4th grade science project ideas???

[foolishmortal]

Ok so my son came home from school yesterday with a paper saying they need do to a science project of thier own choosing, and show it in class.

I was never into science 1 bit...in fact I did the minimum amount of science classes needed in both HS & College and forgot about them once done. My DW is the same not really into science as well.

So what are some good ideas for a school science project? Keep in mind he has 3 weeks to figure out what he wants to do, research it, buy materials, and then actually do the project itself.

Thanks for your help.

 

[~queenie~]

my son just did his report on ramps.. how the differnt angle of thre ramp affected the speed and distance a marble would go..

but I think the coolest one is his class was how different types of water affect bubbles(what makes them the strongest) .. spring water, melted snow, and water from the ocean..

 

[UnderTheMistletoe]

I'm in school to be a 5th-8th grade science teacher, so....

Which works better: Organic or inorganic fertilizers?

How corrosive is soda to a human tooth? Place teeth in different types of soda and...sadly...watch them dissolve over time. Monitor how long it takes each of the different kinds of sodas to dissolve the teeth.

Taste-testing between regular and diet foods

How preceptive are people. Place a child (with an adult!) in a high-volume shopping area on several days in a bright colored shirt. Put a, "Have you seen this child?" poster at the front of the store entrance. Ask people on their way out if they saw them. There was a news article on this and its scary the number of people that didn't notice this "missing" child.

Grow a crystal garden. Monitor progress of type of crystals, the shapes (habits) they take, and other pertinent information.

Loved this one that I saw one by a 7th grader- Do mouthwashes really kill "99.9% of germs"? Could also apply it to hand-soaps.

The effects of polluntants in the atmosphere and to Earth. Is global warming really a threat? What contributes most to global warming (CO2)? What are the emissions for some of the US' most popular cars? Is Ethanol and Hybrid technology the way to go? Why or why not?

How fast to various type of over the counter pain medications dissolve in water? Use a variety of brands and some of the newer "porous" technology.

Little boys love this one- I remember doing it in 4th grade and intend to do it with my students: Which foods grow fungus "best"? Take a sampling of foods and place some in dark places (like a cupboard) and some in sunlight. Check on them and have your son draw the items every dayin his log book. What does the bread in the sun look like? What does the bread in the cupboard on the same day look like? Be sure you have plenty of plastic containers... and paper towels under them.

Why and how does the moon affect the tides?


HTH! Find somethinghe is interested in and enjoys and he will have a lot more fun with it!
xoxo

 

[kmp1191]

my son did his on "Does Smell Affect Taste"....it was a lot of fun to do...blindfolding the neighbors and plugging their noses and making them taste different stuff. He didn't win any prizes, but did get 100%.

The one I wanted him to do was - "Does temperature affect popcorn?"
(found it on the internet)
And a friend of mine's son did his on water pollution. Put different kinds of items, ie wood,paper,food etc in baby food jars in water and let them sit for a few weeks....again, no prize, but a cool idea.
Oh, another one we wanted to do was, Can you really fry an egg on the sidewalk? , but it wasn't sunny enough to try it.

good luck and let us know what you choose!

 

[Evil Queen]

I am where you are basically, except my child got 6 weeks from start to finish.

His first idea, which band aid sticks better. Ok, not off the wall stuff, but what a great thing to share (espiecally here, with blisters and all). We had 4 "test" subjects doing different jobs, in different settings.

Then my sister, a 1st grade teacher (and Science Fair judge) at his school, said, "You can think of something more original". Please keep in mind, she wasn't being cruel in her statement, but my son's strengths are math and science and being she talks to his teachers everyday on some degree, she is told of his strong and weak points.

So now, it is "Which cooks better/faster? Hot dogs or sausage?" We are using 4 different cooking methods. Microwave, Grill, stovetop (water or frying type pan) and Solar cooking. (The solar cooking is an small spin off for further science fair material-we are in S FLorida and are using a hurricane spin on that).

I was never good at science nor science fair's, so I really am not getting into this, but DS10 doesn't know that.......

 

[beckmrk04]

I got first prize in a science fair when I was younger by handing out math tests, and each time the students took a test, I played either a rock song, country song, or classical song to see how music affects test scores. I have no idea what the results were- it was forever ago- but it was fun.

And I won.

I like the taste test ideas, and the teeth in soda ideas (but where do you get human teeth for this? )

 

[BeNJeNWaFFLe]

How corrosive is soda to a human tooth? Place teeth in different types of soda and...sadly...watch them dissolve over time. Monitor how long it takes each of the different kinds of sodas to dissolve the teeth.

I actually did that for my 7th grade science project. In the same project I also tested out different toothpastes.

Another easy one is to buy different colored cellophane. Plant some seeds (like string beans) and cover them with different colored cellophane. See which colors help growth and which don't.

Or test the lasting power of batteries. Buy different brands, and maybe some cheap flashlights or radios, put in the batteries and leave them on for days. You just have to make sure the flashlight or whatever is the exact same one for each set of batteries. See which lasts the longest. I remember some kids doing this in school and it was surprising to see the outcome. (I actually remember which brand lasted the longest and will only buy that brand to this day.)

 

[momrek06]

When my son was in the 4th grade he did a Science Fair Project on STARS!!

It was a great choice, as there was so much in the library, online, and in book stores on STARS.

Remember always pick a subject where there is allot of data and easily accessible to the student.

He was able to do a FAB job with the POSTER BOARD they give you for the Science Fair Project.

I had gone to a balloon store and ordered like 5 STAR balloons with a weight and had them right on his desk at the Fair and let me tell you everyone saw the STAR BALLOONS!!!

 

[MBeds]

My daughter did her's on "Does pepper make you sneeze?"
She put black pepper on a plate and asked several people to smell it...Did they sneeze or not?
The title of her project was "To Sneeze or Not to Sneeze"...Cute huh?

 

[N.Bailey]

Is this a project like a Science Fair?

My kids did projects on elements in January and minerals in March. My daughter chose platinum as an element and sapphire as her mineral. My son chose oxygen as his element and Lapis lazuli (not technically a mineral, but made up of several minerals) for his mineral.

They both did interactive poster boards for their minerals. This was the requirement of the project. They did poster boards (not interactive) and reports for their element. Again, that was the requirement for that project.

For their science fair project, they built a homemade generator and there is a lot of information on the web if that ideas at all interesting.

I know it's an easy one, but a couple years ago one of them did a science fair project on which battery lasts the longest. I know, it's super easy. We were shocked at the results though. Duracell batteries lasted the longest. We certainly weren't shocked by that, but we also tested generic batteries and while they didn't last as long, they were the least expensive making it the most cost effective battery available. For every Duracell you'd buy, you'd have to replace it twice to one Duracell, but it was 3 times as expensive to begin with. Of course a lot of variables come into play (namely price you initially pay), but it was interesting.

Good luck and have fun.

 

[foolishmortal]

not a fair I don't think. I think it is more a project they show to the class, as opposed to the whole getting judged for ribbons and all. Just for grades...at least that the way I am taking it.


Some awesome ideas so far...THANKS EVERYONE!!

Keep em coming if you want and I will show him tonight after baseball practice.

 

[Tinijocaro]

We just had our science fair last week and I had to help 3 of my kids get their projects together. Two of them, the kids were able to do the project by themselves. My 5th grader needed help, as his was an electomagnetic project.

I found that the kids attending the fair really enjoyed my two younger kids projects, because they could try it out and see how they worked for themselves- rather than reading about the science, they could experience it for themselves.

DD8 made a poster about quicksand and why it behaves the way it does with pictures included. Then she made a mixture of water and cornstarch. It behaves the same way as quicksand- when pressure is applied, it acts as a solid, when little to no pressure is applied, it acts as a liquid. She had three bowls of this stuff for the kids to try for themselves- they loved it. She had lots of kids hanging around her table wanting to try.

DS6 did a tornado in a bottle- we have one of those things you screw to the two bottles, but you can use duct tape if you don't have one. We colored the water and added glitter. The kids also loved trying this one out.

Both of these projects were very easy, yet enjoyed by everyone.

 

[mickeeemouse]

When I was student teaching I had to come up with a project to do with my fourth graders. I made a volcano. He could research some different places that have volcanos. Write down the latitude and longitude of where you could locate them. There are a lot of ideas that I have in my lesson. In the end he could make a paper mache volcano. He will love this. You can get a cup and build around it on a board (something like a pizza box cover would be good. Take newspaper put it around the cup and then take strips of paper and use paper mache glue. To make a volcano shape object. I think the basis is flour and water. I would have to look it up. Then he could paint it brown like a volcano and the big topper is he could make it explode on its own. With I think it is vinegar and baking soda and put a little red food coloring in it to make it look like lava. It is really cool, the kids in his class would love it. I have my paper down in my cellar with everything I did on the volcanos. If he is interested, just e-mail me dmarkusz2@aol.com and I can give you the other ideas that I did for my lesson plan. The kids really liked it and the fun part is he builds a neat volcano in the end.

 

[foolishmortal]

When I was student teaching I had to come up with a project to do with my fourth graders. I made a volcano. He could research some different places that have volcanos. Write down the latitude and longitude of where you could locate them. There are a lot of ideas that I have in my lesson. In the end he could make a paper mache volcano. He will love this. You can get a cup and build around it on a board (something like a pizza box cover would be good. Take newspaper put it around the cup and then take strips of paper and use paper mache glue. To make a volcano shape object. I think the basis is flour and water. I would have to look it up. Then he could paint it brown like a volcano and the big topper is he could make it explode on its own. With I think it is vinegar and baking soda and put a little red food coloring in it to make it look like lava. It is really cool, the kids in his class would love it. I have my paper down in my cellar with everything I did on the volcanos. If he is interested, just e-mail me dmarkusz2@aol.com and I can give you the other ideas that I did for my lesson plan. The kids really liked it and the fun part is he builds a neat volcano in the end.

This is what we would have went with but they actually had to do a volcano project last month. That was fun, we made the clay at home and then he got to use the clay to make the volcano. Did the whole lava and all. He had a blast with that but I don't think the teacher would appreciate re-using it for this...lol

 

[N.Bailey]

When I was student teaching I had to come up with a project to do with my fourth graders. I made a volcano. He could research some different places that have volcanos. Write down the latitude and longitude of where you could locate them. There are a lot of ideas that I have in my lesson. In the end he could make a paper mache volcano. He will love this. You can get a cup and build around it on a board (something like a pizza box cover would be good. Take newspaper put it around the cup and then take strips of paper and use paper mache glue. To make a volcano shape object. I think the basis is flour and water. I would have to look it up. Then he could paint it brown like a volcano and the big topper is he could make it explode on its own. With I think it is vinegar and baking soda and put a little red food coloring in it to make it look like lava. It is really cool, the kids in his class would love it. I have my paper down in my cellar with everything I did on the volcanos. If he is interested, just e-mail me dmarkusz2@aol.com and I can give you the other ideas that I did for my lesson plan. The kids really liked it and the fun part is he builds a neat volcano in the end.

If you choose this, please check with the school to make sure you're allowed. In our district, no one is allowed to make these. All the kids want to though.

 

[DizBelle]

I actually did that for my 7th grade science project. In the same project I also tested out different toothpastes.

Another easy one is to buy different colored cellophane. Plant some seeds (like string beans) and cover them with different colored cellophane. See which colors help growth and which don't.

Or test the lasting power of batteries. Buy different brands, and maybe some cheap flashlights or radios, put in the batteries and leave them on for days. You just have to make sure the flashlight or whatever is the exact same one for each set of batteries. See which lasts the longest. I remember some kids doing this in school and it was surprising to see the outcome. (I actually remember which brand lasted the longest and will only buy that brand to this day.)

You're going to tell us the brand right?

 

[mickeeemouse]

Nance,
I have to ask why would the school not let the kid's make a volcano? It just seems funny they are everyday household ingrediants. lol Just wondering

 

[pansmermaidzlagoon]

our district does not allow the explanatory/demonstrative type of science projects - we are only allowed to do the type that uses scientific method and produces data....i.e., which works better/faster, etc ...

we did the "Behind the Seeds Tour" at Epcot this fall and, at about the same time, learned about a Hydroponics store in our area. So, we were inspired! DH made a cheap set up out of a plastic bin with lid - cut two holes in top to hold plant cups - we bought cups, growing medium, nutrient, organic seeds, air bubbler or pump (think fish tank) and seed starter tray from hydroponics store. After starting seeds - we transferred 2 plants to soil - 2 plants to hydroponic system and measured the growth over a couple weeks. This won't help OP much, 'cause I would recommend at least a week and a half to start seeds and more than three weeks for growth - we only did three weeks and it wasn't enough to note any real differrence.

Luckily, district does not hand out ribbons or awards - I don't like that...all children display theirs at Science Fair night - and all receive a certificate. I think at the elementary level this goes a long way to fostering a love of science. The children are graded during a presentation in the classroom - and are graded based on their understanding of the material and their presentation of that understanding - not on the overall look of the project board etc - I think they really try to factor out the money spent/parental contribution issues - which is great because from what we have seen a the science fairs, not nearly enough kids have parents who get involved and encourage effort in this area. Parents should be involved - but I would hate to have those poor kids receive lowere grades because they don't have a flashy board or complex project.

As a family, we have really gotten into the projects and try to really encourage DD - I know from the bus stop, many just see it as an onerous task or inconveniance and I don't like what that conveys to the child. So, yay to all of us here with such great ideas!!!! Sorry I got a little OT.....

 

[Kimmumum]

My son just won first place in his science fair two weeks ago.

His was called "Does water color effect evaporation?"

it was actually really easy. We used 4 different food coloring (and a clear for a control). We started with the same amount of water in each cup and the same number of drops of food coloring. We put them on the kitchen counter so that they had the same sunlight (ours was not direct sunlight), the same temperature etc. We measured them once a week and took pictures once a week.