In the guide, you’ll find information on the five types of science projects. There is also a section on the scientific method. One of the most popular (and needed!) parts of the guide is the definitions section. The final part of the guide give you hints on the presentation, and how to make a great science board.

If you need a science project guide for an elementary student, there is another free one available at 24 Hour Science Projects!

Whatever you need for your science project, we’ll help you find it! We have project guides, links to science kits, and all sorts of free science project guide resources so you can have the best science project ever!

PS Need to be finished by this time tomorrow? We’ve got 24 Hour project guides at Middle School Science Project guides.

1. Observation – Looking at something in the world. Watching things closely makes you curious about why or when or how something happens. That leads to the next step…

2. Question – Wondering about what you see in the world. The questions that come up during your observations are the second step of the scientific method.

3. Hypothesis – A guess at the answer to the question. An hypothesis is an “educated guess”. You take what you already know about the subject and use it to guess the answer to your question. You could be right. You could be wrong. It doesn’t matter, because you’re going to find out in the next step…

4. Experimentation – Testing your hypothesis. You come up with an experiment to find out the answer to your question. This is the trickiest part of the scientific method, because an experiment has to be designed with controls and variables in place. (Here’s an explanation of the strange vocabulary!)

5. Results – The answer to the question. When the experiment is complete, your question will be answered, and you’ll have your results!

It looks complicated, but it is really a simple process that we use every day to understand and solve problems in the world around us. Like this: Suppose you observe that your DS isn’t working. You’ll ask yourself the question “What’s wrong with my DS?!” Then you’ll come up with a couple of ideas, or hypotheses: “The battery could be dead, the game could be dirty, or maybe the baby dropped it into the toilet.” So you’ll check the battery, take out the game and blow out the dust, then check for signs of dried Cheerios and wet spots. These experiments will hopefully lead you to the result, and you’ll know why your DS wasn’t working.

PS All of our Middle School Science Projects follow the scientific method! Grab your copy today HERE and you can be finished with your project by this time tomorrow!

Since we’ve started this latest batch of projects, we’ve had two go awry. As in major science project FAIL. One was testing to see which pH liquid makes seeds germinate the best. Knowing that you can’t always get seeds – it depends on the season – I tested various dry beans from the grocery store. You put them on a damp paper towel in a zip lock bag, stick them in the window, and they sprout. And they did when I tested them.

Unfortunately, they did not fare so well when I started the science experiment. In fact, not one seed germinated. So I threw out the project. After all, we want our projects to be fail proof!

But we found another one; in fact, it’s an even cooler science project – and I’m even more excited about it! Rest assured, the Middle School Science Projects that make it to the package will work!

PS The projects in our 24 Hour Science Project guide are perfect for Middle School, too. If you don’t have time to wait for our Middle School package to be completed, grab one of these, and be finished by this time tomorrow! Get Your 24 Hour Science Project Guides HERE!

So then we thought about tape. First, I used medical tape, because it’s white and you can write on it. (It’s important to label your variables.) But the medical tape didn’t hold the hair; it just slipped out. Regular cellophane tape wasn’t successful either. But finally, we found a great solution. But you’ll have to get the middle school guide to find out!

Designing an experiment often involves experimenting with the experiment. It can take a long time to find out what works and what doesn’t. When you have a due date looming, you don’t have time on your side. But don’t worry. We’ll have all the kinks worked out of the hair project (pun intended!) when it is published. Our goal is to take the guesswork out for your family, so that you’ll have a step by step list for a science project that works!

PS Right now we’re kicking around titles for our science project about hair – “Hair Today, Gone Tomorrow”, “Splitting Hairs”, “Hair Conditioning”, and other less catchy attempts. Leave a comment below if you have any ideas!