Ask HN: 5th Grade Science Fair Project Ideas

[steelhive]

Last week someone asked about good college science fair ideas so I thought this might be a good place to ask about 5th grade science fair ideas. The neighbor boy has asked me (being the neighborhood geek) for a good science fair idea. He's a bright kid and could tackle a somewhat complex project. The complication: it's due Wednesday, he asked his mother to call me about it two weeks ago and she didn't - until one hour ago. So, any good ideas that can be done on such short notice?

[Mystitat]

My most successful middle school science fair had me experimenting with different liquids to see which would exhibit the most capillary action. I made it a little more scientific by using different concentrations of sugar water, but he could also use juice or soda or things like that.

Seriously, though, the kid should be expected to come up with ideas on his own. Go through his science book with him and see what he's learned about that's most interesting to him.

[Scott_MacGregor]

Genetics Research:

Pedigree Analysis: A Family Tree of Traits

http://www.sciencebuddies.org/science-fair-projects/project_...

Materials and Equipment:

  Paper 

  Pen 

  Access to a photocopier (optional)

[steelhive]

This one's a pretty good idea. His family is huge (both sides of his family have their reunion in my barn, so I know) so he should have plenty of data. I didn't know the thumb business was a Mendelian trait.

[Mystitat]

I can actually see a 5th grade teacher nixing this one because it seems to encourage drawing conclusions from research rather than a hands-on experiment.