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GLOSSARY OF TERMS |
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TOPIC The subject of interest that will be explored. This should be something of student interest and to which he/she can relate. |
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BACKGROUND RESEARCH Learning about the topic by reading books, newspapers and magazines/journals OR by watching TV, films, and filmstrips OR by interviewing knowledgeable people. |
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PROBLEM The specific problem that is going to be investigated. State this in the form of a question. |
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PURPOSE A statement about what will be discovered during the experiment. |
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HYPOTHESIS An educated guess presuming the outcome of the experiment. Follows the background research and definition of the problem. Written in IF...THEN format. |
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SCIENTIST'S DATA NOTEBOOK Record of all notes, information, events, data, sketches, etc. This will be monitored by both parents and the teacher in order to determine progress of student's project. |
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DATA/RESULTS Observations of everything that happens during the experiment. Use metric measurements. Repetition (repeated trials) provides convincing results. Final results are displayed in the form of tables, graphs, and photographs. |
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CONCLUSION Written summary of findings. Evaluate accuracy of hypothesis. Determine any extraneous variables. Note future changes. List applications and benefits to real-life situations. |
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DISPLAY Board presenting experiment. Will follow specified format given to the student. |
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ABSTRACT Short (250) word summary of the entire project. It should summarize the purpose, procedure and results. There will be a specified format. |