Friday, 6 September 2013

Group E Members

This is ISS Group E from S204, consisting of Angeline Yap, Sarah Chan, Chew Yun Hui and Liew Jiawen.

Our project: Development of an Aquaponics System.

Tuesday, 2 July 2013

Research Questions

If I can look at a person's smile, I can find out if it is real or fake

Definition of smile
Formation of a smile
Types of smiles
Purpose of experiments
Current research done
Method of carrying out experiment

Research questions for experiment

Title: How does colour affect heating by absorption of light?

Research questions
What do I have to research?
What are the different colours I want to test on?
What are the current research?
Why is it important?
What are the equipment needed?
How do I carry out the experiment?

Research Question

Title: What's the fastest way to cool a soda

1) Definition of soda
2) The type of soda
3) What are the ways to cool a soda?
4) What are the current research?
5) What are the equipments needed?
6) How do I carry out the experiment?
7) What is the purpose of research?

Research Questions

How does soil change with depth?

Research Questions

- Definition of soil
-  Formation of soil
- Characteristics of soil (texture, colour)
- Types of soil
- Purpose of the experiment
- Any current research done
- Ways to execute the experiment (using the soil characterisation field guide to identify different types of soil)

Formulating Hypothesis

What: Different colours
When: Morning
Where: SST
Independent variable: Absorption of light
Dependent variable: Colour black
Constant: Colour white
The colour black will absorb more heat than the colour white.

Monday, 1 July 2013

Formulating Hypothesis

Dependent variable - Temperature of soda
Independent Variable - Cooling device
Constant - Number of soda cans

What - Cans of soda
When - Hot summer day
Where - Cooling device in SST

If I place 3 cans of soda in different types of cooling device, I can find out what is the fastest way to cool a can soda.

Formulating Hypothesis

Dependent variable : smiles
Independent variable : the interviewee
Constant : People that smile

What : A person's smile
When : normal day
Where : enclosed room

If I look at a person's smile I can find out if it is genuine or fake.

Formulating Hypothesis

What: To observe and measure core samples of soil to see how soil properties change with depth
Where: Forest behind SST
When: morning, afternoon and night times of everyday

(a) Independent variables: time
(b) Dependent variables: soil quality
(c) Constant variables: Soil characterisation field guide, the place where experiment will be conducted

If I use the soil characterisation field guide to identify the soil structure, then I will be able to find out the soil quality at different times of the day.

How easy is it to spot which smiles are real and which are fake?

Time RequiredAverage (6-10 days)
Material AvailabilityReadily available
CostVery Low (under $20)
SafetyNo issues


If someone is smiling, it means they're happy, right? Well, not always. Sometimes people smile to be polite, or because they want to "appear" happy or friendly for social reasons. How easy is it to spot which smiles are genuine and which are fake? Try this science fair project to find out!


Discover whether people can accurately determine if a smile is genuine or fake.


Sandra Slutz, PhD, Science Buddies
  • Microsoft® is a registered trademark of Microsoft Corporation.
  • Excel® is a registered trademark of Microsoft Corporation.

What's the Fastest Way to Cool a Soda?

Time RequiredVery Short (≤ 1 day)
Material AvailabilityReadily available
CostLow ($20 - $50)
SafetyNo issues


So you've just finished mowing the lawn on a hot summer day, and you'd like a cold, refreshing drink as a reward. You look in the fridge, and oops! it's empty. The sodas are still sitting in the cupboard, at room temperature. What's the fastest way to get that soda down to a cold, drinkable temperature with materials readily at hand?


The goal of this project is to determine the fastest method to cool a can of soda starting at room temperature.


Andrew Olson, Ph.D., Science Buddies

How Does Color Affect Heating by Absorption of Light?

Time RequiredAverage (6-10 days)
Material AvailabilityReadily available
CostLow ($20 - $50)
SafetyAdult supervision required for drilling jar lids.






Andrew Olson, Ph.D., Science Buddies

Desired Research Title

How does soil change with depth?

Generating Research Questions

What can we use to make the plant healthier? Will we know if its healthy?

Research Question

Why did lettuce seeds not germinate when there is no sunlight given during June Holidays in SST?

Research questions

Under what circumstances will the plants grow healthily and why will it grow healthily under those circumstances?

Generating Research Questions

What do we have to provide for the plants in terms of arrangement of the plant, what time is the best growth? Why do we have to do this?

Scientific and Engineering Methods

Scientific Method
The scientific method is a process of experimentation that is used to explore observations and answer questions. Scientists use this scientific method to search for cause and effect relationships in nature.

Step 1: Make observations and state questions. Observe things around us and surface out things that we are curious about.

Step 2: Propose a hypothesis. Make a prediction to what the end results of the conclusion will be like.

Step 3: Design an experiment to test the hypothesis. Do background research on the topic to have a further understanding. Create an experiment to test your factor. It is important to have all factors kept constant, except for the factor that we are experimenting on, to ensure a fair test and produce reliable results.

Step 4: Analyse results to show if hypothesis is accurate. Repeat the tests a few times and get the average to ensure reliability of the results. Collect data from the experiment for a period of time and arrange them into graphs to observe the data easily.

Step 5: Draw conclusion. From the results, derive a conclusion to the experiment. Whether our hypothesis is correct, and if it is not, what should we have actually consider. Do a reflection to whether the experiment is reliable, any assumptions made, could have the project be done deeper.

Engineering Method
It is a set of steps that a designer follows to build something.

Step 1: Define the problem. Gather ideas and think of what things can we build to help solve or improve a problem.

Step 2: Do background research. Reading people's works and learning from their experiences, so that we will have some knowledge on what to do and what not.

Step 3: Specify requirements. State the important parts of our design, find out the design requirements.

Step 4: Create alternative solution. Generate many ideas to form possible solutions, so that if one does not work, we can consider the others.

Step 5: Choose the best solution. According to the design requirements, purpose and context, find out which is the most feasible solution to solve the problem.

Step 6: Develop the best solution. Evaluate the pros and cons of the chosen solution. Continue to further improve the solution.

Step 7: Build a Prototype. It is an operating and smaller scale version of the actual solution. It is to let us know how well the solution is able to work.

Step 8: Test and redesign. Based on the prototype, find out other problems and solve it to further improve the solution.

Monday, 24 June 2013

24/6 Monday


Friday, 14 June 2013

14/6 Friday

- Went to ArtFriend to buy foam board.




- Insert 9 netpots into the container and leave one empty. 

- Cut the bottom of a 1.25 litre plastic bottle


Thursday, 13 June 2013

13/6 Thursday


Monday, 10 June 2013

Monday, 3 June 2013

3/6 Monday

- Got a water pump

- Got 2 packets of bacteria cultivating balls

- Bought 1 2kg packet of Leca Beads.

- Got one bottle of 'Bacteria Life' solution.

Thursday, 16 May 2013

16/5 Wednesday


1. fish tank
2. air pump
3. pH + solution
4. pH -  solution
5. LED light