- Location
- Dingmans ferry PA
can anyone give me some ideas of a science fair project for a 12 year old.i dont want the usual volcano or photosynthesis.the project is do in 1 month..anything would help.
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sons science fair project
- Thread starter duke62
- Start date
- Location
- Chelsea, NYC
when i was young my dad and i made a maze and if you went the wring way a light would come on....closed/open circuits..:wink1:
DontXtripNfall
Advanced Reefer
- Location
- Midtown - East
- Location
- Dingmans ferry PA
i dont understand this..every parent actually i should say every good parent helps there kids on projects and when we do projects together of course he will learn from doing it together..and thats why i would like multiple answers to this so he can pick which 1 he would want to do..
What part of Jet's statement didn't you understand? There's a difference between giving your son a little help and doing the project for him while he watches you. I see it in my 12 year old, she tries to get my wife to give her the answer to every question. She thinks the faster she finishes the faster she can get on AIM with her girlfriends. At least it's a science project and not an English grammar project.:lol:
Either way; is there some general topic for the project? Have your son explain how the principles of welding work. Now that would be totally cool.
Steven
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If your son is into your hobby, you could assist him in building a protien skimmer explaining one of the processes the ocean uses to get rid of waste. Or if you have an old skimmer, 10 gallon tank and some water from a water change with some skim added to it. WaaLa!!! Some poster paper with color pencil drawings explaining the cycle and your set. Opps :shhh: I mean your son is set:splitspin
The ocean doesnt use a skimmer last I checked and explaining the principles of welding is interesting but not an EXPERIMENT. However, if he is interested in your hobby, that is a great starting point. Help him, guide him, gently, but let him do the work. You can give him broad ideas but let him pick a subject that interests him, then give him some areas in that subject which he can explore. Take him to the library to get some books. Help him with putting together the things that need to be assembled - but again it should be him doing most of the work. The aim of a science project is not to make a big discovery but rather to appreciate the scientific process and learn something. A hypothesis may turn out to be wrong, but if a child can understand why it was wrong, or what were possible sources of error to be improved upon next time around, than the experiment wasn't a failure. What most of those people you are referring to dont understand is that the idea is for the child to learn, not for the child to win a Nobel prize. Unfortunately too many parents either dont get involved at all or take over the project themselves. If you can help your son put together a list of areas of interest, I can help with some ideas ( I love science fairs ) and I'm sure others can too.
Killerdrgn
Advanced Reefer
- Location
- Park Ridge, NJ
You can do a how to chemistry experiment. Theres always cool stuff he can make with basic chemistry now-how. Like making Triacetone Triperoxide, or Ammonium Nitrate. Or if he's really advanced make Cyclotrimethylenetrinitramine.
Killerdrgn
Advanced Reefer
- Location
- Park Ridge, NJ
Or physics wise he could do an experiment about parallel and series electronic circuts. Like show how a bulb gets dimmer if you add more resistors in seriel but gets brighter when you add them in parallel.
Or a really really cool one would be to do an experiment on magnetic acceleration, but I think you'd have to help out on that one.
Or a really really cool one would be to do an experiment on magnetic acceleration, but I think you'd have to help out on that one.
- Location
- Dingmans ferry PA
maybe we will do a volcano :lol2: jetjon the only thing he is interested in is wrestling and baseball..he asked me to help him with ideas and i drew a blank.he needs to hand in what its going to be on by thursday.i was thinking something on pollution since this is a hot topic in the news but what type of visual project can i do on that..maybe some type of water testing on what our oceans are supposed to be at and different vials of water with pollutants in them which would show the damage pollutants do to our waters..this is just an idea..
A clarification is in order. A science experiment is not a demonstration. A proper science experiment must follow the scientific principle:
Objective - What is it I want to accomplish? What am I testing ? It is important to design the experiment so there is one control and one or more variables ( i.e. does temperature of light affect growth of montipora digita ? You would have to set up multiple, lets say 3, completely isolated tanks in which everything is exactly the same except for the temperature of the light bulb. Or if you wanted to be even more proper you would ask does monitopora digita grow faster under 10K or 20K MH lighting ? then you would have to set up two exactly identical tanks except for the different temperature light bulb ) That is how you can determine what is having, not having, the effect you are testing.
Hypothesis - What do I think will happen ?
Method - How am I going to do it, measure it, etc ?
Data - readings, measurements, etc.
Results - Interpretation of the data - what does it mean? Was there a difference between doing x and doing y?
Conclusion - Was my hypothesis correct? If not, what are some possible explanations? What are some possible sources of error ( regardless of outcome there are always some mistakes that could have happened )? What would be my next step - redo the experiment after correcting the S.o.E, test another variable, etc? What are possible applications of this experiment ?
I know this all sounds like a bit much for a 12 year old but it really is not. THAT is where your help comes in primarily. First explain the above to him and make sure he has a decent idea of what it means. Then, you get your son talking about some ideas he is in interested in after explaining - you can give him some subjects of interest and once he has some subjects, help him narrow them down to one or two and then help him to think of some things he can realistically test in those subjects. Then help him do research on the topic by taking him to the library, helping him do online searches, etc. Once he has that, he can forumlate a rough experiment and a hypothesis, based on his research, and you can help him refine the project, etc. etc.
Objective - What is it I want to accomplish? What am I testing ? It is important to design the experiment so there is one control and one or more variables ( i.e. does temperature of light affect growth of montipora digita ? You would have to set up multiple, lets say 3, completely isolated tanks in which everything is exactly the same except for the temperature of the light bulb. Or if you wanted to be even more proper you would ask does monitopora digita grow faster under 10K or 20K MH lighting ? then you would have to set up two exactly identical tanks except for the different temperature light bulb ) That is how you can determine what is having, not having, the effect you are testing.
Hypothesis - What do I think will happen ?
Method - How am I going to do it, measure it, etc ?
Data - readings, measurements, etc.
Results - Interpretation of the data - what does it mean? Was there a difference between doing x and doing y?
Conclusion - Was my hypothesis correct? If not, what are some possible explanations? What are some possible sources of error ( regardless of outcome there are always some mistakes that could have happened )? What would be my next step - redo the experiment after correcting the S.o.E, test another variable, etc? What are possible applications of this experiment ?
I know this all sounds like a bit much for a 12 year old but it really is not. THAT is where your help comes in primarily. First explain the above to him and make sure he has a decent idea of what it means. Then, you get your son talking about some ideas he is in interested in after explaining - you can give him some subjects of interest and once he has some subjects, help him narrow them down to one or two and then help him to think of some things he can realistically test in those subjects. Then help him do research on the topic by taking him to the library, helping him do online searches, etc. Once he has that, he can forumlate a rough experiment and a hypothesis, based on his research, and you can help him refine the project, etc. etc.
Killerdrgn
Advanced Reefer
- Location
- Park Ridge, NJ
You could definitely do a wood vs aluminum physics experiment with baseball. http://webusers.npl.illinois.edu/~a-nathan/pob/bats.html
or another physics experiment with torque and center of gravity experiment with wrestling, showing how if you and your opponent are not in the correct positions you will not take down your opponent.
But you can definitely turn a demonstration into an experiment. such as in my chemistry experiment you can show / hypothesize that acetone and peroxide will not form into a crystal without the presence of an acid. Then procede to mix acetone and peroxide alone, then acetone and peroxide in water, then acetone and peroxide in a base, and then finally acetone and peroxide in sulfuric acid, which will precipitate out white crystals. and then you carefully strain out the crystals and make something go kaboom.
The experiment portion doesn't mean that you may not know the real outcomes of your "demonstration".
or another physics experiment with torque and center of gravity experiment with wrestling, showing how if you and your opponent are not in the correct positions you will not take down your opponent.
But you can definitely turn a demonstration into an experiment. such as in my chemistry experiment you can show / hypothesize that acetone and peroxide will not form into a crystal without the presence of an acid. Then procede to mix acetone and peroxide alone, then acetone and peroxide in water, then acetone and peroxide in a base, and then finally acetone and peroxide in sulfuric acid, which will precipitate out white crystals. and then you carefully strain out the crystals and make something go kaboom.
The experiment portion doesn't mean that you may not know the real outcomes of your "demonstration".
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Yo Jet,
RTFP. It's a science fair PROJECT. Who said anything about it having to be an experiment?
and as for you Duke...
Maybe you should think about editing those I's to WE's:shhh::duh:
- Location
- Staten Island
To fit with the green movement you can do a project on recycled paper. You can explain the history of recycling programs and perform an experiment turning waste paper into reusable paper. It is easy, inexpensive, and somewhat interesting especially with all the press on the human carbon footprint.
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