Science Projects: Tried and True Tips, Tricks and Topics

We've helped our children do an average of just over 2 science projects every year for the last 18 years.  Why are we already planning for our 10th grader to do one next spring? Here's why:

1.        Science projects reveal the order, intricacy and consistency of our world.  Whether your child studies motion or emotion, ants or plants, eggs or electricity, the scientific laws that apply to the area being studied will hold true.

2.       By completing science projects, children learn to “do” science, rather than simply study it.  Science is an action word that is the result of something the child has observed or wondered about.

3.       Science projects teach students the steps in the scientific method.  Children learn that true science is a process that  includes observing or wondering about something, making hypotheses,  repeatedly testing those hypotheses, then analyzing and interpreting the results of that testing.

4.       Science projects help a student learn to discern between actual scientific laws or legitimate  theories and pseudo-science based on hunches or theories that are not testable.

5.       Science projects are terrific across-the-curriculum projects that include nearly every academic field, except possibly history.

All of these projects we've either done or seen done:

1. What do yeast plants like to eat?

2. Does the amount of cloud cover affect how much the temperature drops?

3. Which battery lasts the longest?

4. What is the fastest way to work?

5. What factor makes a race car go fastest?

6. Do flying insects prefer a particular color of flower?

7. What works best to reduce the amount of oxidation in fruit?

8. How much better does a person hear when using two ears rather than one?

9. What material generates the most static electricity?

10. Does the age of a seed affect its germination rate?

11. What is the fastest way to ripen a banana?

12. What food does my hamster like best?

13. What effect does leaving the egg out of a recipe have on the results?

14. What makes a launched ball fly the farthest?

15. How does the slope of the terrain affect a person's heart rate when he rides a bike?

16. What color absorbs the most heat?

All of these projects we've either done or seen done:

1.       Does home-made pectin work as well as commercial pectin?

2.       Is home-dried fruit less expensive than store-bought dried fruit?

3.       How does the type of mountain bike suspension affect a rider’s visual acuity?

4.       Do home-made fire starters work as well as commercial fire starters?

5.       Could I use table scraps as a substitute for chicken feed?

6.       Is there a common household substance that repels termites?

7.       What factor of a font—size, color, spacing or style—has the greatest effect on reading speed?

8.       How does temperature affect the viscosity and pH of a liquid?

9.       How does surface area affect the cooling of a liquid?

10.   How does wing structure affect the flight of a paper airplane?

11.   Does the refrigerator water dispenser harbor dangerous germs?

12.   Do young children confuse brightly-colored medicines with candy?

13.   Does the size of the plate affect the size of the serving of food that is placed on it?

All of these projects we've either done or seen done:

1.       How does font style affect visual acuity?

2.       Does taking ginseng increase short-term memory?

3.       Can waste asphalt shingles be used as part of the aggregate in concrete without affecting the concrete’s strength?

4.       Does the water quality of a local stream meet current state standards?

5.       Can composting generate enough heat to aid in the heating of a household water supply?

6.       Does arsenic in pressure-treated wood leach from the wood into the ground?

7.       Will building a specially-insulated dog house help a dog who is afraid of thunder storms?

1. Start earlier than you think you need to start. Projects always take longer than you think they will. This will be the first step in making the whole science project process better.

2. Getting a good idea can be difficult, especially for high-school students. It's tricky to get a meaty project that doesn't require lots of expensive equipment. You will probably need to factor in some time and expense for lab analysis or special supplies or equipment.

3. Murphy’s Law will hold true at least once during the project. The ants in the ant farm will die, the printer will run out of ink just before you print the last color heading for the display board or the dog will chew the model car being used in the experiment.

4. Take lots of pictures! Good ones are worth a 1000 words, and 1000 words will take your 3^rd grader a long time to type.

5. Get a paper cutter. It will make the process of getting the display board ready much easier. It will also look neater.

6. Allow your children to type their own papers and display material. It’s more fun for them and is a way for them to hone typing skills, as long as you don’t let them get used to the “peck and poke” system of typing.

7. If a student has a real interest in a certain area, let him consider doing a second or third project in the same field. One of our sons spent 2 years on font aspects and another 2 on arsenic leaching.

8. Choose a catchy title. For projects of young students, this might include a play on words.

9. Don’t be afraid to try a project even if the topic is relatively new, and you’ve never seen much research on that topic. That’s actually a plus, since the judges get to review something they’ve not seen a dozen times before.

10. (The opposite of number 9)--Avoid really common topics, especially once your child is beyond elementary ages. Growing bread mold; comparing different types of batteries, microwave popcorn, or dish soap; or making models of volcanoes and tornadoes are interesting projects, but they’re so common as to be ho-hum for judges.

11. If mom or dad is handy and can guide a youngster in building a homemade "gizmo" to be used in the project, that actually strengthens the project. The gadget at the right is a launcher my son used to test a ball's flying distance. At some point all our kids built something-- an elestroscope to measure static electricity, chicken pens, a strainer to gather pectin. They generally enjoyed the process and learned much through it.

12.  Sometimes--especially in projects for young students--it's helpful to include a picture or diagram that explains the topic