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Science Buddies

Science Buddies: Forensic Science: Building Your Own Tool for Identifying Dna

For Students 9th - 10th
When biologists want to separate different pieces of DNA, RNA, or proteins they use a technique called gel electrophoresis. In this science project you'll build a gel electrophoresis chamber and use it to discover how many components are...
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Activity
Science Buddies

Science Buddies: Bacterial Transformation Efficiency

For Students 9th - 10th
Is it possible to take advantage of microorganism's sophisticated makeup, short doubling times and cheap growth media to mass produce medically and commercially useful proteins? This is possible with a few simple genetic manipulations....
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Science Buddies

Science Buddies: Does a Cell Phone Conversation Affect Reaction Time?

For Students 9th - 10th
Does talking on a cell phone make one a more dangerous driver? Here is an experiment you can do to investigate whether reaction time is adversely affected by a simultaneous phone conversation.
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Science Buddies

Science Buddies: Blas Ting Flu Viruses

For Students 9th - 10th
Remember going to the doctor and getting vaccine shots? It's no fun getting poked with a needle, but fortunately, a vaccine gives you protection against a serious illness for years to come. This project will show you why.
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Science Buddies

Science Buddies: Camera Lens Testing

For Students 6th - 8th
This activity helps students learn more about cameras, and how to take better pictures.
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Science Buddies

Science Buddies: The Tree of Life I (Basic)

For Students 9th - 10th
Imagine that a biologist arrived at your big family reunion and had no idea who were sisters, cousins, aunts, uncles, etc., but tried to sort it out by how all of you look. Just based on how you look, would s/he be able to guess whether...
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Activity
Science Buddies

Science Buddies: Using a Laser to Measure the Speed of Light in Jello

For Students 9th - 10th
Think it takes expensive, sophisticated equipment to measure the speed of light? Think again. Outfit yourself with a simple handheld laser pointer, a protractor, and Jell-O, and you're ready to get started.
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Activity
Science Buddies

Science Buddies: Learning Your A, G, C's (And T, Too)

For Students 6th - 8th
This is a project about the "molecular alphabet" of DNA. With just four "letters," it manages to keep track of the plan for an entire person, and keep a complete copy in nearly every cell. This project will help you start learning this...
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Activity
Science Buddies

Science Buddies: The Wright Stuff: Using Kites to Study Aerodynamics

For Students 6th - 9th
If you are interested in aerodynamics, wait for a windy day and go fly a kite. This Science Buddies project gives you many ideas to investigate as experiment with shape, size, and ways to fly the kite. The Science Buddies project ideas...
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Science Buddies

Science Buddies: Jumping Distance

For Students 9th - 10th
With this Science Buddies experiment, you will see if you can jump farther if you increase the distance you run before you jump The Science Buddies project ideas are set up consistently beginning with an abstract, objective, and...
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Activity
Science Buddies

Science Buddies: The Design Process: Creating a Stronger Truss

For Students 9th - 10th
This is an interesting project that explores which geometrical shapes make the strongest bridge truss structures. It is a good introduction to the engineering design process. You'll design three different trusses, and use online...
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Activity
Science Buddies

Science Buddies: Rise to the Occasion: Investigating Yeast Fermentation

For Students 3rd - 8th
Did you ever wonder how yeast makes bread dough rise? This project will show you what yeast does to make this happen. You'll also investigate the conditions yeast needs to grow.
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Science Buddies

Science Buddies: Divide and Conquer: Proving Pick's Theorem for Lattice Polygons

For Students 4th - 8th
If you like to play Tetris then you might like this project. You'll learn something interesting about the mathematics of complex shapes.
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Activity
Science Buddies

Science Buddies: How Are Antibodies Used for Blood Typing?

For Students 3rd - 7th
The human immune system has various ways of responding to an infection caused by bacteria or viruses. Our bodies produce proteins (antibodies) that are highly specific for the infectious agent as a part of our "humoral" immune response....
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Science Buddies

Science Buddies: Throwing You Some Curves: Is Red or Blue Longer?

For Students 6th - 8th
This a straightforward, but interesting, project in geometry. It is a good first proof to try on your own. You should be able to figure it out by yourself, and you'll gain insight into a basic property of circles.
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Activity
Science Buddies

Science Buddies: Build a Motorboat Powered by Surface Tension

For Students 3rd - 8th
If you look carefully, you could find dozens of similar interesting phenomena that are all linked to the surface tension of water. Here is a project that will help you understand and measure the properties of water surface tension.
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Activity
Science Buddies

Science Buddies: How Fast Can You Shoot a Hockey Puck?

For Students 6th - 8th
In this project, you'll need: a puck, a hockey stick, a tape measure, at least one helper with a stopwatch and an empty rink. Have your friend start the watch just as you make contact with the puck, and stop it when the puck hits the...
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Activity
Science Buddies

Science Buddies: Think Fast!

For Students 3rd - 5th
Are you a piano player or a video gamer? Then you might have a quick reaction time that can come in handy while playing sports. Find out how to measure your reaction time and compare it to your friends and family with this fun experiment.
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Lesson Plan
Science Buddies

Science Buddies: Exploring Fractals

For Teachers 9th - 10th
Although fractal images can be intriguingly complex, fractals are more than just pretty pictures. In this project, you'll explore the mathematical properties of the famous Mandelbrot and Julia sets. You'll learn about how these images...
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Activity
Science Buddies

Science Buddies: Paper Chromatography: Advanced Version 1

For Students 6th - 8th
This project will teach you the basics of analytical chemistry, which is a must for students who want to go into chemistry or materials science. The molecules in objects we see all around us are constantly attracting each other....
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Activity
Science Buddies

Science Buddies: Paper Chromatography: Advanced Version 2

For Students 6th - 8th
Chromatography is a method used to separate mixtures of compounds and to identify each compound in the mixture. You may have separated the different inks in a black marker by using a strip of paper and water. There are many different...
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Activity
Science Buddies

Science Buddies: Writing a Simple Calculator Program With Java Script

For Students 6th - 8th
This is a good first-time programming project. You'll learn how to use JavaScript to create a basic calculator program that you can run in your Web browser.
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Science Buddies

Science Buddies: Paragraph Stats: Writing a Java Script Program to 'Measure' Text

For Students 6th - 8th
This is a challenging first-time programming project. You'll learn how to use JavaScript to create a simple program to analyze one or more paragraphs of text. Your program will count sentences, words and letters, and report the resulting...
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Activity
Science Buddies

Science Buddies: Write a Java Script Binary/decimal/hexadecimal Converter

For Students 9th - 10th
This is a challenging first computer science project. You'll learn the basics of how digital devices can represent numbers using only 0's and 1's, and you'll write a JavaScript program to convert numbers between binary, decimal and...