Curated OER
Fossil Fuels vs. Alternative Fueling Systems
Fourth graders brainstorm the differences between the fossil fuels that people use in their transportation now and what they could use to minimize greenhouse gas emissions. They use a variety of techniques from webquests to writing...
Curated OER
Got Biodiversity?
Students examine the concept of biodiversity. Using the internet, they complete small activities in which they work together. Using the information they collected, they create a class book, make murals and write in their journals.
Curated OER
Toys in Space
Young scholarsexplore how gravity affects the operation of toys and simple machines. They watch a video and experiment with simple machines.
Curated OER
"To Terraform or Not to Terraform?"
Students analyze an article written by an engineer at NASA proposing colonizing Mars with human explorers on the fastest track possible. They are invited to react to the article through several activities.
Curated OER
Construct with Solids
Students discover which properties of solids lend themselves to building a tower through hands on trial and error and observation of others as they are building. They write down the steps it took them to build the tower and label an...
Curated OER
Design Your Own Building
Students explore the use of design principles in the real world. They evaluate how problems can be solved using design principles. In groups, students design the floor plan for a building of their choice.
Curated OER
The Search for Secret Agents
Students embark on a scavenger hunt around the school looking for indoor air pollution and mapping source locations. They predict and observe sources of indoor air pollution, understand and give examples of technologies we use related to...
Curated OER
Endocrine Excitement!
Students are divided into a group of hormones and a group of receptors. The hormones have to find their matching receptors, and the pair, once matched, perform a given action. This activity helps students examine the specificity of...
Discovery Education
Discovery Education: Science Fair Central Choose a Project Idea
This helpful page from Discovery Education provides science fair ideas in Life Science, Earth Science, and Biology. Testable questions to get you started are listed beneath each domain.
Science Buddies
Science Buddies: Acid Rain and Aquatic Life
Chemicals from the Earth's atmosphere are making their way down to the planet. Not in spaceships, but in rain. The acid rain can infiltrate ground water, lakes, and streams. How does acid rain affect aquatic ecosystems?
Science Buddies
Science Buddies: Primary Productivity and Plankton
The oceans contain both the earth's largest and smallest organisms. Interestingly they share a delicate relationship linked together by what they eat. The largest of the ocean's inhabitants, the Blue Whale, eats very small plankton,...
Science Buddies
Science Buddies: What Goes Up, Must Come Down
Standing on a balcony near the top of the 179-foot tall Tower of Pisa, a young scientist dropped two iron balls into the crowd below. The scientist, young Galileo, was not trying to knock his fellow professors on the head, but was trying...
Science Buddies
Science Buddies: The Big Dig
Even though many cities have recycling programs, a lot of trash still ends up in the dump. Find out which materials will break down and which materials won't. Will the results of this experiment change which products you often buy?
Other
Cdli: Science Fairs Homepage
At this site from the Center for Distance Learning and Innovation there's a monstrous listing of possible science fair projects. You can choose from primary (grades 1-4), elementary (grades 4-6), intermediate (grades 7-9), or senior...
Science Buddies
Science Buddies: Growing, Growing, Gone! An Experiment on Nitrogen Fertilizers
Plants need nitrogen to build proteins and nucleic acids to grow healthy stems and leaves. Though the Earth's atmosphere is made up of 79% nitrogen, the form of nitrogen found in the atmosphere cannot be used by plants. In this...
Science Buddies
Science Buddies: A Matter of Degrees: Tilt of Earth's Axis Affects the Seasons
In this science fair project, use a globe and a heat lamp to investigate how the angle of the Sun affects global warming. This project includes the objective, background questions, a list of all the materials you'll need, and the...
Science Buddies
Science Buddies: The Power of Heat Is Right Under Your Feet!
You might know that we are able to get free energy from the Sun, the wind, and water, but we can also get free energy from Earth itself. This source of energy is called geothermal energy and it is all about taking advantage of the heat...
NASA
Nasa Space Place: Do a Science Fair Project!
Your science fair project may do one of three things: test an idea (hypothesis), answer a question, and/or show how nature works. Learn the steps involved in a project and get some great topic ideas.