2017-2018 Science Fair

Assess how you conducted your engineering project

● Please move this document to your ​shared Biology folder.

● To complete this, you will need to refer to your project proposal.
● After you answer all the questions, remember to ​submit the document in Canvas​.

Iterations/versions
1. By the deadline (February 12), did you succeed in building and testing as many versions/iterations of
your project as you had hoped? If not, explain why not.
Unfortunately, I was unable to succeed in building a working prototype. I don’t necessarily know
why I can’t generate enough electricity to power a 1.5 volt motor, but I hope to get a working prototype
working before the end of the year.

2. If not, what could you have done differently to meet the deadline?
I could have asked for more help from Galloway teachers.

Procedure for ​building

3. Below, paste a copy of your planned steps from your project proposal (#9), and the annotated drawing
(#8).

1. Order supplies online (most likely from Amazon)

2. Use an untreated potato to figure out how to apply motors, wheels, nails, wire, etc.
3. Record procedure that I will duplicate for treated potatoes (either by writing it down or
videotaping it)
4. Boil a potato for 8 minutes (for 1st prototype)
5. Mimic previous procedure with untreated potato
6. Attach the motors to the zinc anode and copper cathode (final step of building process)
7. Record results on graph
8. Repeat steps 4-8 until meets criteria

4. Carefully look over your initial plans for building your project (which you just pasted above).
In a numbered or bullet-pointed list and/or additional annotated drawing (you can draw by hand and
upload a picture of it)
a) identify in detail things you actually did differently
● I ended up not boiling the potato
● I didn’t use motors for the first few prototypes.
 b) Explain why you made each change.
● I had trouble finding what motors I needed
○ Once I found the motors, it took a very long time for them to come to the house.
● I ended up not boiling the potato
○ I couldn’t build the car fast enough, and I couldn’t get past step 2.

5. If you could build the next iteration/prototype of your project, what improvements would you make,
and how would you do it? Explain below and/or upload annotated drawing.
I would probably try getting more supplies, and, when building the prototype, I would boil the
potato.

Procedure for ​testing

6. In your proposal, find your design criteria (#5) and how you planned to test them (should be included
in #10). Paste the criteria and the way you planned to test them below.

criteria reasoning (briefly explain) How will you test or measure it?

Can move without I’m trying to build a self driving I will make sure it is in a controlled
extra help potato car environment (w/o my dogs)

Is powered by a The point of my project is to build a I will not use another power source
potato car powered by a potato when building it

Can move for 5 I’m trying to test how long the potato I’ll time how long the car runs for
minutes battery can run for

7. In a numbered or bullet-pointed list,

a) identify in detail things you actually did differently to test your project for success
● I did not do the first 2 differently
● I never got to the final step because my car wouldn’t work (I don’t think the car could have run for
5 minutes straight)

b) Explain why you made each change.

● I didn’t make any changes

Impact on Results
8. Think about how implementing your project differed from your initial plans (your answers to
questions above).
Below, explain how these changes may make your project stronger and/or make it weaker (i.e. make
your results more reliable or less reliable).
● If makes my project weaker that I didn’t do the final step because it shows that I was unable to
succeed in building a car that runs off of potatoes.
Reflection on learning
In August, y’all shared your thoughts on what the point of school is. Many of your responses involved
building skills. You may recognize some of them in this list below, which has a few of my top priorities for
skills to build in this class.

9. Read over the skills and indicate (with an X or a comment) where you feel you are with each, at this
point in the year.

I think I have I’m making progress. I’m struggling: I see This is a very weak
very strong I feel pretty good some improvement area for me. I don’t feel
skills in this. about it. but it’s really hard. I’ve improved at all.

Design ž (the design

engineering wasn’t the problem.
projects The issue I faced was
not being able to
generate enough
electricity)

Manage​ time & ž

long term work

Work​ ​well ž
independently:
with focus,
self-reliance, &
initiative

Own ​your own ž

learning: take
responsibility for
your work;
know when you
need help and
ask for it.