Science Fair Project Ideas that promote Critical Thinking

[Dr. Keith]

Every year I have to help my kids come up with two science fair project ideas and I get tired of flipping through all the same old ideas. We have done a couple of really creative ones over the years, and one kid already picked a pretty good one for this year, but I am having trouble finding another without sticking a pen in my eye.

So, anyone have any good ideas that they have done or seen done?

Vinegar and baking soda volcano is out. Professor Doofenshmirtz already topped that category.

I was thinking of something having to do with applied kinesiology as they are playing those power band commercial on the science channel again. Both my kids were jumping up and down when they saw that junk. I'm just not sure how to phrase the hypothesis: Do magic bracelets really empty your wallet?

That gets to my real problem: I hate demonstration projects. Yes, you can float a paper clip in normal water. So what? I really like to see a useful question and fair attempt at answering it within the abilities of a school kid.

Here are a couple that we have enjoyed:

Does driving while on the phone impair your driving ability?
(Tested with kids playing driving video games while talking on a hands free headset. Hardest part was getting kids engaged in the game to actually talk.)

Does the size of a ball have an effect on the height of the bounce?
(Easy but fun.)

How does hose size effect the flow rate of a siphon?
(Started off as "how high can you make a siphon" until the civil engineer in the family remembered that siphons are effective up to about 20 feet.)

Which of four common boat hull shapes provides the least resistance?
(Will be doing this one next week.)

[Giggywig]

Here you go: Ideas for the science fair. (http://www.ehow.com/list_7332798_ideas-science-fair-project-creation.html)

[Dr. Keith]

Here you go: Ideas for the science fair. (http://www.ehow.com/list_7332798_ideas-science-fair-project-creation.html)

That hurt.

I also just ran into a glitch with the Power Balance idea: they don't show their demos on their website. They have a video that purports to be a demo test, but it doesn't show the actual tests. I sent them an email asking why.

[madurobob]

How about... homeopathic plant food?

Three batches of alfalfa or beans or some such in those cheap plastic greenhouses. One gets nothing but distilled water. One gets distilled water mixed with Miracle Grow at recommended dilution, one gets that same recommended dilution that is further diluted to a homeopathic 60C. Any difference between the distilled water and homeopathic plant food?

Or, you could do the same with water memory - all get distilled water, but one batch of water is yelled at and spoken to very harshly, an one spoken to quietly and lovingly.

[LordoftheLeftHand]

How about... homeopathic plant food?

Three batches of alfalfa or beans or some such in those cheap plastic greenhouses. One gets nothing but distilled water. One gets distilled water mixed with Miracle Grow at recommended dilution, one gets that same recommended dilution that is further diluted to a homeopathic 60C. Any difference between the distilled water and homeopathic plant food?

Or, you could do the same with water memory - all get distilled water, but one batch of water is yelled at and spoken to very harshly, an one spoken to quietly and lovingly.
Oh that is a good one, or maybe the whole thing about people playing music for their plants.
Or maybe have them do a serious test on some audiophile equipment or other hokey consumer products.

[RdDrgn93]

What grade level is this for?

[Subduction Zone]

If you are still considering those Power Band bracelets you should check out this video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H9C8al3rWDQ&nofeather=True

It shows a true double blind study of Power Bands. Spoiler alert .... they don't work. Not too surprising. What they did find is that when you do the typical Power Band tests that regardless of what the have on their wrist, when tested again they always did better on the second test.

ETA: The tests are simple enough so that you should be able to do them. The major expense would be getting your hands on several Power Bands.

[C_Felix]

Stuff with levers and or pullies and how they magnify force (and one can compare that to the distance traveled, ya know in a ratio)

[CDFingers]

Brainstorming:

They can grow the type of algae that produces burnable oil for biodiesel.
They can measure the difference in evaporation between a mulched and an unmulched garden.
They can chart the numbers of different races in their school/town/county/state over a period of 30 years using census data.
They can design and build a solar distillery that makes fresh water out of sea water.
They can study the change in level for the aquifer under their town over a period of ten years or more.
They can detail the change in local building codes over a century.
They can catalog the unused electronic devices in their homes then decide how to recycle them.
They can make a compost pile.
They can breed fruit flies and create a mutation.
They can measure the dissolved solids in various local water sources.

Disclaimer: I teach summers for the Upward Bound Original and the Math and Science programs.

CDFingers

[JonathanQuick]

Heat

Everyone from age 2 knows roughly what heat is.
But how is heat stored in matter?

Choose some common materials for the experiment, e.g.
marbles, plastic, copper, wood, water

Find a method of heating these materials to a constant known
temperature, such as 100 degrees celsius. A steam cone is
ideal, but perhaps you can use a double pan with water boiling
in the bottom.

Measure the weight of each material, and log the values.
200 to 500 grams are very suitable

Now measure exactly the same weight of water at room temperature
and put it in an insulated container, say a styrofoam cub. Cover it with a lid during stirring. (Why?) Use a scientific thermometer to measure the temperature of the water and log that value.

Now after the materials have equilibrated in the steam cone or double
pan, remove the one whose equal weight of water is in the test beaker
using tongs or insulated gloves.

Put the one material quickly into the room temp water and stir with the thermometer carefully. It will equilibrate in only a few seconds.

Measure the final temperature and log it.

Which material heats up the room temperature water the most and why?

What are your predictions? Why?

Graphing the results will be the simplest, most effective way to show which material holds the most heat internally.

Rather than give the students all the guidance, you can coach them to establish their own protocols by asking questions:

"Does it matter how much material or water we use?"

"Can we wait for an hour to measure the temperature? Why not?"

Kids will go for the metal as having the highest heat capacity. It will generally be the lowest because metals have the fewest number of vibrational modes for storing energy. Water is the big kahuna of heat.
Translational, rotational, and vibrational

Bonus experiment:

Weigh a cube of ice. Measure the temperature inside the freezer.
Put an equal weight of water in the insulated beaker and stir to equilibrium.

This is a trick question because the ice won't melt. But it will be wonderful for them to experience this problem first hand.

Go back and use 10 times the weight of ice for room temperature water.
This is still not enough to make the ice cube melt. Why?

Why does ice suck up so very much heat anyway? Well, for the same reason that we use it in our ice chests every summer. Ice at 0 celsius cools stuff down eighty times more effectively than water at 0 celsius. (80 times!)

Don't even make me go to steam.

Have fun storming the castle!

[JonathanQuick]

Stuff with levers and or pullies and how they magnify force (and one can compare that to the distance traveled, ya know in a ratio)

Cute outfit, Felix, but they're "pulleys."

We do want school kids to spell words correctly, don't we?

Hey, wasn't Dan Quayle "stupid" for misspelling "potatoe."

[ria_rokz]

Heat

Everyone from age 2 knows roughly what heat is.
But how is heat stored in matter?

Choose some common materials for the experiment, e.g.
marbles, plastic, copper, wood, water

Find a method of heating these materials to a constant known
temperature, such as 100 degrees celsius. A steam cone is
ideal, but perhaps you can use a double pan with water boiling
in the bottom.

Measure the weight of each material, and log the values.
200 to 500 grams are very suitable

Now measure exactly the same weight of water at room temperature
and put it in an insulated container, say a styrofoam cub. Cover it with a lid during stirring. (Why?) Use a scientific thermometer to measure the temperature of the water and log that value.

Now after the materials have equilibrated in the steam cone or double
pan, remove the one whose equal weight of water is in the test beaker
using tongs or insulated gloves.

Put the one material quickly into the room temp water and stir with the thermometer carefully. It will equilibrate in only a few seconds.

Measure the final temperature and log it.

Which material heats up the room temperature water the most and why?

What are your predictions? Why?

Graphing the results will be the simplest, most effective way to show which material holds the most heat internally.

Rather than give the students all the guidance, you can coach them to establish their own protocols by asking questions:

"Does it matter how much material or water we use?"

"Can we wait for an hour to measure the temperature? Why not?"

Kids will go for the metal as having the highest heat capacity. It will generally be the lowest because metals have the fewest number of vibrational modes for storing energy. Water is the big kahuna of heat.
Translational, rotational, and vibrational

Bonus experiment:

Weigh a cube of ice. Measure the temperature inside the freezer.
Put an equal weight of water in the insulated beaker and stir to equilibrium.

This is a trick question because the ice won't melt. But it will be wonderful for them to experience this problem first hand.

Go back and use 10 times the weight of ice for room temperature water.
This is still not enough to make the ice cube melt. Why?

Why does ice suck up so very much heat anyway? Well, for the same reason that we use it in our ice chests every summer. Ice at 0 celsius cools stuff down eighty times more effectively than water at 0 celsius. (80 times!)

Don't even make me go to steam.

Have fun storming the castle!

Oh dear, do you reallly want the children to use a styrofoam cub? Won't that promote animal abuse?

Why is it acceptable for you to make typing errors or a mistake, but you belittle and demean anyone else who does it?

[Drachasor]

Do you want it to promote or demonstrate critical thinking?

Demonstrate..plenty of good ideas.

Promote....well, that should be a psychological experiment on how easily people buy into some given crap.

[kookbreaker]

FWIW, one of the neater Science Fair displays I ever saw was answering the question of 'Can dogs and cats sense earthquakes in advance and flee the scene'. The girl who ran it examined newspaper classifieds for lost & found animals for a couple of random periods that were earthquake free, and for the period right before and earthquake. I thought it was a clever little bit of mythbusting.

[Dr. Keith]

Very trollish of me to post and vanish, but I wanted to return to thank you all for your great suggestions. I'm bookmarking this for future reference.

We did the boat hull test over the Thanksgiving break and it went very well. The hypothesis was shown to be wrong and the data was really nicely distributed. Also had a great time doing it with my father-in-law and my daughter. He really gets into teaching the kids how to do things in his shop.

The other daughter came up with an idea on her own that is somewhat skeptical, very grade appropriate (5th) and piques her interests. She is going to test the veracity of various claims on how to get permanent ink out of clothing. She has several methods that are supposed to work, a couple of brands of permanent ink and a stack of swatches of fabric from her grandmother, the mad quilter. She has some time as hers isn't due 'til January, but I'll try to report back.

It seems that so many of ideas on the internet are of the demonstration type, rather than actual investigations. I try really hard to steer them towards answering a question that they can't find a definitive answer to with ease. A question they have an interest in, but that seems to have multiple answers. It is harder now than it was when we were kids, but there is so much misinformation out there that teaching them to be better consumers of information may be just as important as the scientific method. Maybe more important.

ETA: HAHA, I didn't realize there were actual rant tags on this forum. Nice!