TCJMS   8th Grade Science

Product Fair

General Instructions:

The product fair simulates the process of turning inventions into viable products.  It uses a combination of scientific know-how, creativity, and business sense.  You come up with an idea or a concept.  You market and advertise the idea.  You develop, manufacture and plan the details.  You analyze the costs and price scheme.  On March 14, we will all share our products in a public fair open to students, parents and faculty.  It is one of the three major projects in this course, and the only one done almost exclusively at home.

For this project, you will not work with your normal experiment groups.  You either work by yourself, or with a partner by mutual agreement with my approval.  I will always be available in class or by email for consultation.  If you are not sure what to do for any of the requirements below, please ask me as soon as you have a question.

      
Requirements:
    1. Introduction (5 points) -- Describe your idea.  Why do you think it is a viable plan? How do you plan to build it?  Due December 10.
    2. Market Survey (10 points) -- Make a survey to help determine the market (if any) for your product.  The survey should have at least ten questions that will provide you with information on how much people are interested in your product.  Get at least ten responses to your survey, tabulate the results for each question, and analyze the results.  Analyze the results in a lab report.  (Title, Objective, Methods, Results, Conclusion).  If you are interested in web technology, you may find that Survey Monkey helps you automate the design of your survey and the tabulation of results.  This suggestion is courtesy of Tess and Jacqui.  Due December 22.
    3. Research Tests and Reports (15 points) -- Design three different experiments or tests that analyze aspects of your product's capabilities.  Make sure that you have at least one qualitative and one quantitative experiment or test.  Perform your tests and write a short lab report on the results.  Use the standard lab report format (Title, Objective, Methods, Results, Conclusion - see Paper Towel project).  This section is the most scientific and important of all because it shows how well you can design and implement an experiment.  Except for the actual building of your product, this section is worth more points than the other sections.  Due January 29.
    4. Product Comparison (10 points) -- Write an essay that explains why your concept has an advantage(s) over existing products and what those advantages are (cost, function, technology, convenience, quality, etc). You should compare your product to at least two other competing products.  Due February 9.
    5. Cost Report (10 points) -- Write a cost report that describes the fixed costs and variable costs for producing your product.  Explain quantitatively with a graph how cost per unit relates to the number of units you produce.  Recall that a fixed cost is something that is independent of how many items you are producing, and a variable cost is something that is proportional to the number of items you produce.  For example, if your product involves buying material and cutting it to shape and sewing it, then the sewing machine and cutting machine are fixed costs, and the material costs are variable costs.  Is rent or the electric bill a fixed cost or a variable cost?  The answer is "it depends".  Does it increase when you are producing more?  If the answer is yes, then the cost is variable, otherwise it is fixed.  Sometimes costs can be a little of both.  State what you will charge for your product and why.  It should be based on your survey (no more than what people are willing to pay), and your costs analysis (no less than what you need to make a profit based on the number of units you expect to sell).  Analyze how much profit you will make per item.  Does this change as the number of items you sell goes up?  Use a graph and explain how profit per item relates to number of units sold.   Determine the minimum number of units you need to sell in order to make a profit.  For example, let's say your fixed cost is $50 and your variable costs per item is $2.  Then it costs $52 per item make one item, and $7 per item to make ten items, $2.50 per item to make 100, and $2.05 per item to make 1000.  If your survey lets you charge $5 item.  You will not make a profit at all selling 10 or fewer items.  You will make $2.50 per item, selling 100, and $2.95 per item selling 1000.  You will need to sell at least 17 units to make some profit, why? Due February 9.
    6. Organization Chart (5 points) -- What jobs are necessary to produce this product?  (e.g. president, advertising, production, sales).  Can two jobs be done by the same person?  What extra jobs might be needed if the company grows and you sell a lot?  Make a chart that shows all the jobs and who supervises whom. Due February 16.
    7. Advertising (10 points) -- Create a chart, slogan, jingle, or all three to advertise your product.  Focus on your products advantages, and on what it takes to get people to notice, consider, and adapt your product.  Due February 16.
    8. Conclusion (15 points) --  Actually build the project.  Make notes of costs and any unexpected design glitches.  Write a conclusion as to whether your overall plan succeeded as planned or if not, how it did not.  Due February 16.
What to Hand in for a Grade:
  • A binder complete with final versions of all sections 1-8 above, typed and proofread. (80 points).  Due March 9.
  • A poster board presenting your product and its features.  The poster should attention grabbing and informative.  You might consider handouts, or a hands-on demonstration of your product.  The poster need not include a copy of every page of your final report, but may include pictures or selctions from the paper as you see fit.  Your poster board and your product (or a prototype of it) will be displayed at the Fair on March 14.   (20 points).  


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