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Steps

This version was saved 12 years, 1 month ago View current version     Page history
Saved by Jacob Martin
on February 20, 2012 at 11:06:38 am
 

Wiki - Steps     Forum  Other Projects     Website - Competitions     News


 

Logbook

 

The best place to start is with a logbook - the ideal book is a 2B5. The logbook is a place for you to write down all your ideas and thoughts. Keep it with you all the time and when an idea strikes, write it in. All researchers and engineers have some sort of logbook that they put their notes into so the sooner you start the better. Remember, this does not have to be neat. It is essential to help you remember important changes, and ideas, and also acts as a sort of diary so you can remember how you went about your research and if it didn't work, it is easy to look back at your log book and see where you went wrong or refine your processes.

 

Research

 

This is one of your most important tools for your project - look in books, talk to people and get ideas. The internet is the best place to find information. Research stuff that interests you - some of the best projects come from hobbies or people close to you. Make sure you don’t get all your information off the net. Here are some useful websites; Wikipedia, Youtube, Google, Yahoo Groups and my personal favorite How Stuff Works.

 

Ideas

 

Now that you have started researching, start writing down topics that interest you. It may be how an engine works or how bees pollinate flowers. Write down everything in your logbook that interests you as a brainstorm. When you have 5 topics that interest you, pick one and brainstorm all the questions or problems that need solving that you can think of. If you have any problems, then you can ask for help from a teacher or get in contact with someone in the field you’re interested in. At university, most research projects are given to students by professors, so don’t feel like you have to come up with something new -  sometimes your take on an experiment can lead you to find out amazing things.

 

If you still have problems, go onto the science and technology fair page and look at your regions prizes and choose a prize to focus on. You could also go to these places to get ideas; Other Projects, Nexus Research Group, Realise the Dream, Techlink, Young Designer Awards and Brightsparks.

 

Refine it

 

Now you have your idea, it’s time to refine or turn it into a project. You have to decide whether you want your idea to be a science or technology project. There is no clear line and some of the best projects have parts of both in them. If you are unsure, look at your brainstorm. If you have a problem that you want to solve, then the technology steps are for you. If you want to answer a question then science steps will be better to follow.

 

You will need to decide what path you want to take. If you want to ask a question then follow the science path. If you want to solve a problem then follow the Technology path.


Science projects

Technology projects


 

Getting Help

 

One of the best ways to take your project further is to get help. There are heaps of ways of getting help. CREST is a great program that will get you in contact with engineers and researchers that will be able to give you help.

 

Most of the projects that do the best are projects that get help from teachers, parents, scientists and engineers. But you must do the work yourself. The most important thing is not that you have done everything by yourself and started from scratch, but that you know your topic and have done the majority of the work and you were the driving force. Some of the best experiments and inventions are improvements on previous work. Don’t feel like you have to reinvent the wheel - get as much help as you can from organizations, universities, workshops, your school and your parents. You will be able to take your project a lot further than if you had just done it on your own.

 

If you want to get in contact with someone but you don’t now what to say email projectsinnz@gmail.com and projects will send an email to the person of interest saying you are interested in talking to them - you can also go onto the group to get help.

 

Timeline

 

The final planning step is doing a timeline. The first thing you will want to do is write down everything that needs to be done for your project, in your logbook as bullet points. Go to the ‘enter it’ page to find out what competitions you should aim for. Then do a rough week by week sentence about what you will do for that week. Set rough goals to ensure you make the most of your time.

 

Enter it

 

Go to the main website to see the competitions available in New Zealand.

 

 

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