Science project handbook

EPA has created a Quality Assurance Toolkit to help organizations starting or growing a citizen science project. This Handbook for Citizen Science Quality Assurance and Documentation is for organizations that are starting or growing a citizen science project, and where transparency in the scientific methods for collecting the data are central to the outcome of the project.

The Handbook has two companion documents, Examples and Templates. We have provided a Word version of the templates to allow you to customize them. The Handbook explains the purpose of each of the templates. The Templates provide instructions, tables and questions, and the Examples provide specific examples of quality assurance documentation. Together, these documents will help your organization complete a Quality Assurance Project Plan and provide information for data users to evaluate the quality of data collected by citizen scientists.

You may also want to contact federal, state, local, tribal, or other organizations for more assistance or guidance. This Word version allows you to customize the templates. Please keep in mind that you are responsible for your own editing.

Use the Templates with the Handbook and Examples document. In 18 minutes, these training videos walk citizen scientists through the main concepts of the EPA QA Handbook to help them develop a project plan—a key step to producing quality data that can answer environmental and public health questions.

Orientation Guide: The orientation guide for government agencies can be used alongside the training videos, fact sheets and webinars to help provide agencies, laboratories and citizen science groups with information, strategies and resources to collaboratively develop a project plan using the EPA QA Handbook.

Variable: The factor or condition in the experiment which the student changes on purpose. All other factors in the Experiment which the student attempts to keep the same. These conditions should be controlled so they do not change. Measurements should be included whenever possible, even if the student has to create a form of measuring such as Jane's Rust Scale 1 - Repetition of the experiment provides more convincing results.

Results are often displayed in the form of tables, graphs, photographs, etc. A form will be provided by the teacher when the abstract is due. Display: Specific requirements and suggestions for making the display will be sent home at a later date. Research Report: Contains all of the above information with a Table of Contents.

The student should use the formal writing procedure and be as neat as possible. Biochemistry: proteins, DNA, enzymes, food chemistry, photosynthesis. Botany: plants, plant pathogens, plant genetics, algae. Chemistry: fuels, pesticides, soil chemistry. Earth and Space Science: rocks, minerals, astronomy, oceanography, weather. Engineering: power transmission, electronics, heating, aeronautics. Mathematics: statistics, logic, probability, number theory. Medicine and Health: drugs, pathology, sanitation, allergies.

Microbiology: bacteria, viruses, protozoa, fungi. Physics: acoustics, magnetism, electricity, light. Zoology: animals, circadian rhythms, physiology. Ask adults for Ideas.

Look through scientific magazines. Ask science teachers for topic lists. Look in the library at experiment books. Read books and newspapers. Look for problems that need to be solved Look for a product that you think should be tested Think of a question that you would like answered from a survey. Of course, use the WWW!! The required forms must be completed and approved before starting any experiment. Forms are available from your science teacher or school science fair director.

Students should keep all original forms and only turn in copies. The research Report is placed on the floor of the project. In this report you can go into much more detail than is shown on the display. Include more pictures and more written details which you learned from reading or talking to professionals in your experiment. Also include any materials you sent away for or newspaper articles. The entire Research Report should be typed or written neatly in manuscript form.

Results are paragraphs summarizing this same information. This notebook is NOT to be recopied. It should be displayed in your original handwriting. The pages are all numbered and you record the date you did the work. The Data Notebook should be placed on the table in front of your display. This will be checked during the qualifying of your project before any judging takes place.

It must stand by itself. Plywood, pressed board, heavy weight cardboard, Styrofoam sheets would be a good choice. Assemble any sections with hinges or strong wide tape. Contest rules give the following maximum dimensions: 4 feet wide cm ; 9 feet from the floor cm ; and 30 inches deep 76 cm. Table height is 76 cm from the floor. Your display may be smaller than this, but will be disqualified if any larger. If your backboard needs painting, an enamel paint works best. Choose contrasting colors for lettering.

Also choose contrasting colors for mounting your pictures, written material and graphs. Lettering may be cut out of construction paper or poster board and attached to the blackboard. Vinyl lettering comes in various sizes and colors and may be used on the display. NOTE: Before attaching anything to your backboard, place your board flat on the floor and lay out all the lettering and written material, graphs, pictures, etc.

DO NOT attach anything until you are sure that you have room for everything and that all of your material looks neat and centered. This is based on what you learned while gathering information on your background. This should be in an "If Labeled and mounted pictures are a valuable asset. DATA: Graphs and charts summarizing data collected throughout the experiment. This is an overall summary of words about your project.

It should explain what the researcher was trying to do, what actually happened, and of what significance are the actual findings. Use the words the researcher, the investigator, or the exhibitor and write the abstract in the past tense. Do not use "I" or "you. Do NOT leave it with the display. This is where you should take pictures during your experimentation. Type single spaced in black. Use 1. The abstract is a summary of your project which should include, in paragraph form: A statement of the hypothesis Methods and Procedures what you did Observations, results, conclusions, and other important information about measurements, predictions, variables, etc.

Include interviews. List 3 or 4 of your main sources and include the complete list in your report. Both are good. Did you show ingenuity in the materials, apparatus and techniques or did you just buy a kit? Did you demonstrate the ability to improvise and adapt?

Is the project a collection, is it a purposeful one? Weight is given to the likely amount of real study and effort represented in the exhibit.