Science Project Time

Anders has been so excited about doing a Science Project

At his school, they let the third graders have their own science fair, just to let them start getting used to the idea, so they'll be ready for fourth grade.

They don't move on to state or regionals, but it is a lot of fun.

The idea is to pick something simple and just work through the process.

Monsieur Le Science wanted to try some rather complex projects.

He had a very hard time deciding.

I decided to try and persuade him to something a bit more simple --

I used candy.

He started out by making his graph/chart.

Busy sorting one bag at a time.

{Look at Liam smiling just looking at all of that candy, hoping he's going to get at least some of it.}

In case you're thinking I'm finally going up on the good-mommy scale b/c I finally remembered to document something --

You're wrong.

I only remembered b/c we needed to document it for his project.

At least it's something.

He had such a great time with this.

And it was doable (as opposed to some of the very complex electronics experiments and chemical reaction attempts he was looking forward to.)

He started with a question and was then able to come up with a process for how to answer the question.

Then his hypothesis.

He had to figure out supplies and a method.

Then he came up with a few ways to track his results and analyze the data.

His dad taught him about a pie chart and a bar graph and helped him make one on the computer.

He entered in all of the data and learned how to read it.

{Surprisingly, he LOVED the graphs!}

The answer.

Hm. Who knew?

His handwritten chart for tracking his data that he used while he was sorting and counting.

{He opened, sorted, and recorded one bag at a time.}

His fancy graphs.

{He got extra points from the 6th grade judges b/c he had graphs.}

His method.

He ate a surprisingly small number of M&M's b/c he ended up using them on his board.

We had a great time gluing them on.

One student at school had only one comment:

"What a terrible waste of perfectly good candy."

Very funny.

The final board.

Great job Anders!

I'm so proud of you.

Look out b/c next year we're bringing out the big guns.

{And maybe just a few bags of M&M's for old time's sake.}