8th Grade Science Fair Project Ideas ?

[Zandy595]

It's only the second week of school and DS's teacher already has them getting started on their projects.

Anyone have any cool/interesting ideas? DS hates doing big projects so I'm hoping he'll find something that he will actually enjoy working on.

 

[scottishduffy]

Found a website that has tons of ideas. It even has a quiz your child can take which will ask about their interests and then recommend a project based on that.

http://www.sciencebuddies.org/science-fair-projects/recommender_register.php

Maybe it'll help. Good luck!

 

[golfgal]

One we were going to do but got out of it by moving was to test sun screen. Since you are in Florida this would work for you easier then us up north. We were going to take someone that was sensitive to the sun (DH) tape off areas on his stomach and apply various SPF's of sunscreen to see what worked better. Then we were going to tape off his back and apply different amounts of the "worst" sun screen to see if adding more of a lower SPF would make a difference. I think we were going to use a teaspoon, table spoon and 1/4 cup or something like that. I would be interested if that works or not--hopefully someone will do that one.

 

[Mouse House Mama]

Make a battery out of citrus fruit. If you do it right you can light up a lightbulb.

 

[BLTtinkerbell]

Found a website that has tons of ideas. It even has a quiz your child can take which will ask about their interests and then recommend a project based on that.

http://www.sciencebuddies.org/science-fair-projects/recommender_register.php

Maybe it'll help. Good luck!

I showed my kids this website & they think it is great. Thanks for sharing!

 

[Lisa loves Pooh]

My 9th grade project was the Affects of Magnetism on Seed Germination. Very easy for an 8th grader to do.


I took a seed starter tray--potty soil and planted "easy" seeds and then used a roll of magnetic tape--and rolled out strips across the rows.

I had a control seed starter tray with no magnets.

It was winter, so my seed tray had a cover and I parked both trays on a dresser in front of a window in my room.

In my project--the magnetized seeds did sprout quicker. I was very proud of my efforts b/c I HATED science fair projects and never could come up with a cool idea. The idea did come off of a suggestion book.

 

[Turnbull]

Volcanoes!

 

[AprilShowers]

DD did a project on the 5 Second Rule. It got her a Superior rating at the State Science Fair. Let me know if you would like more details.

DD's have also done a project on Reflexes & response times & one about carbonation. They both received Superior ratings at the local level, and advanced to the regional level but only received excellent ratings. They were still good projects though.

 

[laurie31]

One we were going to do but got out of it by moving was to test sun screen. Since you are in Florida this would work for you easier then us up north. We were going to take someone that was sensitive to the sun (DH) tape off areas on his stomach and apply various SPF's of sunscreen to see what worked better. Then we were going to tape off his back and apply different amounts of the "worst" sun screen to see if adding more of a lower SPF would make a difference. I think we were going to use a teaspoon, table spoon and 1/4 cup or something like that. I would be interested if that works or not--hopefully someone will do that one.

ooh, my DD did that one last year (4th grade)! She won 3rd place.

We used photographic paper to show the effects of the sunscreen, which was applied to a piece of glass that she put over sections of the paper. Then she exposed the paper to the sun for 5 minutes. It was amazing how the good sunscreens protected the paper. FWIW, she found that the best were Hawaiian Tropic, Coppertone and...are you ready? The generic WalMart brand! The worst was anything that sprayed on, even the very expensive Aveeno. We did use all the same SPF factor. Her hypothesis was that a more expensive sunscreen would be better. It turned out that price had nothing to do with effectiveness. It was the THICK ones that worked.

Perhaps if a thicker coating of the spray ones had been used, they might work better on a real person. She did measure the liquids to keep the amount used consistent, but it was hard to measure the sprays.


scottishduffy, THANKS for that website!!