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Post by shanniebananie on Aug 25, 2016 1:42:51 GMT
My 8th grader has all school year to work on his science fair project. The majority of the work is done at school and will be broken down into steps due each month. They need to come up with 3-6 topic choices. He picked a topic last year that was hard to prove so we are looking for some thing that has more concrete conclusions and outcomes.
What are some topics your child has done for science fair?
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Post by ten&rose on Aug 25, 2016 2:07:43 GMT
My middle schooler has done 2 labs already, one regarding how much water different brands of paper towels pick up and one regarding how many pennies different brands of tissues will hold. Not exciting but very doable.
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Post by librarylady on Aug 25, 2016 2:14:23 GMT
One year our son did a project to show/determine if earthworms really added value to the soil.
He had 2 boxes, one for the experiment, one for the control.
Purchased a bag of potting soil and put half in each box. Took soil samples and sent them off to show the analysis of the soil at the beginning.
Purchased garden earthworms and put them in the experimental box.
For the period of the experiment, we took vegetable matter from our kitchen (peelings, lettuce leaves etc.) and he put them in a blender so that the bits would be easier for the earthworms to eat in the small amount of time we had. He drained any water off and the put 1/2 of the vegetables in each box and stirred it into the soil.
At the end of the time, he sent off the soil from each box and had it analyzed again and wrote up the results.
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kate
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Post by kate on Aug 25, 2016 2:49:30 GMT
A kid at DS's school did an experiment with laundry detergent. He had 3 different kinds of stains, and 3 different brands of detergent. On Science Fair night, he had the results displayed on his board (I think he used pillowcase material for the test fabric; the swatches were pinned to the board). It was hands-down the most popular booth for his grade at the fair.
BTW, Tide was by far the best at removing stains.
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Post by Darcy Collins on Aug 25, 2016 3:08:14 GMT
I highly recommend this site: www.sciencebuddies.org/ You can search by an area of interest, time available, grade, etc. We are total science nerds, and rarely used the actual experiments, but it was great for generating ideas. |
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Post by padresfan619 on Aug 25, 2016 3:09:28 GMT
I got my best science fair grade when I did an experiment to prove which diaper was the most absorbent.
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Post by Deleted on Aug 25, 2016 3:30:09 GMT
My son built an electric car the size of a small go cart. He drew the design including the wiring schematics. They built it out of wood together. Dad did some of the metal stuff at work (steering and axles) and re-did it when it didn't work to DS's original design (dad intentionally let him find out how it didn't work). DS wired it all on his own with forward, reverse and off plus added a horn (that I think was actually parts from a doorbell. DS was completely absorbed in it and did a fantastic job on it. Cool thing was he was a 4th grader!
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Post by anonrefugee on Aug 25, 2016 3:38:11 GMT
My son built an electric car the size of a small go cart. He drew the design including the wiring schematics. They built it out of wood together. Dad did some of the metal stuff at work (steering and axles) and re-did it when it didn't work to DS's original design (dad intentionally let him find out how it didn't work). DS wired it all on his own with forward, reverse and off plus added a horn (that I think was actually parts from a doorbell. DS was completely absorbed in it and did a fantastic job on it. Cool thing was he was a 4th grader! That's so cool! I'm raising one science fair nerd and the mistakes have been as interesting as the successes. OP, I'm a judge for the lower and middle school levels. We give extra points for inconclusive or failed results, if the kid appears to learn something from the experience. What are your students interests? It's best to start with a question they have, and build from there. You can always tell the ones that were pulled from a site or book, and have predictable results. At least in out STEAM oriented district.... |
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styxgirl
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Post by styxgirl on Aug 25, 2016 5:30:04 GMT
One of the ones last year at my dds school that drew the most attention was the demonstration with a manual typewriter and an old electric typewriter.
The kids were baffled and amazed! It was soooo funny watching them type out short messages.
I told them back in the day this was "snap chat" and you had to put as stamp on it and mail it and in a few days your pen pal would snap chat you back. LOL!
They wondered how to corrected mistakes and were just floored when I told them about the correction tape you had to backspace and insert to type over. LOL!!
There was a display behind the typewriters with history and stuff, but I'm not sure how much of that the kids read. They mostly played with the typewriters.
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PLurker
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Post by PLurker on Aug 25, 2016 5:34:52 GMT
One year our son did a project to show/determine if earthworms really added value to the soil. He had 2 boxes, one for the experiment, one for the control. Purchased a bag of potting soil and put half in each box. Took soil samples and sent them off to show the analysis of the soil at the beginning. Purchased garden earthworms and put them in the experimental box. For the period of the experiment, we took vegetable matter from our kitchen (peelings, lettuce leaves etc.) and he put them in a blender so that the bits would be easier for the earthworms to eat in the small amount of time we had. He drained any water off and the put 1/2 of the vegetables in each box and stirred it into the soil. At the end of the time, he sent off the soil from each box and had it analyzed again and wrote up the results. Curious minds want to know findings.... |
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Post by librarylady on Aug 25, 2016 12:19:18 GMT
One year our son did a project to show/determine if earthworms really added value to the soil. He had 2 boxes, one for the experiment, one for the control. Purchased a bag of potting soil and put half in each box. Took soil samples and sent them off to show the analysis of the soil at the beginning. Purchased garden earthworms and put them in the experimental box. For the period of the experiment, we took vegetable matter from our kitchen (peelings, lettuce leaves etc.) and he put them in a blender so that the bits would be easier for the earthworms to eat in the small amount of time we had. He drained any water off and the put 1/2 of the vegetables in each box and stirred it into the soil. At the end of the time, he sent off the soil from each box and had it analyzed again and wrote up the results. Curious minds want to know findings.... Yes, the good things in the soil increased, except for 1 mineral. Worm trivia for you: The big red ones live deep in the soil. Most live in the top 6 inches of the soil and eat leaves etc that fall on the soil........In the library once I had an old aquarium that I put some worms in (trying to stimulate interest in science). I put vegetable matter in, and those worms really ate it quickly. Amazing was that the worms loved apples. I put half of an apple in, cut side down on the soil and many worms came over and ate the apple entirely, leaving only the very thin skin behind. |
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Post by kmcginn on Aug 25, 2016 14:23:30 GMT
When my daughter was in the HS science fair, she did a project on the effects of color and word memory. She had lists of words written in different colors. She gave people 30 seconds to look at the list then asked them to write the words they remembered from the list. She analyzed which colors made them remember more. She won first overall at their school and 3rd at the state kevel. She ended up getting a degree in Psychology! Who knew? You could easily adapt it for middle school. Good luck!
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blue tulip
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Post by blue tulip on Aug 25, 2016 14:31:32 GMT
When my daughter was in the HS science fair, she did a project on the effects of color and word memory. She had lists of words written in different colors. She gave people 30 seconds to look at the list then asked them to write the words they remembered from the list. She analyzed which colors made them remember more. She won first overall at their school and 3rd at the state kevel. She ended up getting a degree in Psychology! Who knew? You could easily adapt it for middle school. Good luck! that's so cool! when I was in college, I made all my flashcards 2 colors of markers, and i only had blue, orange, red and purple. the blue/orange ones never stuck with me. but the ones written with purple questions, red answers i could remember anything. that became my study habit for the rest of school.
how does that compare to her findings, do you remember?
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pudgygroundhog
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Post by pudgygroundhog on Aug 25, 2016 14:41:44 GMT
I highly recommend this site: www.sciencebuddies.org/ You can search by an area of interest, time available, grade, etc. We are total science nerds, and rarely used the actual experiments, but it was great for generating ideas. I second this website. Last year my daughter (3rd grade) did temperature affect on crystal growth (using Borax). It was a good project. |
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happymomma
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Post by happymomma on Aug 25, 2016 23:51:08 GMT
Wow!
Science fair projects in my day were...making a volcano.
I love that kids are so much more advanced these days.
All of these ideas sound awesome.
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Post by 950nancy on Aug 26, 2016 4:33:53 GMT
Wow! Science fair projects in my day were...making a volcano. I love that kids are so much more advanced these days. All of these ideas sound awesome. In our schools, kids have to do experiments and not demonstrations. I can't tell you how many dads wanted to build volcanoes! I have seen hundreds and hundreds of science fair presentations. Whatever he does, make sure he can explain it. Having pictures of the process is good too. One of my favorites was which bathroom is the dirtiest? She took swabs off different locations in different fast food bathrooms. Grew it all in Petrie dishes and we were all thoroughly disgusted. My son did one with pen clicking and hearing with different age groups. And then there is the ever-present which popcorn pops the best. I have seen that one many times. Oh, one more. A girl built a maze and tested different animals times in it to see which creature was the smartest. The rat won! I saw one in 1994 about which diaper holds the most fluid. The Smiles brand won. How do I remember that? |
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Post by Marina on Aug 26, 2016 7:32:43 GMT
My son used sciencebuddies also. It was great for coming up with ideas. One project he won with was evaluating which was the best disinfectant. He used deli meat to wipe on a cheap cutting mat and then cleaned different sections with different disinfectants. Then he swabbed them and grew the bacteria in the petri dishes. Another one was evaluating the effects of cold/heat on magnetism (using industrial magnets and paper clips--dry ice, regular ice, boiling water and room temperature). Personally I liked the last one as it could be done in a day or two. The petri dishes took a long time to grow.
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