Northview Elementary STEM Fair
Developing a Procedure
Developing a Procedure
Your procedure is a step-by-step set of directions of how you will conduct your experiment. Details are very important here! Be sure to tell exact amounts of things such as materials, time it will take, etc. It is important that anyone should be able to follow your steps and repeat your experiment exactly as you did it.
You must have at least 3 repeated trials in your procedure and clearly identify your variables to ensure a well-designed experiment.
For our bean seed question, a procedure might look like this:
1. Purchase one bag of lima bean seeds.
2. Divide the seeds into two groups with 9 seeds in each group.
3. Place one group of 9 in a shallow tray. Add 1/4" of water to the tray.
4. Keep this group evenly moist by checking and adding water each day for 3 days.
5. Keep the other group of seeds in a dry shallow tray.
6. Leave both trays in the same,dark area for 3 days.
7. Fill 6 white styrofoam cups 2/3 full with potting soil.
8. Label 3 cups 'SOAKED' and 3 cups 'NOT SOAKED'.
9. In each of the SOAKED cups, plant 3 of the soaked seeds about 1" into the dirt.
10. In each of the NOT SOAKED cups, plant 3 of the dry seeds about 1" into the dirt.
11. Set all 6 cups on the same window will.
12. Water each cup daily.
13. Check each cup daily for any sprouted seeds.
14. If seeds have sprouted measure each sprout daily and record in data chart.
15. Continue recording growth for 7 days.