Science Project - What is a Circuit?

[Kryssie]

Hi, I really need your help. This is my first science project that I'm doing and I'm really having a hard time. My project is about WHAT IS A CIRCUIT? I was able to find some information on the internet which was useful for me to place on my science board but I'm having trouble writing down the RESEARCH and HYPOTHESIS, I'm confused in these two questions. I'm in 3rd grade. My project is due on February 25, 2008. Can you please help me. Thank You!!!

[ChrisG]

Hi Kryssie,
Yes, we can help. You should open a new topic thread so that people will see that you have a separate question from the original one asked by Redphebe in this thread. To do that, click the "NEWTOPIC" button at the top or bottom of the forum. Please explain as much as you can about the assignment and requirements for your project. For example, did you teacher ask you to do a report as opposed to an experiment? Did your teacher also ask you to write sections on "research" and "hypothesis"? Did your teacher give any particular instructions about how to write these sections?
Looking forward to hearing more.
Chris

[Kryssie]

I'm sorry. The assignment and requirements for this project is that I have to do reserch on WHAT IS A CIRCUIT?. The information pertains to the following questions:
RESEARCH
HYPOTHESIS
MATERIALS
PROBLEM
PROCEDURE
OBSERVATIONS
CONCLUSIONS
FUTURE
The teacher wants these sections written on the board in the exact order above. Once I gather all this information I have to type everything and paste it on a sciece board. Then I have to take pictures of myself doing the experiment and place those pictures on the board as well. On the due date, I have to take the board and experiment to school with me and explain the entire project and experiment to the teacher and the class.

Thank You!!

[tdaly]

Kryssie,

Your RESEARCH section should contain a summary of what you find out about circuits online. This may be a paragraph or two long. Make sure that you cite your source. This means that you should have at the bottom of you research section a list of the names and web addresses of the websites you read. Be sure not to copy the information from the website; that is illegal. Put what you learned into you own words.

Your HYPOTHESIS section should contain your hypothesis. A hypothesis is a guess about what you think will happen in your experiment; it is what you THINK that the answer to your question is. This website explains more about a hypothesis:https://www.sciencebuddies.org/science- ... esis.shtml. The difference between a hypothesis and your conclusion is that the hypothesis is what YOU think the answer to your question is; the conclusions are what your EXPERIMENT says the answer to your question is.

Feel free to post your RESEARCH section and HYPOTHESIS on the forums if you want us to read them and make comments.

So that we can help you better, what is you question?

Good Luck!

[fmcwilliams]

Kryssie,

The way that your teacher wants you to do your project is by using what is called the scientific method. This method is the process that scientists use to answer scientific questions by performing experiments and making observations. You can find out all about the scientific method and most of the information that you are asking about on the Science Buddies "Steps of the Scientific Method" page at https://www.sciencebuddies.org/science- ... thod.shtml.

As Terik said, the RESEARCH that you need is so that you know how to design an experiment, and just as important, your research will help you to understand what the results mean when you perform it. So research is really learning about your subject so that you can ask intelligent questions about the topic. Good research is always very important.

Once you do your research and start to ask questions about your subject, then you are ready to form you HYPOTHESIS. A hypothesis is simply a guess about your subject that you test by running an experiment. For example a simple hypothesis might be "If I drop a tennis ball and a bowling ball from the same height at the same time, I think the bowling ball will hit the ground first because it is heavier." This hypothesis can be tested by running an experiment a number of times and checking the results. Sometimes your hypothesis proves correct and sometimes it does not, but the fun part is either way you learn more about your subject.

Since your topic is circuits you might want to check out the NASA Science Files circuit web page at
http://scifiles.larc.nasa.gov/text/kids ... uits2.html

So good luck with your project and have some fun too.

[Kryssie]

Thank you so much for your help. I really appreciate it. This will help me alot.