Activity
Science Buddies

Science Buddies: Caffeine and Heart Rate: A Pharmacological Study Using Daphnia

For Students 9th - 10th
In this project, water fleas (Daphnia magna), a semi-transparent freshwater crustacean, are used to study the effects of caffeine on heart rate. You do not have to learn how to take a crustacean's pulse though, because you can actually...
Activity
Science Buddies

Science Buddies: Bomb's Away! A Ping Pong Catapult

For Students 3rd - 8th
With this project you'll send ping pong balls flying through the air with a rubber-band powered catapult. This catapult makes it easy to reproduce the launch angle, and to measure the amount of force applied to the projectile. Armed with...
Activity
Science Buddies

Science Buddies: Rainbow Fire

For Students 9th - 10th
Astronomers can determine the atomic composition of distant stars by measuring the spectrum of light emitted by the star. Sound cool? Well in this project you can do something similar by observing the color of flames when various...
Activity
Science Buddies

Science Buddies: Levitating Magnets: Floating Isn't Just for Magicians

For Students 3rd - 5th
If you ever seen a magician float an object in the air, you might think that levitation is just a magic trick, but the truth is you can use an invisible physical force to levitate a magnet. Try this simple, week-long science project to...
Activity
Science Buddies

Science Buddies: Testing a Parabolic Reflector With Light From an Led

For Students 9th - 10th
You can see examples of parabolic reflectors in flashlights, car headlights, satellite TV antennas, and even on the sidelines at football games. In this project, you can use an LED and a simple photodector to investigate this concept.
Activity
Science Buddies

Science Buddies: Dog Toys: What Makes One a Favorite or a Flop to Fido?

For Students 3rd - 8th
It seems as though dogs, like people, have definite preferences for their play things. This fun project investigates what makes a toy interesting to a dog. In these experiments, you and your dog can have some fun while you learn about...
Activity
Science Buddies

Science Buddies: How Does the Intensity of Light Change With Distance?

For Students 9th - 10th
How far would you have to travel so that the light of the full sun would provide "daylight" no brighter than twilight on Earth? This project describes a method to verify the inverse square law: how light, sound, electrical signals, and...
Activity
Science Buddies

Science Buddies: Riding on Air Build a Real Hovercraft

For Students 9th - 10th
You will get to build a working hovercraft that will glide over surfaces on a cushion of air in this week long science project. With the use of some power tools, you will create your hovercraft, and ultimately understand how air...
Website
Bill Nye

Bill Nye: Bill Nye Online Science Lab

For Students 9th - 10th
Bill Nye's Online Science Lab offers home demos for planetary, physical, and life science, a "Question of the Week," e-cards, episode guides, and lots of fun facts. A great resource for students looking for science-fair project or lab...
Activity
Science Buddies

Science Buddies: Natural Antimicrobial Agents

For Students 9th - 10th
This abstract asks you to discover what sources you can test for antimicrobial action by culturing bacteria in the presence of an extract from a source you hypothesize to have antimicrobial properties. Antimicrobial properties have been...
Activity
Science Buddies

Science Buddies:from Your John to the School Lawn:is Recycled Water Really Safe?

For Students 9th - 10th
Find out whether reclaimed water is really safe by following the guidelines of the Science Buddies project.
Activity
Science Buddies

Science Buddies: Air Particles and Air Quality

For Students 3rd - 5th
What does the phrase, "Like a breath of fresh air," mean to you? This common phrase can have different meanings: calming, relaxing, invigorating, energizing or clean. In this experiment you will test the quality of air by measuring the...
Activity
Science Buddies

Science Buddies: The Big Dig

For Students 3rd - 5th
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?
Activity
Science Buddies

Science Buddies: How Does Soil Affect the P H of Water?

For Students 6th - 8th
Did you know that soils can be alkaline, neutral, or acidic? Most plants grow best in soil near neutral pH, but some plants prefer slightly acidic and others slightly alkaline soil. What is the pH of the soil in your garden? What happens...
Activity
Science Buddies

Science Buddies: I'm Trying to Breathe Here! Dissolved Oxygen vs. Temperature

For Students 9th - 10th
To survive, we need oxygen in the air we breathe. Oxygen is also essential for most aquatic organisms, but there is much less oxygen available in water than in air. Learn how to measure dissolved oxygen and then see how oxygen...
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?
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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.
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.
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.