At the end of this month, my students are participating in a school wide science fair. We are caught right now between the state standards we have been using and the CCSS we are adopting. I am still teaching my students the steps of conducting their own science project. It takes much conferring on my part, but I believe it is worth it.
Click here for the graphic organizer I use to help students plan their own experiment.
Click here for the checklist I use to grade the experiments.
I focus on the scientific process during this project. I might have twenty similar experiments, but I ask them all two questions:
1. What are you comparing?
2. What are you measuring?
The comparing question needs to be about a single variable. I emphasize that they are creating two very similar systems and changing just one thing. They isolate that one thing to see if it changes the results.
The measuring question is about those results. They need to measure the time it takes for something to happen or the size or weight change with the appropriate tools.
If you have any questions for me about how I help my students with this, I welcome them in the comments.
Update: I have created a freebie for my Teachers Pay Teachers Store and my Teacher's Notebook Store that contains the forms I use and some directions.
Thank you for sharing, Mary. We have begun learning about and preparing for our Science Fair. This is a handy resource.
ReplyDeleteAngela
You're welcome. I have a month or two before we get started here.
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