Science Fair Projects

Science and technology are at the heart of many of the important issues currently facing the United States: energy, climate change, population growth, disease, hunger, bioethics, and more.  Not only do these issues affect the quality of our lives today, but they will have a major impact on the future of our country and the world.

These issues are too important to ignore, but past presidential elections paid little attention. Science Debate 2008 is a grassroots initiative devoted to focusing more attention on these important areas.

Their effort has paid off and the 2 major party candidates have both provided answers to 14 carefully crafted questions. We recommend visiting www.sciencedebate2008.com to read what Senators McCain and Obama have to say.

Here’s a chance to use your creativity to actually do something important and useful - Help improve the world. The PBS series, Design Squad, is holding a design contest for kids ages 5 to 19. The goal is to recycle, reuse and re-engineer everyday materials into new inventions that can either: move things or people; protect the environment; or be used for indoor or outdoor play. The grand prize is $10,000, a Dell laptop and a trip to Boston, where the show is filmed, so the winner can see their design being built. Four finalists will win Dell laptops.  The contest runs through June 30 2008. For contest rules and more information, go to http://pbskids.org/designsquad/contest/index.html

These are the titles of some winning science fair projects from the 2008 Coriell Science Fair. About 300 students, in 6th through 12th grades, participated. IMPORTANT TIP: Here’s an observation that has not been mentioned in most instructions for science fairs. I found many of the titles intriguing, and I’m sure the judges did, too. Those students obviously cared enough to spend some time choosing a name that would create some interest in their project. Which projects are you most drawn to? 

TITLES OF WINNING SCIENCE FAIR PROJECTS

 Category: Behavioral and Social Sciences

• Are Rules Meant to be Broken?
• Why Are Teens Stressed?
• Ringtones My Teachers Can’t Hear
• Testing the Accuracy of Eyewitness Testimony
• What Affects People’s Recycling Behavior?
• Battle of Brands

Category: Botany

• How Different Types of Water Effect Plant Growth
• Will Miracle Grow Increase the Germination Rate of Lima Beans?
• Effects of caffeine on plants
• New Green Fertilizer? Urine!

Category: Chemistry

• Is the Rust a Must? A Study on the Use of Anti-oxidants on Iron Corrosion
• Solubility and Temperature
• Caustic Cola

Category: Engineering

• Burn, Baby, Burn : A Study of Drywall Resistance Towards Flame
• Target Practice : Engineering for Accuracy

 Category: Environmental Sciences

• Elegan-t Hormones
• Murky Waters: How Much Pollution in the Delaware and Cooper Rivers
• Banking on Saving the World
• Composting : Putting Waste to Work
• How Acid Rain Affects Seed Germinations

Category: Mathematics

• Mathematical Analysis of Tornadoes in the U.S.

Category: Medicine and Health

• Asthma Screening in Urban versus Suburban Schools
• Dieting Worms
• Toothpaste and Bacteria Growth
• Obesity in Children : City vs. Suburbs
• Oh What A Pain . . . Migraine!
• What Repels Mosquitoes Best?

Category: Physics

• Does a Kiai Really Increase the Force of a Strike?
• The Science of Motion - A Pendulum Query
• The Physics of Cheating in Baseball

Although I usually write about good science fair projects, this story caught my interest. It’s certainly a situation you do not want happening to you.

A school science project caused fear and panic on a New York City subway train when the electronics short-circuited and began smoking.  The science project, carried inside a backpack, was a model of an elevator and contained a battery, wires and a motor.  Even though the engineering student tried to reassure his fellow passengers that it was not a bomb, people panicked and fled as he tried to disassemble the model. Police questioned and released the student, who apologized for scaring everyone. 

This science fair project recently caught my attention. Whether it won a prize or not, it made me think about the food we eat and how it affects us in so many different ways. The project was titled “Fuzzy Brained Mice.”

Note: Many science fairs prohibit experiments using live animals, so please check the rules first to be sure.

The student built a wooden maze and trained four mice to run through it.  At first, all of the mice were treated the same, given the same food and water, and after a few weeks were all able to run the maze in about 20 seconds. The mice were then divided into two groups; the control group continued on the same diet, while the test group received Yellow Dye #5 in their water.

The results of this experiment? The test mice that drank the dyed water had trouble navigating the maze, and increased their time to over 100 seconds after only 1 day! Over the next few days, they became more confused and their performance worsened until they needed over 200 seconds.  The good news was that when the dye was removed from their water, the test mice improved their performance back to the previous level.

What are the implications of this for people? Many researchers have found a link between food additives and behavioral problems.  And recently, the American Academy of Pediatrics published an article acknowledging there is “accumulating evidence that neurobehavioral toxicity may characterize a variety of widely distributed chemicals.”  In other words, many common food additives may cause ADHD (attention deficit hyperactivity disorder) or other behavioral problems in some individuals.  For more information visit the Feingold association at feingold.org 

Here are a few science fair projects dealing with food that won prizes in their local contests. 

- Which gender has more sensitive taste buds? (elementary school) The student set up an experimental taste test using several different flavors of a popular brand of jelly beans. Her hypothesis was that girls would be better able to distinguish the different tastes. 

- Will people change their choice of meal at a fast food restaurant when given nutrition facts? (middle school) The hypothesis was that knowing how many calories and how much fat was in a meal would lead people to change their minds and buy healthier food. 

- Do conventionally grown fruits have higher levels of toxins than organically grown fruit? (high school) The student investigated whether there were higher levels of toxins in the conventionally grown produce, even after washing. The experiment looked at whether there was a difference in the life spans of fruit flies fed organic versus conventional fruit.   

 These examples were creative and interesting ideas for science projects. However, keep in mind that simply having a good science fair project idea is not enough. You must also know how to state your hypothesis, design and perform your experiment using the scientific method, and analyze and present the results. Learn more about doing science fair projects. 

 Winning science fair project ideas

Many students want to do science fair projects. For others, it’s an assignment they would rather not have. In either case, the first step is to choose a great science fair project idea.

There are already many websites that have lists of suggested topics,  so I’m not going to repeat those here. Instead, I think that the best way to find great ideas is to look at science fair projects that actually won a prize. 

There are two places to find these projects. The first is by searching through the published media. The second is from you, the readers. If you would like your winning project listed here, simply describe it using the comments area or in an e-mail. Great science fair project ideas and topics will be chosen from those submitted.

I know that science fair projects can be a challenge, so I hope this blog helps get you started.