An investigatory project, commonly known as an "experiment," is the typical type of project performed in science fairs and in science classrooms. Investigatory projects seek to pose a testable question, research the question, provide a hypothesis (an educated guess) and test it for validity. Data from the test is recorded, a conclusion is drawn from that data, and those findings are presented for
. review. This process is identical to the process used by professional scientists to test hypotheses regarding everything from social science to astrophysics.A testable question is one which can be easily narrowed down and answered by a single experiment. For example, a question such as, "How are potato chips made?" is too broad to be investigated with a single experiment. However the question, "What brand of potato chip contains the most oil?" is a testable question, as it can be discovered through a single, simple experiment. This experiment could be run by a child as young as 6 or 7 years old using three or four different brands of chips.Research for a testable question like, "What brand of potato chip contains the most oil?" would include reading the back of packages of chips for fat content and ingredient listing, and researching the company's website for nutritional information. A hypothesis for such an experiment would read something like, "I predict that Brand XYZ contains the most oil, because it has a higher fat content than the other three."To test this hypothesis, a single chip of each brand may be placed on separate napkins or paper towels (brown or another dark color is recommended in order to read the results most effectively). Each chip should be left on the napkin overnight, for at least eight hours and no more than 24. In the morning, the oil stain left by each chip should be different depending on the fat content. The napkin with the largest stain contained the chip with the most oil content. If the fair or assignment demands a "control," a graham cracker or other non-fatty food may be placed on its own napkin in order to provide a basis by which to measure the other napkins' oil content.For a listing of other investigatory projects suitable for a science fair, please see: http://www.freesciencefairproject.com/ More reference links: school.discovery.com/sciencefaircentral http://www.freesciencefairproject.com/
