Project Guides (Page 10)

Sample Bibliography: MLA Works Cited Format

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"Battery." Encyclopedia Britannica. 1990. "Best Batteries." Consumer Reports Magazine 32 Dec. 1994: 71-72. Booth, Steven A. "High-Drain Alkaline AA-Batteries." Popular Electronics 62 Jan. 1999: 58. Brain, Marshall. "How Batteries Work." howstuffworks. 1 Aug. 2006 <http://home.howstuffworks.com /battery.htm>. "Cells and Batteries." The DK Science Encyclopedia. 1993. Dell, R. M., and D. A. J.… Read more

Sample Variables & Hypothesis

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Question How does the voltage of an AA battery change over time when used in low, medium, and high current drain devices? Hypothesis If I use a AA battery in any current-draining device, then the voltage of the battery will drop over time. If I perform this test in low, medium, and high current drain devices, then the rate of voltage drop will be slowest in the low current drain device and fastest in the high current drain device. There are two parts of this hypothesis, and thus two… Read more

Scientific Review Committee (SRC)

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What is SRC? Many science fairs have a group of people called a Scientific Review Committee (or SRC) that reviews each project application to ensure that all safety and legal requirements will be met and that the appropriate forms have been completed. The committee also reviews the completed project displays. Typically, a Scientific Review Committee is composed of at least three people: a biomedical scientist, a physical scientist, and a science teacher. Some fairs also have an Institutional… Read more

Scratch User Guide: Help, I'm Stuck! Troubleshooting a Program in Scratch

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Part of learning Scratch is figuring out how to make scripts (sets of instruction blocks snapped together) that make the sprites do what you want them to do. In the beginning, this might take some trial and error. It is completely normal for a program to not run perfectly the first time! Keep trying and experimenting—you might be surprised at how skilled you become at working out solutions. Below are some tips for how to get your Scratch program working the way you want. Remember, be… Read more

Scratch User Guide: Introduction

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Introduction What is Scratch? Scratch is an easy-to-use programming language that allows anyone (even beginners who have never programmed before!) to create their own interactive stories, games, animations, videos, art, and music on the computer. Scratch was developed by the Lifelong Kindergarten Group at the MIT Media Lab, and is available for free. Scratch can be used to create just about anything you can think of. To get a sense of the range of things people make in Scratch, take a look at… Read more

Storyboards

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Storyboards are a great way to visually depict an experience or an interaction among people or people and objects. By creating a storyboard, you can break down the experience or interaction into all of its more specific components over time, which allows you to analyze more closely. There are three main points during the design process in which you may want to create a storyboard: during the early stages of your research, during the prototyping stage, and at the end when you are presenting… Read more

Summarizing Your Data

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Measures of Central Tendency: Mean, Median, and Mode In most cases, the first thing that you will want to know about a group of measurements is the "average." But what, exactly, is the "average?" Is it the mathematical average of our measurements? Is it a kind of half-way point in our data set? Is it the outcome that happened most frequently? Actually, any of these three measures could conceivably be used to convey the central tendency of the data. Most often, the… Read more

Advanced Display Board Design and Tips

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If you are working on a complex or very involved project you may need not only our normal Science Fair Project Display Boards guide, but also some of the advanced tips below. A reminder: Read the rules for your event to make sure that your ideas for a display board, as well as our suggestions below, are allowed. What To Do Emphasize Your Most Important Points Use subheadings to emphasize your key points. A subtitle in a large font might also be effective. You can also have a… Read more

An Introduction to Biomechanics - A Closer Look at Gait & Balance

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Biomechanics is the study of how our bodies move and the forces that affect them. Two important parts of biomechanics are gait and balance. Gait is the way we walk or run. It includes how our joints and muscles move and how smoothly we take each step. Balance is our ability to stay steady, whether we’re standing still or moving. Together, gait and balance show how the body controls movement and how we respond to forces such as gravity, friction, and uneven ground. Gait is the way a person… Read more

An Introduction to Radiation & Radiation Safety

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Building your own homemade X-ray machine is not hard to do, but to do it safely requires that you learn the basics about radiation and radiation safety before beginning. This guide will give you an overview of these topics and point you to additional resources if you are interested in further reading. This guide may also be of interest to anyone generally interested in understanding radiation and radiation safety. What is radiation? The word "radiation" might make you think of… Read more

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