|
THE 2005 HOMESCHOOL
CREATION SCIENCE FAIR
When? Saturday, April 30,
from 9:00 A.M. until 12:00 P.M.
Where? The Teacher Education Building at Liberty
University. The Homeschool Creation Science Fair will be
conducted during the Central Virginia Home Educators
Conference.
Who? Any homeschooled child grades K – 12 who has an
interest in finding out more about God’s wonderful
creation through a science project! The entries will be
placed into the competition to be judged only if the
student desires to (although most do). Entries will be
separated into different age groups.
What is a science fair project? The only criteria for
choosing a science fair project is that it must follow
the scientific method. The scientific method is a
step-by-step way of performing a science experiment so
that the outcome of the experiment is fairly accurate.
The scientific method flows like this:
-
You see or think of
something that interests you, and you form a
hypothesis. The hypothesis is the first step, and is
an “educated guess” or your way of explaining what you
have observed or what you think will happen if you try
something. Hint: A good hypothesis is narrow –
repeatable and quantifiable.
-
Next you design your
experiment. This means you decide what to do in order
to test and see if your hypothesis (which is your
educated guess) is right. Then you perform your
experiment, several times if necessary, to see what
happens! You will need to record exactly what you did
in your experiment. This is called your procedure.
-
Now you write down the
results of your experiment. You may use a chart, a
graph, or even pictures to show your results. The
results are what happened with your experiment. You
need to be as clear and specific as possible in
recording your results (answer any of the following
that apply: who, what where, when, how). If your
experiment takes several days or weeks to develop, you
will need to keep a log or journal of your
observations during that time.
-
The last step is the
conclusion. This is the part where you tell whether or
not your hypothesis was right. Did your experiment
support your hypothesis, or did it show that your
hypothesis was wrong? The great news is, that part
doesn’t matter! Science is a process, and often we are
wrong before we are right! So if you were wrong,
please include in your conclusion what the possible
error was. In your conclusion you also tell what you
have learned from this project. Also acknowledge who
helped you and what they did.
-
At this point we would
encourage you to tell us how your project relates to
God’s creation. Is there a scripture verse that comes
to mind? Does your project show something of God’s
nature (his awesomeness, his perfection, his sense of
humor…)? After all, God created the world and all that
is in it, He placed the laws of nature into motion,
and He holds it all together! It is our privilege, as
science lovers, to have such a wonderful creation to
study, and to have such an amazing Creator to give the
glory to!
What kinds of projects
are there? All science fair projects will be placed into
one of
the following categories:
-
Life science (projects
relating to living organisms)
-
Earth science (projects
relating to rocks, minerals, crystals, volcanoes,
etc.)
-
Physical/Chemical
science (projects relating to physics or chemistry,
such as rocketry, chemical reactions, inventions,
etc.)
Entries will only be in
competition with entries from the same category of
science.
How can you learn more about doing a science fair
project? There are many resources at the local libraries
that can be very helpful. They give instructions for
setting up a time-table to keep you on track, they give
suggestions for record-keeping and setting up your
display, and even contain many examples of science fair
projects.
When do I need to register? Registrations for the
Homeschool Creation Science Fair must be made by April
1, 2005. Entries received after this date will not be
accepted.
How much does it cost to register? There is a $3.00 fee
per entry, with a maximum fee
of $9.00 per family.
How do I register? To register fot the Creation Science
Fair, contact
Patti Goff at (540) 587-9083 (daytime hours) or
spcgoff@yahoo.com,
or Susan Fournier at(434) 929-2219 or
foursusan@netzero.com. |
