In this section, you will study your data and determine if your hypothesis was correct.

In other words.... what did you learn from doing this experiment?

Your conclusion should be an answer to the question you posed at the very beginning of the scientific procedure.

It is perfectly okay if you find out that your hypothesis was wrong.

If your data doesn't show any patterns, or if something went horribly wrong with your experiment, you will want to be honest and state that in your conclusion. Just be sure to explain what you think went wrong and what you would do differently next time. Remember, the point of the "conclusion" is to state what you learned. Even if you completely messed up, you still probably learned something. Just be sure to write it so the judges know that you learned from your mistakes.

Here is an example of a conclusion for our lightning bug example:

Air temperature does play a role in how often a lightning bug flashes. My data shows that on average a lightning bug flashes 5 more times a minute at high temperatures (82F) than at room temperature (72F). My data also shows that lightning bugs rarely flash in cool temperatures (62F). This explains why we rarely see lightning bugs until the summer months.

Here is another example:

It is unclear if air temperature plays a role in the frequency of lightning bug flashes. My data does not support or reject my hypothesis. I think that my lightning bugs did not act naturally because they were stressed-out by being in such a small container. If I did this experiment again, I would keep the bug in an aquarium or other large container so that they might behave naturally.