The art of winning science fair projects
How to use charts!
Why is this page called – The art of winning science fair projects? To explain this point check out the following table:
Right, now check out this chart:
Yup, this is data from the same monitoring of laboratory fridge and freezer temperatures. The table shows the raw data, and the chart shows the same data in picture form.
What is going to be more informative and easier to interpret? Which option is going to be more effective in winning science fair projects?
Let’s face it, if you used the raw data to explain the results of your project you are likely to have a pile of sleeping bodies in front of you by the time you have finished. But give them the overall picture in a brightly colored and clear chart … different story!!
So now that you understand why charts are a vital tool in the art of winning science fair projects, let’s make sure you know how to use that tool…
Which chart do I use?
This sounds like a simple question, but often the wrong chart is used. What happens then is that the results are not as clear and when the questions start being asked it becomes difficult or impossible to use the chart as a reference to answer them.
In this situation, winning science fair projects becomes a little bit more difficult.
So here are the guidelines…
There are 3 main types of chart that can be used:
Line chart / Trend
No, a trend is not the latest fashion or walking style introduced by the star of the latest blockbuster movie (well it is, but not in this situation). A trend is something that happens over time.
The “something that happens” is the other
variable
in the experiment or survey. This is the “thing” that is going to be measured and that is affected by time.
Examples
How long does it take in minutes for water to heat up to boiling point on an open fire as compared to in an electric kettle?
How many days does it take for a liter of water to evaporate out of a bowl left in the sun?
How has the population of the world grown in the last century?
How many seconds does it take for my Ferrari F40 to reach 100km/h?
Staring to get the picture? OK, so here is the data and chart for the last example of my Ferrari:
OK, so it isn't quite a Ferrari, and there is no way it will win a drag race, but by following the example above, winning science fair projects may become a reality for you!
Rules
The time is always on the X-axis.
The variable is always on the Y-axis.
Bar chart
The bar chart is used when comparisons have been made. There is always a
constant
and a variable.
Examples
How do the heights of the boys in the class compare?
What is the rainfall for each of the months for the past year?
How many insect species do you find in various habitats?
How many burgers do each of my kids eat in one year?
Here is the burger example:
No guess who the healthy eater is and who enjoys a bit of beef between two bits of bread! And this is much easier to see from the chart than from the table, not so?
Rules
The constant always goes on the X-axis (in this case the constant is the children, they will always be the same.)
The variable always goes on the Y-axis (the number of burgers eaten next year will be different to the number eaten this year.)
Pie chart
This type of chart is also used for comparing, however, the difference between it and a bar chart is that the results are changed to percentages and plotted as such.
Also, you will find aspects or characteristic being tested can be grouped into a certain number of definite categories.
This type of chart is very useful for surveys.
Examples
What percentage of winning science fair projects have used graphs? (Categories would be those winning projects with graphs and those without.)
Hair color of students in a class (categories could be brown, black, blond, red etc.).
Number of cars per family (categories could be none, one, two, three, more than three).
Do the people questioned own a yellow fluffy toy that resembles a giraffe on steroids (categories would be yes and no).
Ok, we are going to go with the third example above as the fluffy iron pumping giraffe option would not give a very interesting chart and definitely won't help in winning science fair projects!
Rules
Each of the category's results must be worked out as a percentage of the total (which is worked out from all the categories results added up). Do not plot the actual results, unless the total adds up to 100 (which is not common).
To work out how to plot the graph, take each of the results as a percentage and multiply it by 3,6. These figures are the degrees of the circle and all together should add up to 360. You will need to use a protractor to split up the circle into the different results.
The easy option
To draw charts the old fashion way using a pencil and ruler is perfectly acceptable, however, with programs such as Microsoft Excel and Corel Quattro Pro, it is much quicker and easier to produce good looking charts and might just give you the edge in winning science fair projects.
If you are not familiar with a program such as this, it would be a good idea to spend some time looking at how to make charts using them.
Some tips
The thing with charts is that they are there to make the results easy to see. So if you produce a chart and then decide to spice it up with a whole stack of colors and flashy neon lights, it sort of defeats the point of having it in your display.
The most important thing that a chart must do is display the results clearly and simply.
Here are some guidelines:
Choose your chart
Obviously the first thing is to choose the correct chart for your results. Check out the options above.
Get the info the right way up
If you are using a line or bar chart, make sure you have the variables / constants on the correct axes (check out the rules for line charts or bar charts).
If you are using a pie chart, make sure that what you are plotting is the percentage and not just the result (again, check out the rules).
Colors
For line and bar charts - keep it simple! Do not use many different colors. Stick to one clear color that works well with the background color of the chart. Red on yellow is good, yellow on green is not good. Play around, but make sure the important parts are visible.
The only time you would use more than one color for a bar or line chart is when you are plotting different series of results on the same chart (see this chart for an example of where different colors can be used).
Pie charts obviously need different colors for the different categories. Stay away from confusing patterns. Clear, contrasting colors are good. Do not put a pastel green and a pastel yellow next to each other. Red next to blue is good.
Headings and labels
Each chart should have a clear, short heading.
Each axis needs a clear label and where applicable include the units for what is being measured (for example, Time (seconds), Distance (miles), Volume (milliliters) etc.).
Size
No one should have to use binoculars to view your chart. In fact, they should be able to stand at a distance of 2 meters and be able to read clearly what is happening on the chart.
At the same time, it is not necessary to fill an entire display board with a chart. People may think you are filling up space and don't have anything else that is useful to put there!
Follow these basic guidelines and winning science fair projects will become just a little easier.
Click here for some other tips for winning science fair projects.
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