When I was in school we learned that the hypothesis was ‘an educated guess’. In all my science project experience, I’ve yet to run across a better definition. The hypothesis really is just a guess.

Each experiment has one main question being asked. “Which cereal stays crunchiest in milk?” “Which type of insulation works best?” “Which type of soil retains the most water?”

The hypothesis is what your child thinks is the answer to that question. It’s your child’s guess as to what the answer will be. It doesn’t have to be correct. In fact, most of the time, a ‘real’ scientist’s hypothesis is not correct. If they knew the answer, they wouldn’t have to do the experiment in the first place!

When you’re helping your child ‘formulate’ an hypothesis, first of all, simply ask the big question. If your child doesn’t know, simply ask “What do you think? Can you guess?” Then ask, “Why do you think that?”

In the end, your hypothesis should read like this.

“I think that pink insulation will work the best because it is the fluffiest.”
or
“I think that spray insulation will work best because it won’t move around.”
or even
“I think that the paper insulation will work best because it’s the most expensive.”

All of these are correctly stated hypotheses. The experiment may prove that the hypothesis itself was wrong – but learning new things is the fun of science!

24 Hour Science Projects makes it easy for your child to come up with the hypothesis. Go here and get your guides now, and be finished this time tomorrow!

But if you don’t  there are quick and easy science fair projects for kids that are just as good

Science fair season gets into full swing in January and  goes through spring.  Some schools even wait until the end of the year for their science fairs, while others do in the fall, but in general looking for a great science fair project for kids to do begins after the Holidays. It would not be wasting your time to start thinking about it beforehand. Parents can use science fair projects at home in lots of ways, not just for science fair

Start looking early

• Get the project dates and topics when you go to parent conferences in the fall. That will help save some time and energy.
• You don’t have to make a finals decision early, just start looking so when the time comes you have done the ground work and weeded out bad ones and have a stash to choose from.
• By looking for a great science project for kids early, you can be sure to have the supplies on hand.  Sometimes there might be a special ingredient  to order ahead of time.
• For large projects, it give you time to clear some space so when the time comes you don’t have to deal with finding space to do it.  Or at least plan ahead for the time it will take to make space in the garage or basement.

 Read through the entire project before choosing

• You need to know how long it will take before you start.
• You need to see if there are any hard to find materials to start searching for
• You need to double check and make sure the proper steps to  science experiments are followed
• You need to be sure it is the right age level for your child.
• You also need to make sure it is the right type of project, a common mistake.  Is is a demonstration, an experiment or  a collection?

Reality does kick in and lots of time you find yourself kicking yourself for not starting early. If it is the last minute you can still find a great science project for kids, they just need to be quick and easy science fair projects

• In addition to reading the directions for time and odd materials,  check to see if they use common everyday things you already have at home.
• Instant download comes in handy with any last minute science projects for kids, and pre-loaded spreadsheets
• Even simple science fair projects can follow the scientific method and study cool science stuff.
• Directions that are written in kid language help when you are working in a time crunch!

We have had quite a bit success with our 24 Hour Science Projects that are kid tested and teacher approved.  All of our home science projects for kids to use were written for real kids who used them at school and even won awards.  We like they because they not only have the pre-formatted spreadsheets and can be downloaded in an instant, but they also include research links and use the scientific method. Nice and quick and easy science fair projects!

Visit 24 Hour Science Projects today and get your great science project for  kids!

I found myself reading about some cool science project ideas from Google Alerts, as we like to keep track of what is going on in the science fair world, and I found a couple that fit right in with what we teach at 24 hour science projects. The main thing I look for is that if they are quick and easy projects to do, and use common every day things you can find around the house.

One of the things we try to get across is that easy to do does not mean simple science. You can find some advanced science concepts that many people never quite get, but since the projects use things you find at home or a quick trip to the local store, that are easy to organize and do. Some of these can be done is as little asn one day and others take a little more time

Here are summaries of the three cool science fair projects I found from this past season:

• Looking at mold and different kinds of bread: This is good because there are a variables you could zone in on to study mold. The ingredients are simple as can be, but you will need to do this over a period of days or weeks to keep track of the progress of the mold. Different bread types, temperatures, what you put on it, preservatives are just some of a long list of things you could study.

• Magnetizing seeds to see if they germinate faster: You can read the details from the link, but this was cool because it came from a grandmothers old wives tail, about magnetizing the seeds they used back on the farm. This is another one that is simple to do, easy to record the data, but will take some time, to watch the germination.

• Which paper towel is more absorbent: This would be a true 24 hour project because you can almost instantly judge how much water different brands of paper towel really absorb., or if single or double layered or ply make a difference, and even compare it to towels or sponges or whatever you want. Again, there are many variables you can test out with this kind of project, so as an idea starter

Notice that in our minds, these are cool science fair projects because each one of them uses common everyday household items like a stop watch, paper towels, bread, or magnets. Believe it or not you will notice that your kids tend to get more “in” projects when they can go rummaging in your cabinets and closets and find what they need themselves!

When you are dealing with a last minute project, where you don’t have much time you can find some really cool science fair projects that still use the scientific principles teachers require!

Grab your cool science fair projects with our kid tested and teacher approved 24 Hour Science Projects with this link.

Knowing how your science fair project is going to be judged can be really helpful as you know the things that they will be looking for as they go around judging a science fair project.

Here is how judging a science fair works in most elementary school science fairs:

A rubric is developed based on the goals and the specific  points in the assignment.

Usually this involves five different areas, that cover the whole process, not just the final presentation.  So the early steps of making a science fair project get equal credit

Example of what five areas a science project will be judged on:

• Hypothesis- Is it written to reflect a specif goal and one variable?

• The experiment  itself- Were the directions followed, were there at least three trials were the steps followed clearly listed.

• Conclusion drawn from data- did the conclusion come directly from the results and not from what you “know” already

• Display board-  neatness, readability, organization of display board.

• Oral Presentation or Written Report- did the report follow the format given,  the right length, grammar, spelling etc.

Each teacher or school will have specific elements they are looking for for each step, or they might choose five different things to judge their science fair.

Scoring

Each step is worth 5 points-  so you get a score of 1-5 on eaach element.
A perfect score would be 25 points.

Sometime different people judge different part.  Like one person would judge the displays while the language Arts teacher might grade the report teacher, and a team of judges would divvy up the other three.

Some school use three judges who judge the whole project and the average of the three scores is used.  So If one student got 25 points from one, 23 from another and 22 from a third the total would be 70, divide by 3 and you get a  23.33 for your average

Other schools use the same rubric, but it is what the teacher uses to give the project a grade, and there is not real judging or prizes awarded. A good science fair project will have all the elements there and ready to go.

Before worrying about judging a science fair, you need a great project that is kid tested and teacher approved!

We have  lots  great projects  through this link, some can be finished in one day!

http://www.24hourscienceprojects.com/ezGaffurl.php?offer=s7n17y&pid=2&tid=co081611

Recently, Google sponsored their first ever Science Fair and since they are Google, they were able to get plenty of great sponsors like National Geographic,Scientific American, Lego, and CERN, the European Organization for Nuclear Research. The age range for this event was 13-18 so there was plenty of room for grade 8 science fair projects as they fall into the age range.
Before you think that regular every day kids could never end up at Google, I want to share with you what the 13-14 year old division winners did for an 8th grade project, as proof that quick and easy science fair projects are just as good as the more complicated ones, and in fact they may even help you learn better science and win some awards to boot.

Here is the scoop about the 13-14 age group:

Lauren Hodge, from the USA, won the 13- and 14-year-old age group with her project about marinating chicken. Really! Her hypothesis was that using lemon juice in the marinade will decrease the amount of carcinogens released when cooking the chicken. See what I mean, a simple concept. It all boils down sometimes to how scientific the experiment was. In fact when you look at the Google  judging criteria, it should look very familiar, as it is based on the steps to the scientific method to a tee.

Here is a brief look at how Google ran their science fair, and really it is a lot like any middle school science fair you are used, to, except bigger rewards, a a lot more people.

They divided the entries into groups, 13-14 year olds, 15-16 year olds and 17-18 year olds, that came from all over the world. There were initially 7,500 projects entered, but not in a live science fair, their project write ups and a video presentation were submitted. Then a panel of teachers went through and rated each project initially on the powerpoint/video presentation, and then as they whittled it down on eight different scientific criteria, which ended up with 60 semi-finalists. The process continued until the top 15 were flown to the Googleplex where they presented their projects to an all-star panel of judges.

For the complete news article on this topic click here. http://news.cnet.com/8301-11386_3-20078967-76/whip-smart-whippersnappers-at-google-science-fair/#ixzz1T7YnER49

Guess what was the make or break piece of the power point/videos?  Which is what they used for the first cut….If the question, hypothesis and conclusion were clearly stated. Understanding and applying the scientific method is the core of all grade 8 science fair projects, and all other grades to boot!

With your local science fairs, that are also split into age levels, and the judges will be looking for the same eight criteria as the Google judges, which is all about how well you represent each step of the scientific method, and your enthusiasm, interest, research and quality of the display. Often the top middle school winners go onto a regional science fair, other places it is just self contained.

Now the 13-14 year olds won $25, 000 scholarship money, which a normal school could never do, and the top prize was $50,000. They also got the chance to do cool things the business partners brought with them, but the point is each one of these winning and often simple science fair projects started off in their own school science fair as won the opportunity to go further to regional fairs. At some point they decided or were encouraged to submit to the Google Science Fair.

So you never know how far your grade 8 science fair projects can take you!

Ready to WIN your next Science Fair? Get award winning grade 8 science fair projects that can be done one weekend! Click here!

Most science fairs expect the project to be investigatory in nature. Luckily, they are more fun and easiest kind to do. These follow along exactly in the steps of the scientific method: Observe, Question, Hypothesis, Experiment, Results. These experiments are the ones where you pose a question, then do a quick investigation which will prove or disprove your theory. These could be fun things like comparing the amount of citrus or Vitamin C in different fruits, timing how long it takes ice to melt in different scenarios, or you might see if the amount of whole wheat affects how long it takes bread to turn to toast. Older students might look at things closer to their interests, like seeing which hair products leaves the least residue, finding out how many germs are on their cell phones or putting pretty much anything in a box and dropping it from a high place, like a roof.

Another kind ofone day, home science projects for kids might involve a demonstration. These are more likely to be part of a class project and not part of a full science fair. For these you are demonstrating how to do something or showing the effect one thing has on another. Demonstrating what happens when you pouring a carbonated drink on a rusty battery, or how to make a solar tea cup heater would fit this category. This is where you will find kids pouring two liquids together to get purple smoke or create some kind of gooey ooze.

These short investigations or demonstrations can provide some oddball and fun looks at things we use everyday. Food is a popular topic and keeps the kids interest, particularly if the project can be eaten when finished! When you are given the opportunity to do a simple one day science fair project, take advantage of it and make it a fun and different twist to the things we see and use every day. Science fair projects can be such a great learning tool!

Here are some great home science project  ideas that are designed to use everyday things and can be completed in 24 hours, or a weekend.

Get Your Home Science Projects for Kids Guides HERE

A special thanks to Sue Gnagy Fegan for her contribution of this science project article.

The best thing was the kids, and parents, were just having fun, but were using their understanding of science and how a good experiment works, and were not even aware that is what they were doing?

1. Where you set up and put your stuff totally depends on the tides and understanding how far it came up yesterday, the weather patterns of today.
2. When you jump waves, or use your boogie board, it is one massive experiment to learn to judge the best time to jump or ride the wave in. As the day goes on, from your “experiment” you get better at it!
3. Building a sand castle, or a wall, or anything in the sand is a lesson in architecture principles and the art of a good foundation. Nobody tells the kids to shore up the bottom, they figure it out.  Have you ever listened to the chatter amongst kids as they work together on one of those things?  Try this,  lets do that..  such cool science experiments they don’t even know they are doing!
4. All it takes is one storm to see what erosion can do, the beach near me has dunes half the size of two years ago due to huge storms.  The signs about the importance of beach grass to the dunes is living example of science!
5. Even without the storm just standing in one place in the water shows you eroision  as your feet sink deeper and the sand move around you.s
6. We learn about the difference between onshore and ocean breezes and why we prefer the ocean breeze… yes it is cooler, but it also keeps the black biting flies away!
7. Once July comes the sea nettles show up which is a whole new topic to learn about, but in the meantime you can find all sorts of little creatures and the shells of creatures and gain some more insight.
8. Hydration becomes the topic of converstaion and you feel your body needing water and how fast it loses it in the heat. I don;t know about you but youy experiment with bringing frozen watr bottle, water coolers filled with ice, should you use sugar drinks or not all become science experiments.
9. Reflection of light becomes a topic to learn about for a couple of things, that famous sunburn on the back of your legs from the water, how hot the sand gets, wearing light colors and which umbrellas keeps the sun out the best.
10. Finally, if you are lucky you will get to watch some dolphins swim up and down the shoreline, and that is just plain cool.

There are some cool science experiments  that you could use at home this summer just as a fun activity. Science really is going on all around you, and kids really are interested!

Try these demonstration project ideas,

for a quick, summer project that can be done in a day….

What we are talking about when trying to give an explanation of the scientific method is the steps or the process any scientist from the very youngest kids to the pros in their labs use to make their results valid.  Everyone  uses the  same steps, the difference is as you get older you will spend more time at each step and the science gets more exact and detailed. Anyone who follows these steps in the process, should end up with logical conclusions.

Explanation of the Scientific Method For Parents

Observation

Questions

Hypotheses

Experimentation

Results.

In school they will drill these terms, what you need to do is help them make sense.

(if you are unsure yourself, you can get our FREE parent guide that goes into more detail about  this and lots more  here. )

Here is What I do to Explain complicated vocabulary:

I found that helps  to turn it into a story and just use common everyday life as the plot.  It is one of the best ways to make things click- hook the familiar to the unfamiliar. Believe it or not one key step to comprehension is hooking whatever you are trying to remember to something out of the box.  Think about it  people use all sorts of odd systems to remember names and directions.  A story  does the same kind of thing.  For most kids remembering a story is easier than rote memorizing vocabulary. The you remember the story,  the story triggers  words.

Here is a sample idea of a story and the scientific method: car pool!

Tell a story about a mother who wanted to find the quickest way or the fewest red lights.  So you start off with the mom observing some days it goes faster than others and then come up with some questions she would ask and then have her come up with a prediction (hypothesis) about If she does this one plan  say the time you leave the house, will it make a difference. So you experiment and keep track to the times for a week or so and your results will tell you.  The story is all the conversation the mom and the kids have, who gets to use the stop watch, who writes down the times and of course throw in some silliness as you go  and then they will remember the story, the also describes the steps.

Once you get the hang of this, you will realize that everyday people use these same steps in every day problem solving. When the iPod doesn’t work, you experiment with batteries, recipes try different  tricks for tasting better (my husband swears pizza crust needs honey ), trying eco friendly laundry detergents to see if it is just as good, or what you do to grow the biggest tomatoes, all will basically use  the same steps to come up with a conclusion.

It is important that you don’t wait to the last minute to teach the vocabulary as the chances are the your great science project for kids will end up being a last minute hing, or at least in a time crunch.

Once you get the explanation of the scientific method down,  Click here for 5 fast, easy, and winning experiments!

Here are five reasons why I love this kind of teaching tool:

1) I love one day science fair projects because they break up the boring pencil and paper routine.

Reason: You do not want students to get turned off about your subject because it is all books and paperwork. Students that come home with a pile of books, and all of them require basically the same thing, read and answer questions, does not instill a love of learning in most kids. Having hands-on projects gives them something to look forward to and builds excitement.

2) I love these one day science fair projects because they are short and sweet, with easy to follow directions.

Reason: You want to keep the attention of the students, and long drawn out complicated projects sometime lose their appeal. Having shorter, easy to follow projects that can be completed in one classroom period or in one evening as homework ends up being a nice neat package with a higher probability of success.

3) I love one day science fair projects because they encourage independent work habits.

Reason: In this instant world, kids expect things to be handed to them, and expect answers to instantly appear. A project where they must do something first, have a process to follow and gather the results themselves, and draw their own conclusions, will help build patience and independence, both great work habits to acquire.

4) I love one day science fair projects because they are perfect thing for parents to have access to on those nights their child comes home and tells them they have an experiment due tomorrow.

Reason: Having access to quality science projects that can be downloaded immediately, and have complete, easy to follow directions, with built in spreadsheets for data entry that can be transformed into cool charts, will save the night for both parent and child!

5) I love one day science fair projects because they are hands-on, active, and multisensory, which is one of the best approaches to teaching ever.

Reason: Whether you call it motor memory, or hands on learning, or multisensory, what you are doing is bringing together, seeing, hearing, and doing into one learning experience. The memory of the lesson learned will be much stronger than if they were just to read it in a book.

“It is no good knowing about the taste of strawberries out of a book.” (Aldous Huxley) reflects the theme behind multisensory approach to teaching. Teachers that create an active, hands-on learning environment will create lessons that will be remembered forever. Science teachers who use one day science fair projects regularly will may end up helping to create independent thinkers that actually like science.

Here is a link to a great digital resource for simple, easy to follow 24 hour science projects, weekend projects and demonstration projects. Often these digital products cost less than what you would pay for a pizza.

One Day Science Fair Projects – Step by Step Blueprints for Students and Parents – http://24hourscienceprojects.blogspot.com

Find some great Middle School Science Projects too! http://24hourscienceprojects.blogspot.com

My name is Sue Gnagy Fegan and I used a structured, sequential multisensory teaching approach for the past 34 years. I saw first hand the benefits of engaging students in productive, hands on activities to make learning more meaningful and more fun.

Science Projects can be fun and easy, as well as educational! Click here for more information!

Here are seven fun ways that these easy, one day science fair projects can be used at home with your kids.

One: Weekend Wondering- Create a the pattern that on the weekends, when everyone has more time, you will take time to explore the rest of the world. This is a great time to use a simple science fair project, to bake or to use woodworking blueprints to build something out of wood.

Two: Babysitter Bonus- Having something organized to do when a teenage babysitter comes will give them something constructive to do with the kids and lessen the mischief kids try to create when their parents are away.

Three: Snow Day- Probably not the first snow day of the season, but a winter with multiple snow days will find you looking for something to keep the kids occupied. Some 24 hour science projects might be just the thing, especially if you can find one where you use the snow as part of the activity!

Four: Sleep Over Savior- A quick,easy science fair project could be the perfect activity for a group of bubbly active kids who descend upon your house for a sleep over. Busy hands equals less mischief.

Five: Fever Fun- You are not allowed to send your child back to school until the fever has been gone for 24 hours. So 24 hour science fair projects might be just the thing to keep them occupied on that day they are better, but not allowed back in school.

Six: Vacation Variety- Whether it is a short school break or the longer summer break, boredom will set in. If you can’t get the kids to work on the school work sent home, you might be able to get them interested in a cool science fair project for kids.

Seven: Holiday Happenings- There are interesting one day science fair projects that involve common things associated with the holidays. A project around chocolate for Valentine’s Day or the calories in eggnog at Christmas would be a fun addition to your holiday fun.

As you can see, parents can use 24 hour science projects in all kinds of ways to keep their children occupied with things that do not involve electronic devices. Having a supply on hand of one day science fair projects will keep your kids interested in the world around them and occupied in these common situations

Here is a link to a great digital resource for simple, easy to follow 24 hour science projects, weekend projects and demonstration projects. Often these digital products cost less than what you would pay for a pizza.
One Day Science Fair Projects
Step by Step Blueprints for Students and Parents

http://24hourscienceprojects.blogspot.com

Find some quality Middle School Science Projects too!

http://24hourscienceprojects.blogspot.com

My name is Sue Gnagy Fegan and I used a structured, sequential multisensory teaching approach for the past 34 years. I saw first hand the benefits of engaging students in productive, hands on activities to make learning more meaningful and more fun.

Don’t want your Science Project to be a nuisance? Want to have a good time with science? Click Here!