Students will encounter a puzzling crystallization phenomenon, analyze how temperature and concentration affect solubility, and develop a focused, investigable research question with a clear hypothesis to guide their sugar crystal investigation.

Students will design a systematic investigation plan to test how temperature or concentration affects sugar crystal growth, grounding their methodology in background research on solutions, saturation, and crystallization. They will produce a peer-reviewed methodology plan that clearly identifies variables, procedures, data collection methods, and quality control measures before beginning data collection.

Students will systematically collect and document crystal growth data, recording conditions, measurements, and anomalies so their evidence base is strong enough to support later analysis and conclusions.

Students will transform their collected sugar crystal growth data into meaningful interpretations by creating visualizations, identifying patterns and anomalies, debating interpretations with peers, and drafting preliminary findings that connect evidence directly to their original research question and hypothesis.

Students will synthesize their sugar crystal investigation findings by writing evidence-based conclusions, explicitly acknowledging limitations, generating new research questions, and presenting their full investigation to an authentic audience at the Crystal Fair.