Project Guides (Page 5)

Project Resource

Preparations With your detailed experimental procedure in hand, you are almost ready to start your science experiment. But before you begin there are still a few more things to do: Know what to do. Read and understand your experimental procedure. Are all of the necessary steps written down? Do you have any questions about how to do any of the steps? Get a laboratory notebook for taking notes and collecting data (see Sample Data Table). … Read more

Background Research Plan for an Engineering Design Project

Project Resource

The Focus of Your Background Research For an engineering design project, you should do background research in two major areas: Users or customers Existing solutions Users or Customers Research your target user or customer. Everything humans design is ultimately for the use of another human. (Think about it— even products designed for animals or plants are first purchased by another human!) Your choice of target user will sometimes have a big impact on your design… Read more

How to Build and Use a Subsonic Wind Tunnel

Project Resource

Introduction This how-to guide provides detailed instructions for construction and use of a subsonic wind tunnel. The wind tunnel is best used for science fair projects in grades 9–12. Figure A. This is an example of the wind tunnel you can make, based on the design and instructions provided in this how-to guide! Did you know that every single plane, helicopter, and spaceship used in America today has been tested in a wind tunnel? A wind… Read more

Sample Size: How Many Survey Participants Do I Need?

Project Resource

In order to have confidence that your survey results are representative, it is critically important that you have a large number of randomly-selected participants in each group you survey. So what exactly is "a large number?" For a 95% confidence level (which means that there is only a 5% chance of your sample results differing from the true population average), a good estimate of the margin of error (or confidence interval) is given by 1/√N, where N is the number of participants or… Read more

Specify Requirements

Project Resource

Design Requirements Design requirements state the important characteristics that your solution must meet to be successful. For example, imagine that your problem statement relates to grocery store bags. You want to design a better grocery store bag--one that uses less expensive material than the paper and plastic bags that already exist. Your design requirements are the important characteristics that your bag must meet to be successful. Based on your problem statement, a successful bag… Read more

Brainstorm Multiple Solutions

Project Resource

Why Create Multiple Solutions? When solving a design problem, there are always many possible good solutions. If you focus on just one before looking at the alternatives, it is almost certain that you are overlooking a better solution. Good designers try to generate as many possible solutions as they can before choosing one that they feel is the best. Even "wild and crazy" design ideas that you end up rejecting might have some pieces that can make other designs better. Read more

Choose the Best Solution

Project Resource

Defining "Best" Once you have created a number of possible solutions to your design problem, you need to choose which one is best. Requirements First, look at whether each possible solution met your design requirements. Consider solutions that did a much better job than others, and reject those that did not meet the requirements. Nice to Haves, Desirables In addition to your design requirements, you probably have some features that would be "nice to have" in your solution. These are things… Read more

Everything You Need to Know About Fonts for Display Boards

Project Resource

The most important objective for your board is to effectively communicate the facts about your project. You can only achieve that objective if it's easy to read. Over the years, expert newspaper editors, as well as advertisers (Ogilvy 1983, 90) have formulated many rules of thumb for readability that we have translated for use on science project display boards. Use a font size of at least 16 points for your main body text. Anything smaller is too hard to read. (See the… Read more

How to Format Your Research Paper

Project Resource

This table describes how to format your research paper using either the MLA or APA guidelines. Be sure to follow any additional instructions that your teacher provides. Swipe left to see more MLA Guidelines APA Guidelines Paper Standard size (8.5 x 11" in the U.S.) Page Margins 1" on all sides (top, bottom, left, right) 1" on all sides (top, bottom, left, right) Font … Read more

How to Solder Electronic Components: Electronics Primer

Project Resource

Overview What is soldering and when should you use it? Soldering is a process in which two or more metal items are joined together by melting and then flowing a filler metal into the joint—the filler metal having a relatively low melting point. Soldering is used to form a permanent connection between electronic components. The metal to be soldered is heated with a soldering iron and then solder is melted into the connection. Only the solder melts, not the parts that are being… Read more

Project Guides (151 results)

Explore Our Science Videos