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Activity
Science Buddies

Science Buddies: Acid Rain and Aquatic Life

For Students 2nd - 5th
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?
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Activity
Science Buddies

Science Buddies: Something's Fishy About That Fertilizer

For Students 3rd - 5th
Did you know that when you use fertilizer in your garden, it can eventually reach a lake, stream, or pond? There are many different chemicals present in fertilizers. Learn how they affect the aquatic organisms in the ecosystem within...
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Activity
Science Buddies

Science Buddies: Heavy Metals and Aquatic Environments

For Students 3rd - 8th
You might know that lead can be toxic, and that you can get lead poisoning from eating or inhaling old paint dust. Lead is called a heavy metal, and there are other sources of heavy metals that can be toxic, too. Silver, copper, mercury,...
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Activity
Science Buddies

Science Buddies: Recycling Greywater: Can Plants Tolerate It?

For Students 6th - 8th
Water is a valuable resource many often take for granted. This exercise however gives you the opportunity to learn about and discover how greywater (water that has been used for washing or bathing) can be used for watering ornamental...
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Activity
Science Buddies

Science Buddies: Lowering the Freezing Point of Water

For Students 9th - 10th
When it comes to making ice cream, in order to make the mixture cold enough to freeze, you surround the container with ice and rock salt. This experiment helps you learn how the addition of salt (or other substances) affects the freezing...
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Activity
Science Buddies

Science Buddies: Tough Beans: Which Cooking Liquids Slow Softening the Most?

For Students 3rd - 8th
Beans are important to the diets of many people, that is why you always find it cooked a specific way or in a specific dish in different cultures. Here you will learn how the liquid that beans are cooked in affects how quickly or slowly...
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Activity
Science Buddies

Science Buddies: The Effect of Artificial Light on Migration Pattern of Daphnia

For Students 6th - 8th
This elegant project employs a scientific approach that is particularly valuable in Environmental Science, but can be applied to other areas as well. The approach has three steps: 1) from your observations in the field, form a...
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Activity
Science Struck

Science Struck: A List of 6th Grade Science Experiments

For Students 6th
Describes five experiments that could be used in a Grade 6 science class and gives a list of over twenty ideas for science projects.
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Activity
Science Buddies

Science Buddies: Too Much of a Good Thing? Effects of Fertilizer on Algal Growth

For Students 3rd - 8th
Algae is a good thing, but too much is a bad thing. In this environmental science fair project, grow algae in several concentrations of fertilizer and observe its effect on algal growth.
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Handout
Science Bob Pflugfelder

Science Bob: The Scientific Method

For Students 3rd - 8th
Gives an overview of the scientific method as it relates to a science fair project.
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Activity
Science Buddies

Science Buddies: Can Gaming Help You Score Better in School?

For Students 6th - 8th
There are a variety of educational computer games on the market in the areas of math, history, science, and language, as well as many simpler versions free on the Internet. This exercise asks that you make up a test based on the subject...
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Activity
Science Buddies

Science Buddies: The Case of Mistaken Identity

For Students 9th - 10th
Mysteries and detective stories have been popular since the time of Sherlock Holmes. The solutions to these fictional cases often involve untangling seemingly contradictory evidence from eyewitnesses. This project studies one procedure...
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Lesson Plan
Science Buddies

Science Buddies:testing Compression Waves

For Teachers 9th - 10th
Here's a project for studying compression waves in different soil types. It uses a homemade wave tank for solids, with a frequency generator, amplifier, and loudspeaker as the vibration source. There are lots of interesting possibilities...
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Activity
Science Buddies

Science Buddies: Hey Gear Heads! The Physics of Bicycle Gear Ratios

For Students 9th - 10th
Here's an abstract of a project from Science Buddies that asks you to experiment with bicycle gears and the circumference of the wheel to determine revolutions per minute.
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Lesson Plan
Science Buddies

Science Buddies: Chain Reaction: Inversion and the Pappus Chain Theorem

For Teachers 9th - 10th
Here is a challenging problem for anyone with an interest in geometry. This project requires background research to solve it, but it is an excellent illustration of visual thinking in mathematics.
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Activity
Science Buddies

Science Buddies: Measuring Speed of Moving Objects With Stroboscopic Photography

For Students 9th - 10th
A strobe light can illuminate an entire room in just tens of microseconds. Inexpensive strobe lights can flash up to 10 or 20 times per second. This project shows you how to use stroboscopic photography to analyze motion.
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Activity
Science Buddies

Science Buddies: Beats

For Students 9th - 10th
Systematically explore different frequency combinations in this experiment provided by Science Buddies. You will use your computer to create sound files to play pure tones on your computer, one frequency in the left channel, and another...
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Activity
Science Buddies

Science Buddies: Which Acne Medication Can Really Zap That Zit?

For Students 9th - 10th
One major cause of acne is the colonization and infection of clogged pores with bacteria. By testing different acne medications and treatments, you will be able to determine their effectiveness when it comes to killing bacteria.
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Activity
Science Buddies

Science Buddies: Accept a Design Trade Off Challenge Science Projects

For Students 9th - 10th
Build a device to accomplish a fun task. Accept a design trade-off challenge of using only a set amount of simple materials, as if you were stuck on a desert island, to make your device work.
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Activity
Science Buddies

Science Buddies: When Science Is Sweet: Growing Rock Candy Crystals

For Students 3rd - 5th
Though rock candy seems to be a simple enough treat, it is also pretty interesting to make. Crystallized sugar that can be grown from a sugar-water solution is just how rock candy is made. In this experiment, you will learn to make your...
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Activity
Science Buddies

Science Buddies: Tee Time: How Fast Is Your Golf Swing?

For Students 3rd - 8th
Determine how golf club head velocity affects shot distance. Make your next trip to the driving range educational by conducting this experiment.
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Activity
Science Buddies

Science Buddies: Does Temperature Affect the Rate of Butterfly Development?

For Students 6th - 8th
This is an interesting experiment for an Investigator who is 1) curious about insect metamorphosis and 2) patient. You'll need to set up different controlled environments for the chrysalides, and then check on them regularly as you wait...
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Activity
Science Buddies

Science Buddies: The Pixel Puzzle: Why Video Game Characters Look Better Today

For Students 3rd - 5th
Video games today look better than video games from the 80's, this is because now the number of pixels, or dots on the screen, used to represent video game objects has greatly increased. In the 80's, Mario was no more than 16 pixels tall...
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Activity
Science Buddies

Science Buddies: Are Fingerprint Patterns Inherited?

For Students 9th - 10th
Fingerprints are used as reliable identification because each person's fingerprints are unique. This lab allows you to research and discover if these unique patterns are created randomly or influenced by genetics.