Chemical Education Foundation
Teacher's Guide to Science Projects
Do you find the idea of having a science fair with all of your students intimidating? Use a guide that provides everything you need to know to make project-based learning manageable. The resource includes options for four...
Curated OER
Science Fair With An Energy Efficiency Flair
In order to learn more about energy conservation, pupils work to promote energy efficiency by participating in a school-wide science fair with an emphasis on energy conservation. In addition to displaying their projects, learners invite...
Curated OER
Slow Food: A Different Path
Students investigate the slow food movement through a reading and activity. In this slow food lesson, students read about the differences in fast food and slow food and the ties to sustainable agriculture. They nominate a local specialty...
Science Buddies
Science Buddies: Weeds Be Gone! Experiment That Affect Roundup Weed Killer
Experiment with factors that affect the activity of the weed killer Roundup. The Science Buddies project ideas are set up consistently beginning with an abstract, objective, and introduction, followed by a section on terms, concepts, and...
Science Buddies
Science Buddies: How Do You Make the 'Best' Cookie?
The benefit to cooking food from scratch versus store bought food is that you determine the taste. In this science fair project, discover if you can perfect the taste of your favorite cookie right in your own kitchen by experimenting...
Science Buddies
Science Buddies: The Science of Making Cheese!
Oooey gooey cheese - yum. Who doesn't like a slice of warm pizza straight from the oven? There's nothing quite like a slice of pizza and a glass of milk, so what makes pizza so great? The cheese. But did you know that making cheese is...
Science Buddies
Science Buddies: Flavor That Food! Exploring the Science of Marinades
Have you ever tasted a delicious burger and wondered how it got so much flavor? Maybe you've heard your family talk about marinating foods before cooking or grilling them. A marinade is a mixture of seasonings used to flavor or tenderize...
Science Buddies
Science Buddies: You Want Fries With That? The Science of Crispy Potatoes
The first bite of a fresh-picked apple, the crunch of morning toast, the deep cut into rich, flaky layers of baklava, the pleasing snap of a chip. Besides being delicious, what do these foods have in common? They're crisp. They have a...
Science Buddies
Science Buddies: Great Globs of Gluten! Which Wheat Flour Has the Most?
Close your eyes for a moment and think about your favorite cake, pasta, and crusty bread. OK, you can open your eyes now, and please don't drool on your computer. What was the cake you pictured like? Was it light and fluffy? Did you...
Science Buddies
Science Buddies: Maple Syrup: For Pancakes, Waffles, and Crystal Candy?
Maple syrup is deliciously gooey and great on breakfast foods like pancakes and waffles. But it has another amazing property. It can form crystals under the right circumstances, and the crystals change in size and shape, depending on...
Science Buddies
Science Buddies: How Can Tofu Pack Such a Flavorful Punch?
Spicy fried tofu. It's a delicious and savory main dish at many Asian restaurants. Stab a golden-brown piece, bite into it, and the juice inside rushes out, filling your mouth with rich flavors. Continue eating and you find the texture...
Science Buddies
Science Buddies: Egg Cellently Cooked Eggs: The Process of Soft Boiling an Egg
Sometimes on a busy day, it's hard to get things done. The rush to get things done can start first thing in the morning, when you're so busy getting ready and gathering your homework, that you barely have time for breakfast. It takes...
Science Buddies
Science Buddies: How Greasy Are Your Potato Chips?
One of America's favorite snacks is potato chips. Although potato chips are very tasty, some varieties are not very healthy for you. A typical 1-ounce (oz.) serving of a well-known national potato chip brand contains 150 calories, 90 of...
Science Buddies
Science Buddies: How Sweet It Is! Measuring Glucose in Your Food
You know that sugar makes food sweet. But did you know that there are different kinds of sugar? Sucrose is the granulated sugar that you usually use for baking. Another kind of sugar, which is found in honey and in many fruits, is...
Science Buddies
Science Buddies: How Blue Is Your Sports Drink?
Do you read the list of ingredients in foods and drinks before you buy them at the grocery store? If you do, you may have noticed that many of the items that are blue in color have the same dye, called FD&C blue 1. In this chemistry...
Science Buddies
Science Buddies: Want to Make a Video Game? Here's How!
Do you love playing video and computer games? Do you dream of someday creating your own? With this science fair project you can turn that "someday" wish into a "today" reality.
Science Buddies
Science Buddies: Sweating the Score: Can Video Games Be a Form of Exercise?
The majority of video games are sedentary, meaning done in one position, but there is an increasing trend toward video games where the players are physically active. Whether or not these type of video games can be considered exercise is...
Science Buddies
Science Buddies: No Pain, Lots of Game
This science fair project investigates whether video games, and other forms of mental distraction, have the power to relieve pain. You will research and learn about gatekeeper cells, which control how the brain perceives pain, and how...
Science Buddies
Science Buddies: Do Distractions Affect Driving Video Game Scores?
In this science fair project, you will investigate how distractions affect your focus on a task, such as driving, by looking at how gaming scores are affected as you're talking on a cell phone or having a conversation with a friend. For...
Science Buddies
Science Buddies: Leaky Clues to Dam Design: How Reservoir Height Affects Hydroel
It's hard to believe that the same water that you use every day to quench your thirst, cook with, bathe in, swim in, and wash your clothes and dishes, is capable of another trick-it can make electricity. Electricity can be generated...
Science Buddies
Science Buddies: Dust Busters: How No Plow Farmers Try to Save Our Soil
In this environmental science fair project, students will build models of fields prepared by plow-based and no-till methods, and see which ones are best at retaining soil moisture and preventing surface runoff.
Science Buddies
Science Buddies: Toxic Trees: Just How Toxic Is That Black Walnut Tree?
The goal of this plant biology science fair project is to make and test an herbicide made from the leaves of the black walnut tree and investigate the toxicity of black walnut trees.
Science Buddies
Science Buddies: It's Raining, It's Pouring: Chemical Analysis of Rainwater
Here is an interesting project that could be approached from several different scientific angles: Environmental Science, Weather & Atmosphere, Chemistry, or Plant Biology. You can probably think of your own variations to emphasize...
Science Buddies
Science Buddies: How Much Baking Powder Do Quick Breads Need?
If you like to bake, this could be a good project for you. There is a purpose for each of the ingredients in your recipes, but not everyone is always aware of what that purpose may be. Though this lab takes multiple days, you will...