Philip Said:

What is a good high school engineering science fair project for?

We Answered:

You could try using popcicle sticks and building different bridge designs. You can test the strength by putting a weight (like a book) on it and measuring how much it bends.

Hope this helps.

Johnnie Said:

Engineering Science Fair Project?

We Answered:

Lego robots, Circuits, Write a computer program that does something cool, it all depends on how far you're willing to go.

This year in our ME class, we build robots to play volleyball out of springs, PVC, string and some other things, all under $80. We built one that serves, one that bumps, one that sets and one that spikes.

Paula Said:

Software Engineering Science Fair Project Ideas?

We Answered:

There are a lot of ideas involving cryptography ...
1) you could make an encryptor/decryptor for telephone calls...i.e. an equipment that could be hooked up to your telephone and encrypt calls at caller end and if hooked up at reciever end can decrypt call data sent by sender.

2) Yiou could make web cam based home security system......that coudl trigger an alarm or send you an SMS as soon as it detects the prescnece of some thief.....

Kim Said:

Science Fair: Engineering Project?

We Answered:

Abstract for the science projects I did were formatted this way:

3 paragraphs:

1. purpose: what was the goal of this project.
2. Procedures: BRIEFLY state what you did to accomplish the goal.
3. Conclusions: BRIEFLY state what you learned fromt he project.

Ours had to be less than one page single spaced.

Jacob Said:

Science fair: engineering project format?

We Answered:

I used to do research for the mechanical engineering department at the University of Central Florida. I used to love science fairs when I was younger, and I recently judged one at the state level. Many fairs have specific guidelines on how to organize the board, but I can give you general pointers on the project as a whole.

The main thing about an engineering project is how to make something either optimal or better in some way. Focus in a science fair should be on scientific method, creativity, originality, and knowledge on the subject. Make sure your daughter fully understands the project from beginning to end; judges easily pick up on whether parents did the project for their children. They also pick up on whether the child overly took advantage of special privileges afforded by their parents, such as access to a nuclear power station, etc.

For the scientific method, make sure you're asking a question. In engineering, it's usually something along the lines... "How can I make this better"? Main titles in engineering usually aren't in the form of a question because the purpose is easily guessed. This should probably appear in smaller writing on the top left of your board, though. If your title is "Electromagnets" your purpose might be "To investigate the effects of wire size and coil shape on the magnetic field strength of an electromagnet" or something like that

The next step is the hypothesis. What do you think will happen? "A round coil with thick wire will produce the greatest magnetic field strength."

The next steps are the materials list and the procedure. In actual science research, this is important because other researchers often validate the results of their peers by copying the experiment. Provide enough information so that someone else can produce an exact copy of the whole experiment without speaking with the researcher.

Data is the next step. In the electromagnet example, this might be the number of steel BB's each electromagnet was able to pick up. Be sure a lot of data is taken. This shows that the researcher has a good understanding of the importance of statistics, and it shows they were motivated to be thorough.

Data analysis is next. Most people interpret this as graphs and charts, but it should ideally also include statistical analysis, such as means and standard deviations and whatnot. How data is treated is dependent on the nature of the experiment. In the electromagnet example, one might do a test to check the statistical relevance of the disparity in the means of the various groups to determine the statistical relevance to a difference in the number of BB's picked up.

The conclusion is the second-to-last part of the experiment. You should summarize the important results and discuss them, noting anything in particular that might have come up.

The last part of any good experiment is to plan for continuing studies. In the electromagnet example, one might also want to try various shaft diameters or various voltages.

I can't emphasize enough that the student should know what they're talking about. Thorough knowledge of the underlying physical phenomena is critical to doing well in a science fair, and it's really the biggest reason for it all anyway. If they don't know the science, how can they understand the research? I realize that most people don't become research scientists (or even engineers for that matter), but to teach a kid how to think critically and to be curious about the world around them is important to everybody.