Science Project with no results

[Melaine]

Looking for tips for a science project that had very anti climatic results. First I should say that this is my least favorite project of the year. For third grade they have had a great year learning botany and really enjoyed science but the science fair....ugh. Perfectionist twins with tired mama? not a fun time. Also they refuse to work together and insist on doing separate projects which is fine but UGH. They each want an equally amazing, parent-level project which they produce 100% independently. but this isn't the BP.....

For one of the girls, the project was to place different colored clear plastic pockets over different leaves of a plant. We did two red, two blue, two green, two purple and two solid black construction paper sleeves. We hypothesized that the there would be a change in the color of the leaf when the light was filtered. (less chlorophyll?). This project was in a science book we found from the library. It was supposed to produce results after a week. It's been 12 days and ALL the leaves are visibly unchanged (even the one covered with black paper....what!?!?). DD is very disappointed. I know that we are supposed to report any results (and the board needs to be completed this weekend so no time to re-do experiment). I wonder if they plant didn't show change because it's pretty hardy (a peace lily).

Does anyone have any tips for a project like this that didn't go as hoped? I'm thinking we will report results and maybe have some fact starbursts with relevant terms (what is needed for photosynthesis, etc.). We planned before and after photos but that will be boring too. Anyone have any brilliant ideas for a situation like this? TIA

[o_mom]

No change is still a result! Their hypothesis was that the leaves would change with different color light, so the null hypothesis is that the light color does not make a difference. In this case they do not reject the null hypothesis. I would focus on helping them understand hypothesis and null hypothesis and reporting their conclusion that different light color did not make a difference in leaf color. They could also speculate on why their result might have been different than what other people found (different material, different filtering, different plant, etc.) and what experiment they could do next to find that out.

They also have a secondary experiment of light/no light, where they can reject the null hypothesis of no difference and conclusion that having no light does change the leaf color compared to full light. (Eta...sorry misread about the black paper - same applies)

Eta: As a scientist, science fair judge and having helped run a science fair, I would rather see a student who understands what a hypothesis and null hypothesis are and what it means to reject/fail to reject the null, than a flashy posted or fancy project that was clearly done by the parent. Not to mention the whole honesty of reporting what happened when it was not very exciting or as expected

[KrisM]

I agree. No change is a result. It might not be what you hoped for, but it is a result.

[ExcitedMamma]

I am sorry! I am not sciency at all so I sympathize! I hate it when experiments fail. I do not understand enough to know why to make it a good lesson by explaining it. Can you do some online research to find out why it failed? Maybe something about the plants used or the sunlight not being strong enough this time of year or something? If so that could be a good learning instruction for them and they could explain what went wrong, why it failed, and what would have happened if conditions had been right.

[ellies mom]

I think not getting a result is great for all the reasons listed above. That is science.


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[cvanbrunt]

Welcome to science. As my doctoral adviser always said "the data is the data". Report what you did and what you found!

[NCGrandma]

Welcome to science. As my doctoral adviser always said "the data is the data". Report what you did and what you found!

Or, as the more pedantic always said, "the data are the data" [emoji6]


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[Melaine]

Thanks guys! I guess I need to understand what a "null hypothesis" is...will be reading up on it!

[Momit]

We had a close call with the science fair this year. Planted supposedly fast-germinating seeds that took for.ever to sprout. The person in charge said it happens every year. Some kids report what did happen, some choose a different experiment instead.

[rlu]

Yes, DS did desalination for his project last year. Crockpot, pvc pipes out the lid, collection bottle, very intricate and little water (boo!). We even made a special trip to the ocean to get the water (joking, we love the beach!) He was disappointed but did all the reporting and got a good grade. Actual pictures (and video) showed the lack of progress, so it worked out.

Much cooler was dissolving bones in acid - if anyone is looking for ideas. If so, pm me and I can give details (everything from grocery store and Ace hardware).

[mnj77]

Could you put something about the possible reasons that the experiment didn't come out as expected and what further experiments you can do to test those theories? So maybe the plant was too tough so next time you would try a different plant.

[Melaine]

Thanks all. Last night we finished both science projects. I'm not going to lie, it got ugly there for awhile (I am seeing a lot of pre-teen attitudes from these two). But they are done and they look awesome. We included a section called "Next Time" that discusses how we could further experiment to get more informative results. I am SO glad this is done.