Science Fair Projects?

[TwingleMum]

DOes anyone have any ideas for a really good science fair project for 4-6 th grade?? We are researching project ideas and have not found any. Last year he did a project about smokes effects on plants. The year before are name brand batteries really better?? Thanks for the help.

 

[happily single]

I really wish my dd14 choose this (but she didn't)...the effectiveness of mouth wash brands? My friend did this in 6th grade and won an award. You swab someone mouth, check the number of "germs", add mouthwash and re-check "germs" More or less. Obviously I'm being very basic here

 

[mamacatnv]

Difference in heart rates and blood pressure based on type of music being listened too.

One that I thought was cool last year was baked goods using eggs vs egg substitutes. It was done by a kid allergic to eggs

Surfaces at the school with the most germs ie drinking fountain handle, door handle and bathroom handle

Plants - grow better with tap water or microwaved water (cooled)? this one is currently growing in my window sills for DD's project this year

We grew sugar and salt crystals to see which one grew bigger, etc. (this was really cool!)

How much salt in water for an egg to float

Freeze and defrost rates of different fluids - water, soda, kool-aid, apple jucie and milk

 

[laurie31]

My DDs have done the following:

which cat food do cats prefer (you need some kindly neighbors who will let you feed their cats for several days...)

Which bubble gum blows the biggest bubble

Which drink makes the stickiest spot on the floor

Does adding color to foods change the perception of what flavor it is

comparing waste created by using prepackaged lunches versus homemade lunches

 

[Handbag Lady]

I did a great one at that age. What are the Effects of Music on Plants? I'm sure, though, it is very similar to the one on smoke.

I had three plants, all the same type and size, numbered them, and took a picture of them. The first one went in a room where heavy rock was played 24/7, the other one went in another room and got classical music. The third one hung out in the kitchen with my mom all day as the control.

All had the same amount of water and sun.

The classical plant far outgrew the other two.

 

[aprilgail2]

I was so happy when they cut the science fair to only 5th and 6th grades in our district--imagine my surprise whe nI found out that my daughters honors 7th grade classes had to do a math fair. For anyone who thinks the science fair is boring--the math fair is worse!!!

Science fair- effects of aspirin on plant growth
effects of caffeine on plant growth
Does color effect taste-- change the color of a bunch of jellos with food dye and have a bunch of people taste it and guess the flavors.

 

[blana]

Which freezes first, water or salt water? (Can use various concentrations of salt.)

Or jazz it up & use water vs. soda/milk/juice.

 

[luvmy3]

Things we have done for our science fairs. In the lower grades, it is a demonstration, in 6th is when its is an actual competition.

color chromatography
oobleck
make your own yogurt
basic electronic building using a breadboard
electroplating using household materials (well household for us when you live with a scientist)
identifying different microorganisms from various sources using a microscope
effects of watering plants with different liquids (water, soda, vinegar, etc)
rocks and mineral collection

There are others but I'm drawing a blank.

 

[Green Tea]

The best one I ever saw was about the reliability of witness testimony and identification. Subjects were shown a short video the participant made....a crime of some sort, but not told what they were viewing it for. Then they were asked a set of questions....what color was the suspect's hair, Which direction did he run, color of shirt, and other identifying type of questions. I'm sure there was something proven or disproven. Cant remember the actual question but it was a very memorable demo.

 

[Geoff_M]

I think it's important to remember that the intent of a science fair project should be about understanding the scientific process, and not just trying to do something "cool". The student needs to come up with a hypothesis to test, design an experiment to test the hypothesis, and then see if it's wrong... or "lives another day". I like the "Mythbuster" approach to science fair projects. Have your kid try to come up with a notion that is held by their peers and see if it holds water.

Our youngest child came up with a pretty good one. It seems that he and most of his handheld video game loving friends believed that "dead" batteries will come back to life for a period of time when placed in a freezer overnight. (There's tons of these stories on the playground.) I challenged him to come up with an experiment to test this notion. With help from this teacher, here's what he did:
1) He had two groups of batteries. In each case he'd place them in a flashlight and turn it on until he could no longer detect any light coming from the bulb.
2) He placed one set of the drained batteries in the freezer overnight and the other group on the counter.
3) The next day he got the frozen batteries out of the freezer and allowed them to warm up to room temperature.
4) He then tried both sets of batteries back into the flashlight to see how long, if at all, he could detect light coming from the blub. If his hypothesis was correct, the frozen batteries would work longer than the ones left out on the counter.

 

[Luv Bunnies]

I was so happy when they cut the science fair to only 5th and 6th grades in our district--imagine my surprise whe nI found out that my daughters honors 7th grade classes had to do a math fair. For anyone who thinks the science fair is boring--the math fair is worse!!!

Science fair- effects of aspirin on plant growth
effects of caffeine on plant growth Does color effect taste-- change the color of a bunch of jellos with food dye and have a bunch of people taste it and guess the flavors.

We have the plant/caffeine project on the window sill right now for DS13 who is in 7th grade. First, he planted beans in soil and let them germinate for 10 days, using plain water. After they had popped up above the soil, he started the experiment. He filled three 2-liter soda bottles with water. To one bottle, he added 400 mg of caffeine (2 No-Doz tablets). To another, he added 200 mg of caffeine (1 No-Doz tablet). The other is just plain water. He's been watering the bean sprouts with the mixtures every three days, and then taking pictures of the plants and charting their growth. The plant that's being given the most caffeine is going crazy! The bean shell has popped off the top and little leaves are starting to grow. The other two are doing OK, but the one with plain water is the smallest.

In 5th grade, he watered house plants with varying levels of sugar (Sprite, Gatorade and water). The plants that were given the most sugar turned black, got moldy and died. I guess that's what it does to our insides!

 

[Cogswel_Cogs]

What about listening to music/other sounds/nothing while doing puzzles like sudoko.

I find I do this type of puzzle noticably faster when listening to music. Since music basically is math very similar to sudoko concept I think it might be why.

 

[iheartdisney]

I did a great one at that age. What are the Effects of Music on Plants? I'm sure, though, it is very similar to the one on smoke.

I had three plants, all the same type and size, numbered them, and took a picture of them. The first one went in a room where heavy rock was played 24/7, the other one went in another room and got classical music. The third one hung out in the kitchen with my mom all day as the control.

All had the same amount of water and sun.

The classical plant far outgrew the other two.

Mythbusters did this many years ago, and the death metal greenhouse was the biggest. But they did find that any noise beat the silent ones.

This year will be DD's first science fair project, and she wants to see which type of beverage will make the biggest Mentos geyser. Should be fun!

I remember doing one on growing sugar crystals.
My favorite science fair project was tracking what animals inhabited our local state park by using their footprints. My dad and i woke up super early one Saturday and drove out to the Sand Hills and made plaster casts of all of the animal prints we could find, and then I matched those prints with a book of animal prints. If you wanted to go fort he ick factor, you could use scat instead of prints. One of my kids' favorite books to look at is one I got in Yellowstone, called "Who pooped in the park" and illustrates the different droppings.

 

[Cogswel_Cogs]

Mythbusters did this many years ago, and the death metal greenhouse was the biggest. But they did find that any noise beat the silent ones.


I would think then it has to do with vibation. I mean if I remeber my 80's correctly. I guess that makes sense that if a plant is to vibrte more either it causes the soil to be in more dynamic contact with the roots or th plant with the air. I wonder how the plants would have done with a Soduko puzzle

 

[Ceila]

There are a lot of great books about science fair projects - both the school library and the public library here have a good selection. I think it's much better for the student to come up with the idea (with guidance) instead of mom or dad just handing them a list of ideas. And, as Geoff said, the important thing is for the student to learn about the scientific process.

 

[YO's Mom]

We currently have a bin full of worms composting in my basement so that my daughter can test her hypothesis that if you give composting worms a choice of 4 foods that are good for them, they will choose fruits over grains. She is in third grade and came up with this one on her own.

 

[Albort]

my 5th grade science project was about the "A Frame"

Won myself an award, went to county science fair. :]

 

[3boymthr]

My oldest did his project on Nuclear Fusion vs. Nuclear Fission. The real life applications, the myths, how the use of nuclear fusion has changed, the history of the scientists who worked to bring nuclear energy into being and how it was discovered. He did a LOT of research, reading wise, had a lot of photos and multiple paragraphs under each photo on his board and then a model of the splitting of an atom. It wasn't exactly a unique topic. It wasn't creative, in that the project was something that anyone could have done but the teachers really appreciated the research paper aspect of it and he did get an A.