Elementary School Science Projects-Novel or Overdone?

[Buffy]

Okay, its getting to be that time of year, and my daughter has to start thinking about her science fair project (4th grade US). Last year it seemed like everyone did the "lets scrape some gunk from the sink and see what grows!" The most fun was popping baloons with citrus -based air freshener (although I was at a loss to understand what the scientific significance of this was, they did follow the scientific method and asked "what substance will pop a baloon.").

 

So do we have any elementary school types out there? What's hot? What's overdone? What have you never seen before?

 

Cheers,

Buffy

[Chemspiration]

Well I once made electricity from steam to be different. Most of the class did stupid things like whick material is stronger against forces. ceran wrap, paper towel. cloth, just really dumb experiments. So i decided to take the fare with my steam turbine electrical genrator.

 

Basically you have a sealed pressure safe vessel. you must have a valve with a pressure gage and a saftey release valve. copper pipe quarter In diameter was then attached to the opening of the valve and then coiled for about 6 to ten inches. the open end of the copper pipe was mounted and pointed directly at the fan blades of the generator. Now the tank was filled half full and the heated till a steam was liberated. pressure rises to extremes the valves is released and the pressurized steam is propelled into the fan blades like a hurricane.

You touch the wires and voila something that will astound your kid and the fare judges...

 

good luck :)

[Fishteacher73]

An oldie, but goodie is which color of light produces the best growth in plants.

 

This just needs a few colored bulbs, a few cheap potted plants (Raddish seeds work very well and are cheap).

 

Just set up: plant a few seeds in identical pots (same soil mixture, etc).

 

Put each plant in a closet with with a certain color bulb (white, red, green, blue) and one with no bulb(control).

 

Water all plants on the same schedule and have the same photoperiod (length of time the light is on) and measure growth at specific intervals (every 2-3 days is usually pretty good).

 

This is a fun "hands-on" experiment that is pretty cheap, but also shows the difference in wavelengths and the nature of photosynthesis.

 

If you like this idea and would like sopme more info lety me know and I'll be glad to help.

[Turtle]

How about little concrete bricks, one with rebar, one without. (By the way a kid did this 30 years ago & won) You make them yourself of course. Then you set them on supports under their ends, like little bridges) & then when the judges come by, you set a heavy weight on the non-rebar brick & it breaks, & then you set the same weight on the rebar brick & it doesn't break.

As I say, this kid won. I built a stupid paper mache lizzard & it didn't (win that is) Godd luck :hyper:

[Beef_Bourito]

If you're looking for judges approval, I've heard they really like it when children analyse growing and/or living things (e.g. as mentioned before how the color of light affects plant growth or studying an ant colony, anything that hasn't been tought in class) they like seeing children reach conclusions on their own rather than have them handed to them.

Another thing you can do is apply a concept in a demonstration.

Average projects like paper mache lizards get average positions, to win the competition the child should go above and beyond what is required, never think "Oh, they won't notice that." because the winning child is the one who has a flawless experiment or demonstration.

I can't really give you any specific ideas because I don't know what grade your child is in, that could give me a better idea for what to suggest.

[UncleAl]

If you want to win a Science Fair you must punch the judges deep into their heads. As we say in industry, KISS - Keep It Simple, Stupid. Keep it cheap, too. Make it something a kid can do.

 

Buy a few rolls of adding machine tape. Draw a long line on both sides down the middle of a long strip, then cut into about 3-foot lengths. For the learning make it a green line on one side and red on the other. For the project, black and black! You will also need sticky tape (double-sided is nice for the project) and a pair of scissors. WARNING! This will not work unless you can count to four.

 

Band #1: Take a 3-foot strip and bring its short ends together like a hat band, overlapping red on red and green on geen. Tape across both sides (with double-sided tape, one strip across will do it).

 

Band #2: Like Band #1 BUT rotate 1/2 twist before taping, red and green overlap as do green and red.

 

Band #3: Like Band #1 BUT rotate twice times 1/2 twist in the same sense before taping, red on red and green on green.

 

Band #4: Like Band #1 BUT rotate three times 1/2 twist in the same sense before taping, red and green overlap as do green and red.

 

Take each band in turn. Pinch to scissors snip along the drawn line only. Proceed to cut all the way around, only on the line, until the cut arrives at the starting point. Make the final snip to completely sever the band along the line drawn down its middle. Longer starting strips are easier to handle when twisted.

 

Band #1 obviously falls into two identical pieces. After your daughter demonstrates that to the whole class and the teacher especially (make it a really big overblown yawn), have the teacher cut Band #2 the same way. Have stuff for making lots of bands on the spot. You may have problems in a Catholic school. Oh yes indeed!

 

Take an unlined 1/2 twist band. Start at the center and draw a line only on one side, down the middle, until you come back to your starting point. Careful! Don't ever lift your pencil or crayon! Do it correctly! Draw a line close to one edge and go around, proceeding hard by only that edge, until you come back to your starting point. Nice, yes?

 

After your daugher does the demo, have her think about it. How does it work? Don't look at the answer until you try the demo.

 

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