarily a bad question to pick.  You could survey people and perhaps tackle the question that way.  However, chances are you will get a lot of different answers and it will probably take a lot of surveys to start to pick up a trend.

Although, the first question might be a little easier.  How would you test this?   Maybe you pick one type of cake and one test that you give people.  If you can get five people to take the test after eating cake and five people take the test with no cake, you can compare the test results.  There might be other variables beyond cake that you could test (example: age, sex, education).  But you can see that the first question is probably a little easier to test.  The first question is also a little easier to come up with a hypothesis.

At this point, you’ve got an idea.  That was the hard part!  Now it’s time to think a little more about that idea and focus it into a scientific question that is testable and that you can create a hypothesis around .

What makes a question “testable”?

Testable questions are ones that can be measured and should focus on what you will change.  In our first cake question, we would be changing whether or not people eat cake before a test.  If we are giving them all the same test and in the same conditions, you could compare how they do on the test with and without cake.  As you are creating your testable question, think about what you WILL CHANGE (cake) and what you are expecting to be different (test scores).  Cause and effect.  Check out this reference on testable questions for more details.

Outline Your Science Project – What Steps Should I Take?

Do Background Research / Create Hypothesis

Science experiments typically start with a question (example: Which cleaning solution eliminates more germs?).  The questions might come up because of a problem.  For example, maybe you’re an engineer and you are trying to design a new line of cars that can drive at least 50 mph faster.  Your problem is that the car isn’t fast enough.  After looking at what other people have tried to do to get the car to go faster, and thinking about what you can change, you try to find a solution or an answer.  When we talk about the scientific method, the proposed answer is referred to as the HYPOTHESIS.

• Science Buddies
• National Geographic

The information you gather to answer these research questions can be used in your report or in your board.  This will go in the BACKGROUND section.  For resources that you find useful, make sure you note the web address where you found it, and save in a Google Doc for later.

Additional Research Tips

For your own science fair project, there will likely be rules that will already be set by the judges/teachers/school.  Make sure you get familiar with the rules FOR YOUR FAIR and what needs to be completed to participate .  Typically, you will have to do some research into your project, you’ll complete experiments, analyze data, make conclusions and then present the work in a written report and on a poster board.  Make a checklist of all these “to do” items.  Key things to address:

• Question being answered – this is your testable question
• Hypothesis – what did you come up with and why
• Experimental design – how are you going to test your hypothesis
• Conclusions – why did you reach these and what are some alternative explanations
• What would you do next? Answering a testable question usually leads to asking more questions and judges will be interested in how you think about next steps.

Need more help?  Check out these additional resources on how to tackle a science fair project:

• Developing a Science Fair Project – Wiley
• Successful Science Fair Projects – Washington University
• Science Fair Planning Guide – Chattahoochee Elementary

Experiment – Time to Test That Hypothesis

Way to go!  You’ve found a problem and identified a testable question.  You’ve done background research and even created a hypothesis.  It’s time to put it all together now and start designing your experiment.  Two experiments we have outlined in detail – germiest spot in school and alka-seltzer rockets – help show how to set up experiments to test variable changes.

The folks at ThoughtCo have a great overview on the different types of variables – independent, dependent and controls.  You need to identify which ones are relevant to your own experiment and then test to see how changes in the independent variable impacts the dependent variable .  Sounds hard?  Nope.  Let’s look at an example.  Let’s say our hypothesis is that cold weather will let you flip a coin with more heads than tails.  The independent variable is the temperature.  The dependent variable is the number of heads or tails that show up.  Our experiment could involve flipping a coin fifty times in different temperatures (outside, in a sauna, in room temperature) and seeing how many heads/tails we get.

One other important point – write down all the steps you take and the materials you use!!  This will be in your final report and project board.  Example – for our coin flipping experiment, we will have a coin (or more than one), a thermometer to keep track of the temperature in our environment.  Take pictures of the flipping too!

Analyze Results – Make Conclusions

Analyzing means adding up our results and putting them into pretty pictures.  Use charts and graphs whenever you can.  In our last coin flipping example, you’d want to include bar charts of the number of heads and tails at different temperatures.  If you’re doing some other type of experiment, take pictures during the different steps to document everything.

This is the fun part….  Now we get to see if we answered our question!  Did the weather affect the coin flipping?  Did eating cake help us do better on our test??  So exciting!  Look through what the data tells you and try to answer your question.  Your hypothesis may / may not be correct.  It’s not important either way – the most important part is what you learned and the process.  Check out these references for more help:

• How to make a chart or graph in Google Sheets
• How to make a chart in Excel

Presentation Time – Set Up Your Board, Practice Your Talk

Personally, the presentation is my favorite part!  First, you get to show off all your hard work and look back at everything you did!  Additionally, science fair rules should outline the specific sections that need to be in the report, and in the poster board – so, be like Emmett from Lego Movie and read the instructions.  Here’s a loose overview of what you should include:

• Title – what is it called.
• Introduction / background – here’s why you’re doing it and helping the judges learn a bit about your project.
• Materials/Methods – what you used and the steps in your experiment. This is so someone else could repeat your experiment.
• Results – what was the outcome? How many heads/tails?  Include pictures and graphs.
• Conclusions – was your hypothesis correct? What else would you like to investigate now?  What went right and what went wrong?
• References – if you did research, where did you get your information from? What are your sources?

The written report will be very similar to the final presentation board.  The board that you’ll prepare is usually a three-panel board set up like the picture shown below.

To prepare for the presentation, you and your partner should be able to talk about the following:

• why you did the experiment
• the hypothesis that was tested
• the data results
• the conclusions.

It’s totally OK to not know an answer.  Just remember this is the fun part!

And that’s it!  YOU DID IT!! 

Science fair projects have been great opportunities for our kids to not only learn more about science, but to also be challenged and push themselves.  Independent projects like these are usually a great learning opportunity.  Has your child completed a science fair project that they are proud of?  Include a pic in the comments – we love to share science!!  Please also check out our STEMium Resources page for more science fair project tips and tricks .

STEMomma is a mother & former scientist/educator. She loves to find creative, fun ways to help engage kids in the STEM fields (science, technology, engineering and math).  When she’s not busy in meetings or carpooling kids, she loves spending time with the family and dreaming up new experiments  or games they can try in the backyard.

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What is a hypothesis?

No.  A hypothesis is sometimes described as an educated guess.  That's not the same thing as a guess and not really a good description of a hypothesis either.  Let's try working through an example.

If you put an ice cube on a plate and place it on the table, what will happen?  A very young child might guess that it will still be there in a couple of hours.  Most people would agree with the hypothesis that:

An ice cube will melt in less than 30 minutes.

You could put sit and watch the ice cube melt and think you've proved a hypothesis.  But you will have missed some important steps.

For a good science fair project you need to do quite a bit of research before any experimenting.  Start by finding some information about how and why water melts.  You could read a book, do a bit of Google searching, or even ask an expert.  For our example, you could learn about how temperature and air pressure can change the state of water.  Don't forget that elevation above sea level changes air pressure too.

Now, using all your research, try to restate that hypothesis.

An ice cube will melt in less than 30 minutes in a room at sea level with a temperature of 20C or 68F.

But wait a minute.  What is the ice made from?  What if the ice cube was made from salt water, or you sprinkled salt on a regular ice cube?  Time for some more research.  Would adding salt make a difference?  Turns out it does.  Would other chemicals change the melting time?

Using this new information, let's try that hypothesis again.

An ice cube made with tap water will melt in less than 30 minutes in a room at sea level with a temperature of 20C or 68F.

Does that seem like an educated guess?  No, it sounds like you are stating the obvious.

At this point, it is obvious only because of your research.  You haven't actually done the experiment.  Now it's time to run the experiment to support the hypothesis.

A hypothesis isn't an educated guess.  It is a tentative explanation for an observation, phenomenon, or scientific problem that can be tested by further investigation.

Once you do the experiment and find out if it supports the hypothesis, it becomes part of scientific theory.

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8 Parts Of Science Fair Projects

Every science fair project can be broken into eight primary sections. When you present your project to a class or the judges of the science fair, you will need to ensure that each of the main eight elements is adequately represented on both your presentation board and your lab reports. Understanding how each of these elements is incorporated into the larger project is critical if you want to ensure science fair success.

Purpose Statement

The purpose statement helps readers understand what you planned to accomplish with your project. Explain the basic reasoning behind the project, why you found the project compelling, and how you think the results of your experiment will be beneficial. A purpose statement is best if left short and sweet; you will have plenty of opportunity to expand on its points in other sections of your project. Try to sum up your experiment in four sentences or less.

The hypothesis is your rough estimation of what you believe would happen in your experiment. The hypothesis must answer a specific question related to your project. For example, if you were trying to determine which bubble gum held its flavor the longest, your hypothesis would look something like "I predict that Bubbly Sue's Bubble Gum will hold its flavor longer than any other." Follow your hypothesis with a short sentence explaining why you believe your experiment will turn out that way.

Materials List

The materials list is relatively straightforward. You will simply need to make a list of everything you used to complete your experiment. Be sure to include specific amounts so another individual can repeat your experiment. You should also list any special equipment such as stopwatches, beakers, rulers or utensils used during the experiment. Readers of your experiment should be able to try it on their own using only your explanations and materials list.

Writing a procedure is necessary so you can perform each section of your experiment consistently. Also, much like the materials list, the procedure section helps another person carry out your experiment if desired. Number each step and write down everything you did over the course of the experiment in chronological order. If you tested the flavor of gum, your first step would be preparing several pieces of gum, the second would be chewing one piece and timing it and the third step would be recording how long the flavor lasted. Be as detailed as you can in your procedures.

Project Log

The project log is a detailed recording of exactly what you did while planning and executing your experiment. You should start each day by writing in your project log. First, note the time and date. Next, write a brief description of what you were doing. Continuing with the gum example, a sample project log entry might read, "Jan. 10, 2011, 12 p.m.: Gathered gum samples for project and worked out rough procedure overview for testing each piece." Everything you do over the course of your experiment should be documented here.

Summary Research Report

The summary report is a multi-page research essay that takes everything you learned during your project and translates it into text form. You will need to address your hypothesis, what led you to come up with it, how you conducted your experiments and the results you saw at the end of the project. This should be formatted like a traditional essay, with an introduction, several body paragraphs packed with details, and a conclusion that ties everything together. You will also need a detailed bibliography.

In the results area of your science fair project, you explain what happened during the experiment. You should include what you thought might happen and what you wanted to prove, as well as what actually happened. Use as much data as you can from your investigations and document your findings with charts or graphs whenever possible. The results section of your project should clearly explain to viewers what you learned during your experiments and how that lined up with your hypothesis.

The conclusion is where you summarize everything you learned from the experiment and compare it to what you expected would happen. Start the conclusion by listing your hypothesis and what that hypothesis was based on. Explain whether the results held up your hypothesis or disproved it, and then extrapolate on these findings to form an idea of where you could take your experiment in the future. You can mention changes you would make if you were to try your project again.

• Williams Class: Science Fair Project
• Massachusetts State Science and Engineering Fair: How to Do a Science Fair Project
• Mid High Science: 8 Steps to a Successful Science Fair Project

Cite This Article

Bowerman, Todd. "8 Parts Of Science Fair Projects" sciencing.com , https://www.sciencing.com/8-parts-of-science-fair-projects-12750771/. 28 August 2011.

Bowerman, Todd. (2011, August 28). 8 Parts Of Science Fair Projects. sciencing.com . Retrieved from https://www.sciencing.com/8-parts-of-science-fair-projects-12750771/

Bowerman, Todd. 8 Parts Of Science Fair Projects last modified August 30, 2022. https://www.sciencing.com/8-parts-of-science-fair-projects-12750771/

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