Indiana State Standards

The following state standards are reinforced through the completion of a Science Fair project:

Standard 1

Nature of Science and Technology
Students design and carry out increasingly sophisticated investigations. They understand the reason for isolating and controlling variables in an investigation. They realize that scientific knowledge is subject to change as new evidence arises. They examine issues in the design and use of technology, including constraints, safeguards, and trade-offs.
Scientific Inquiry
8.1.3 Recognize and describe that if more than one variable changes at the same time in an experiment, the outcome of the experiment may not be attributable to any one of the variables.
The Scientific Enterprise
8.1.4 Explain why accurate record keeping, openness, and replication are essential for maintaining an investigator's credibility with other scientists and society.
8.1.5 Explain why research involving human subjects requires that potential subjects be fully informed about the risks and benefits associated with the research and that they have the right to refuse to participate.
Technology and Science
8.1.8 Explain that humans help shape the future by generating knowledge, developing new technologies, and communicating ideas to others.

Standard 2

Scientific Thinking
Students use computers to organize and compare information. They perform calculations and determine the appropriate units for the answers. They weigh the evidence for or against an argument, as well as the logic of the conclusion.
Computation and Estimation
8.2.2 Determine in what units, such as seconds, meters, grams, etc. an answer should be expressed based on the inputs to the calculation.
Manipulation and Observation
8.2.4 Use technological devices, such as calculators and computers, to perform calculations.
8.2.5 Use computers to store and retrieve information in topical, alphabetical, numerical, and keyword files and create simple files of students own devising.
Communication
8.2.6 Write clear, step-by-step instructions (procedural summaries) for conducting investigations, operating something, or following a procedure.
8.2.8 Use tables, charts and graphs in making arguments and claims in, for example, oral and written presentations about lab or fieldwork.
Critical Response Skills
8.2.9 Explain why arguments are invalid if based on very small samples of data, biased samples, or samples for which these was no control sample.
8.2.10 Identify and criticize the reasoning in arguments in which fact and opinion are intermingled or the conclusions do not follow logically from the evidence given, an analogy is not apt, no mention is made of whether the control group is very much like the experimental group, or all members of a group are implied to have nearly identical characteristics that differ from those of other groups.

Standard 5

The Mathematical World
Students apply mathematics in scientific contexts. Students use mathematical ideas, such as symbols, geometrical relationships, statistical relationships, and the use of key words and rules in logical reasoning, in the representation and synthesis of data.
Numbers
8.5.4 Illustrate how graphs can show a variety of possible relationships between two variables.
8.5.5 Illustrate that it takes two numbers to locate a point on a map or any other two-dimensional surface.
Reasoning and Uncertainty
8.5.6 Explain that a single example can never prove that something is always true, but it could prove that something is not always true.
8.5.7 Recognize and describe the danger of making over-generalizations when inventing a general rule based on a few observations.
8.5.8 Explain how estimates can be based on data from similar conditions in the past or on the assumption that all the possibilities are known.
8.5.9 Compare the mean*, median*, and mode* of a data set.
8.5.10 Explain how the comparison of data from two groups involves comparing both their middles and the spreads.
* mean: the average obtained by adding the values and dividing by the number of values
* median: the value that divides a set of data, written in order of size, into two equal parts
* mode: the most common value in a given data set

Standard 7

Common Themes
Students analyze the parts and interactions of systems to understand internal and external relationships. They investigate rates of change, cyclic changes, and changes that counterbalance one another. They use mental and physical models to reflect upon and interpret the limitations of such models.
Systems
8.7.2 Explain that even in some very simple systems, it may not always be possible to predict accurately the result of changing some part or connection.
Models and Scale
8.7.3 Use technology to assist in graphing and with simulations that compute and display results of changing factors in models.