What is A Bird’s Eye View?

A bird’s-eye view is a view from above, as though the observer were a bird.

The colorful, quirky watercolor shown is how artist Amanda Hamilton imagines a Bird’s Eye View of St. Ives Harbor.

An overview of anything, including a science project can be called a bird’s eye view.

A Bird’s Eye View of a Science Fair Project

A science fair project is an investigation that uses the scientific method as a tool to discover the answer to a science problem.

Following is an example of an overview for the requirements of developing a science fair project. This is not meant to be a complete science fair guide Instead, it provides basic information about the processes needed to design and develop a science fair project.

While the topic selected, the Moon, would be listed in the category of astronomy, the same basic procedure steps would be used for projects in any science category.

Project Overview (Bird’s Eye View)

Before you start your project, acknowledge that you are preparing an entry for a contest that has rules. One preliminary rule is that your science fair project must represent the work that you do this year.
There are other science fair project rules that must be followed. Ask your teacher or science fair director for a complete list of the rules that apply to fair you are entering.

Research

“Tinkering” research is the first type of research to be done, and it is just what it says–you are tinkering around with different ideas. Begin by reading different printed science publications, asking questions of knowledgeable people, and checking out information on the Web. You can also performing exploratory investigations about topics that interest you, such as those found in my books (Janice VanCleave’s science experiment books.) From your research, decide on a topic that you want to discover more information about.

I am picking the Moon for this example.

Project research, when you have a topic but aren’t yet sure what kind of problem you can solve, is the next kind of research to be done.

The topic is the Moon. Now information needs to be found about this celestial body, such as:

The Moon’s rate of rotation (turning of a body about its axes — imaginary line through the center of a body).

The Moon’s revolution (one turn of a body about its orbit — a curved path about another body).

This information can be found in astronomy books, periodicals, on the web as well as other printed sources.

As you research, write down inquiry questions, such as these:

1. How do lunar rotation and revolution rates compare? (Lunar is a term that pertains to the Moon.)
2. How does Earth’s rotation affect lunar motion?

Project Problem
Select one of the inquiry questions, and then decide whether it can be your science fair question. Do this by asking yourself these questions about the inquiry question:

1. Is it about animals? If the answer is yes, you will need to check with your teacher about the rules for working with animals.
2. Does it compare products? If the answer is yes, check with your teacher to make sure product comparison is an acceptable project. While some local fairs have a special section for product comparisons, others may not allow them.
2. Can you state a hypothesis for the question? If the answer is no, then reword the question or select another one.
3. Can the question be answered experimentally with measurable results?

Could either of the two sample inquiry question be used as a project questions?

1. “How do lunar rotation and revolution rates compare?” UUM! You could get this information from reading sources, but there are ways to experimentally determine the answer. OK! This would be be OK.

2. ” How does Earth’s rotation affect the motion of the Moon?”
As with question 1, the answer can be obtained from printed sources.

If you reword the questions as “How does Earth’s rotation affect the position of lunar surface features during the Moon’s apparent daily motion?” you have a question whose answer you could discover for yourself experimentally.

This could be done by observing and measuring any angular changes in the position of the points of a crescent-shaped moon each day as it moves from the eastern to the western horizon.

Hypothesis
While the hypothesis is a single statement, it is the key to a successful project. The project experiment will be designed to test the hypothesis. So, be sure to propose a hypothesis that is testable with measurable results.

For the sample project question on the effect of Earth’s rotation on the position of lunar surface features during the Moon’s apparent motion across the sky, an example of a null hypothesis might be, “Earth’s rotation has no effect on the position of lunar surface features.”

A research hypothesis might be, “If Earth rotates toward the east, then there will be an apparent clockwise rotation of the position of lunar features each day.” This is based on the fact that since Earth rotates, the Moon is viewed by observers of Earth from a different direction during the rotation.

Project Experiment
Can you think of a way to test your hypothesis experimentally with measurable results? If the answer is no, then you need to go back to the previous step and reword your hypothesis or select another one.

At this stage the project experiment needs to be only a basic design in your mind. A possible experiment for the sample moon problem might be to observe and photograph a crescent Moon at different times to determine whether there is any rotational change in the lunar features during the Moon’s apparent movement from the eastern to the western horizon.

This can be done by comparing photographs and the position of the pointed ends of the crescent moon at different times.

The control will be the position of the Moon when it is at its zenith (highest point) in the sky.

Compare the position of the pointed ends of the crescent moons in the photographs taken during an observation of eight or more hours between moonrise and moon-set to determine if any rotational change has occurred.

Think about the experiment and ask yourself the following questions. If the answer to any of these questions is no, you need to redesign the experiment.

1. Does the experiment have measurable results (results that can be measured with an instrument like a ruler, scale, stopwatch, or other type of scale, such as angular measurements using your hands as the measuring tool)? For the sample experiment, you could take angular measurements of the position of the crescent points to a line perpendicular to Earth in order to determine whether it appears to rotate.
2.Does the experiment have an independent variable? For the sample experiment, the length of time of observations is the independent variable.
3. Does the experiment have a dependent variable? For the sample experiment, the dependent variable is the angle of the crescent moon.
4. Does the experiment have a control? For the sample experiment, the control could be the angle of the crescent moon at its zenith position. The observations recorded before and after this position could be compared to this.
5. Does the experiment have constant factors? For the sample experiment, the constant factors include the location of the observer and the type of measuring tool used to make the angular measurements.

Get Started!
Once you have a general plan for testing your hypothesis experimentally and recording the data, then you can design the experiment step-by-step and get started.

You should be prepared to perform the experiment four or more times, so you have at least four sets of data.

In the sample Moon experiment, you could make observations on four consecutive nights or select four nonsequential nights during a month.

For some experiments in which time is a factor, such as one requiring the growing of plants, four or more identical sets of plants could be started at the same time.

For all experiments, you should record all the results in your project journal, dating and recording the time of each entry.

Data
Data from your experiment and what you do with it are the main way that a judge evaluates your experiment. Judges like to see charts (data or other information in the form of tables, graphs, or lists) of the measured results. If your data is clearly displayed, then judges are likely to conclude that the student understands how to properly develop a science fair project.

Janice VanCleave’s Solar Systems: Mind-Boggling Experiments You Can Turn Into Science Fair Projects