Westbrook STEM Fair
January 6, 2020

WEEK 8 (12/23)

During Week 8, your project should include- 
  • Pick a topic and ask a question, and record all notes in your project notebook.   
  • Research- Write at least a paragraph about what you learned on your topic/question.  
  • Hypothesis- Write a hypothesis that shares your reasoning from your research.  
  • Experiment- Decide on your materials and your procedure.   
  • Conduct your experiment and record data. 
  • Charts and Graphs- Organize your data into charts and graphs.  
  • Conclusion- Share what you learned from your experiment in your conclusion.
  • Board and Notebook- Your poster and notebook should include all the sections (use picture below and bolded words above fas a guide) of your project in a clear display.  The goal of the board and notebook is to teach others about your experiment and what you learned through your investigation. Students may not bring a display and therefore, all information must be on their poster and in their notebook.  Students may be interviewed by two judges on the day of the STEM Fair. Please make sure students are ready to answer questions about their projects.   (Check with your child’s teacher, as due dates of projects may vary from class to class.) 
  • Rubric- Please use the rubric HERE to make sure your project has all the necessary things that the judges will be looking for at the STEM Fair.  ​
Looking ahead to the STEM Fair on January 6, 2020-   
  • Set up starts at 8:30 am for all grades.  
  • Interviews are from 9:30- 12:30, students will be called down from their classrooms.   
  • Come see all the fabulous projects between 5:30- 6:30 pm.  
  • Winners announced around 6:00 pm.  ​

WEEK 7 (12/16)

During Week 7, students should- 
  • Pick a topic and ask a question, and record all notes in your project notebook.     
  • Research- Write at least a paragraph about what you learned on your topic/question.  
  • Hypothesis- Write a hypothesis that shares your reasoning from your research.  
  • Experiment- Decide on your materials and your procedure.   
  • Conduct your experiment and record data. 
  • Charts and Graphs- Organize your data into charts and graphs.  
  • Results and Conclusion- Share what you learned from your experiment in your conclusion.  Your conclusion will be one to three paragraphs long.  

Looking ahead to Week 8:  ​STEM Fair Display

WEEK 6 (12/9)

During Week 6, students should- 
  • Pick a topic and ask a question, and record all notes in your project notebook.   
  • Research- Write at least a paragraph about what you learned on your topic/question.  
  • Hypothesis- write a hypothesis that shares your reasoning from your research.  
  • Experiment- Decide on your materials and your procedure.   
  • Conduct your experiment and record data. 
  • Charts and Graphs- Use the information you recorded during your experiment to make charts and graphs of your data.  This is a way to organize your data so that others will be able to see what you learned.  
  
Looking ahead to Week 7: Results and Conclusion. 

WEEK 5 (12/2)

During Week 5, students should- 
  • Pick a topic and ask a question, and record all notes in your project notebook.   
  • Research- Write at least a paragraph about what you learned on your topic/question.  
  • Hypothesis- write a hypothesis that shares your reasoning from your research.  
  • Experiment- Decide on your materials and your procedure.   
  • Conduct your experiment and record data. This is the fun part.  Set up your experiment, gather data, and make observations.  Take your time and collect accurate data. Be sure to take photos of your work and record all your data in a journal.  It is okay to adjust your procedures as necessary. Be sure to run your experiment multiple times.  
 
Looking ahead to Week 6: Charts and Graphs.
​
Teacher Approval Forms are due on December 9, 2019.

WEEK 4 (11/25)

During Week 4, students should- 
  • Pick a topic and ask a question, and record all notes in your project notebook.   
  • Research- Write at least a paragraph about what you learned on your topic/question.  
  • Hypothesis- write a hypothesis that shares your reasoning from your research.  
  • Experiment- Decide on how to conduct a fair experiment by considering the variables you will control.  List your materials, including quantities. Write a step-by-step procedure so others could replicate your work.  
​Looking ahead to Week 5.   
WEEK 3 (11/18)
Students have 6 weeks left to design and complete their project.   
During Week 3, students should-
  • Pick a topic and ask a question, and record all notes in your project notebook.   
  • Research- After you have chosen a question, you need to research more about your topic. Write at least a paragraph about what you learned.  
  • Hypothesis- write a hypothesis that shares your reasoning from your research.  Use what you learned during your research to write your hypothesis. Use one of these sentence frames for your hypothesis.
*I predict _________________ because ______________________.
*I think that if we change _____________________________ then the____________ will ___________________________________ .
WEEK 2 (11/11)
Students have 7 weeks left to design and complete their project.   
During Week 2, students should-
  • Pick a topic and record all your notes in your project notebook.     
  • Ask a question that is testable and observable about the topic.  
  • Research- After you have chosen a question, you need to research more about your topic. Write at least a paragraph about what you learned.  
  • Teacher Approval Forms are due on December 9, 2019
WEEK 1 (11/4)
  • ​Pick a topic. Students can go to the USEF Website  to get ideas about great topics for the STEM Fair.   
  • Ask a question that is testable and observable about the topic.  
        How to write your question in a testable format:
  • Does changing _______ affect _______?
  • How does changing ________ affect _________?
  • If I change ________, will if affect ________?  
            * The blanks are called variables.  
  • Start your recording all your notes in your project notebook.
Teacher Approval Form- Students must turn in their Teacher Approval Form so their experiment can be approved by Mrs. Sellers by 12/12/18.