Science Fair...need ideas

[DisneyScraps]

I know some of you are veterans about science fairs. My daughter is in 5th grade and this is her first. Any awesome ideas for a project?

Thanks!!!

 

[kacaju]

does she have any ideas on what she wants to do? ie: rocks, make slime, volcano

 

[DisneyScraps]

Probably something with space she wants to be an astronaut.

 

[mickeyM00SE]

Fission reactor, you can use marbles to make the 'reaction mass' and show how one hits two which hit 5 which hit 10 which hit 20 and so on.

 

[daemom]

It's that time of the year! My 6th grader is looking for ideas too. We looked on sciencebuddies.org to get ideas according to his interests. His came back something like building a cell phone. We HAVE to find something else! I'll be watching this thread!

 

[jeffmilw]

The volcanoe on the Brady Bunch episode always seemed like a great idea.

 

[kacaju]

Probably something with space she wants to be an astronaut.

Is pluto a planet or not

 

[lacrosse_lady72]

Nanotechnology in science, it's a BIG (despite it's name) and upcoming thing in the science world.

 

[abdmom]

This science teacher says: PLEASE DON'T MAKE A VOLCANO! They've been done to death.

 

[Schmeck]

Is this a competition or just an exhibition? If it's a competition, she really should come up with her own idea. If it's an exhibition (no awards given) then search online, there are plenty of sites that tell you how to make a science project.

 

[clh2]

It's that time of the year! My 6th grader is looking for ideas too. We looked on sciencebuddies.org to get ideas according to his interests. His came back something like building a cell phone. We HAVE to find something else! I'll be watching this thread!

2 tin cans and a string???? Probably not what he had in mind...

 

[pigletgirl]

I did one (can't remember which grade, either 5th or 6th..) on the different melting rates of chocolate, and the components of chocolate and how they differ between them. I think I did it with Dark, Semisweet, Milk and White chocolate. It was quite simple, and I did well, if I can recall.

I don't think it has to be really complex. Something doable so they can learn the scientific method.

GL!

 

[dakcp2001]

I say let the child come up with their own idea, then if they win, they will actually earn it. Don't be that parent. Helping is ok, but let them come up with their own idea and do most of the work themselves.

 

[DisneyScraps]

They are competing and the teacher EXPECT parental help. We talked about it today. I made it plain that I will purchase the materials and supervise but I am not doing any part of it. She disagreed with me.

Don't care of we lose, I need to teach my daughter how to do things on her own.

I like the idea of making her come up with an original idea....why didn't I think of that in the first place?

 

[Schmeck]

Shame on the teacher for expecting parental help - is the fair somehow connected to the class, and the teacher as well?

My daughter and her friend teamed up one year and did a great project. The friend's mom helped by driving them to one place (they were in middle school) to talk to a town engineer about their project, and that was it. They did the rest themselves (I did nothing!), knew the project inside out, and won for their grade.

Another student did this complicated project that was way over his head, was from the lab his mom worked at, and he couldn't explain it very well. It was so obvious that it was not his idea. That's not what science fairs are supposed to be about!

 

[johnsontrio]

The year DD was in 5th grade there were 2 outstanding science fair projects. My favorite was the ultraviolet beads that change color (they turn purple) in response to sun exposure. The student applied different sunscreens to each sample to see which sunscreen produced the least color change, inferring the best sun protection. They then compared the pricing of the sunscreen. The other project compared the size of bubble blown with different bubble gums. Both projects were well received as being relevant to a grade schooler's life.

 

[JoanGirardi]

My son did one in grade school that I've never seen anyone else do--He compared the lung capacity of boys vs. girls in his class. He used his peak flow meter (he has asthma)--and got everyone to blow in it and recorded and compared the results.

 

[tvguy]

Google "5th grade science experiments", you come up with a couple million possibilities.

My daughter did one where she got soup bones and let them soap in Pepsi for a month to demonstrate how soda can break down things like bones and teeth. Easy, no mess, only problem came when some classmate decided to open the sealed container during the science fair.....nothing worse than the smell of decomposing bone in Pepsi.

And it has to be Pepsi, not Coke. Not enough acid in Coke. I certainly have thought twice about drinking Pepsi since then.

 

[DisneyScraps]

Here is what we came up with. We are going to test Hair Spray on plants. We are going to see which hairspray hurts a plant the most. Humans use it all the time around our face, it will be interesting to see what it does to a plant. We are going to go next week to a nursery and ask to buy a plant that is not too weak or too strong some plants would die immediately, some like a cactus might live forever so we need a middle of the road type of plant.

We also toyed with the idea of using spray on sunscreen but my DD decided to use Hairspray.