Science Fair this Summer!

Science Fair is a tough sell.  I feel that every high school student should compete once.  Why?  Science Fair competitions instill a number of science skills, such as experimental design, and involve public speaking and technical writing.  They also require a tremendous effort to be successful.  Looking for scholarships?  Win at Science Fair.  What spurred this post is an article in the Wall Street Journal regarding cell phone safety.  WSJ's article, Cellphone-Safety Debate Heats Up describes how Dr. Quirino Balzono tested walkie-talkies (similar in the type of radiation emitted) by placing them next to a human skull filled with sugar water and measuring the the water temperature.  When kids are stumped for science fair ideas, I have a list ready.  One popular topic is measuring cell phone radiation.  I had an inexpensive EMF meter I lent to kids.  So let's use cell phone radiation to design an experiment suitable for Science Fair.

Step 1. Select a topic.  Done.  The topic is Cellphone Radiation or Temperature.  We'll determine a catchy title later.  (Brain fry?)
Step 2. Hypothesis.  What do you think is going to happen?  (I'm not a fan of 'if-then' statements.) Keep it simple.  The cell phone will increase the temperature of the test water.  This hypothesis works if you're replicating the original walkie-talkie study.  The cell phone will emit radiation is a good hypothesis is you're using an EMF detector.
Step 3.  Hypothesis.  In Step 2, you determined the alternative hypothesis.  Now, you need a null hypothesis.  For this experiment, the null hypothesis is that the cell phone will not change the temperature of the water or the cell phone will not emit any radiation.  The null hypothesis is the basis for comparison, not what you think will actually happen.  Include both the null and alternative hypotheses in your experiment.

Step 4.  Experimental Design.  Basically, how are you going to set up the experiment?  You have many decisions to make.  Are you going to try something similar to Dr. Balzano's study?
Substitute a  glass bowl of sugar water?  Test the temperature?  Use the EMF detector?  Will you use cell phones?
  What type?  On or off?  Texting, phoning, or gaming?  What about walkie-talkies or iPods?  How
many trials? (In statistics, the minimum is three trials.). If you measure the temperature of a basin of water or the cell phone itself, what type of thermometer do you plan to use?  Digital, infrared, glass?  Set up all kinds of trials and record the results.  Compare cell phone models or model years.  How will you set up controlled variables?  For example, use the same basin for water, with the same volume, at the same initial water temperature.  Another control is to take measurements of all the cell phones or devices on and off.  Maintain the same distances when you measure temperatures or EMF values.

Step 5.  Conduct the trials.  Do the experiment.  Write down the results.  Take photos while
conducting the experiment: the equipment, the people, the actual trials, the cell phones, and photos of the data.  Email these photos to yourself.  This way you have concrete records to use at Science Fair.

Step 6.  Determine the results.  Average the data.  If you used a basin of water, how many degrees did the water temperature rise, if any?  Calculate the mean, median, and mode.  Record the calculations and label them as mean, median, and mode.  If the data is growing too complicated, just calculate the
means or averages.

Step 7. What happened during the experiment?  Write down anything weird.  Was one brand of cell phone especially warm?  Did the EMF detector readings change when the device was on or off?  This is discussion.

Step 8.  Draw conclusions.  Did the results support the alternative or the null hypothesis?  We're the results so varied there are no conclusions?  Chances are, more study is indicated.  Based on your evidence, what do you recommend doing next?

Step 9.  Let's do a little research on this topic.  Start with the Wall Street Journal articles.  Look up
related studies.  Be sure to copy and paste the website addresses to use in your report.  Have five sources.  In your own words, what do these studies indicate?  Do cellphones cause cancer?  (This could be the title.  It's not catchy, though.)

Step 10.  This is the hard part.  You need to assemble a backboard and research paper.  What I have kids do is create a PowerPoint slideshow: Title, Background, Hypotheses, Experimental Design, Results, Discussion, Conclusion, and Bibliography.  If they do this on-line, they can insert web pages, play with the fonts, add photos, etc.  It makes it easier to print and assemble into a report and material for the backboard.

Science Fair is a lot of work.  I suggest your teen work on his or her project now.  It will reduce the panic this fall.