49 New Science Projects in 2023!

A summary look at the exciting range of hands-on science and engineering projects and STEM lessons added to our STEM project library in 2023!

Our team of staff scientists and engineers worked hard all year long to create engaging new materials to support hands-on K-12 STEM exploration.

The projects below highlight additions to our library of student science and engineering projects in 2023 in the following areas:

• Aeronautics
• Agricultural Technology, Plant Biology, & Environmental Science
• Artificial Intelligence
• Astronomy
• Chemistry, Cosmetic Chemistry, & Green Chemistry
• Electricity and Electronics
• Genetics and Genetic Engineering
• Health and Human Biology
• Mechanical Engineering
• Physics
• Robotics, Physical Computing, & Programming with Arduino
• Video & Computer Games, Photography, and Coding
• Lessons and Educator Resources

Student Science and Engineering Projects Added in 2023

Aeronautics

1. Modifying a Car for Better Aerodynamics: use tape and yarn to visualize airflow over a car and then find ways to modify the body of the car to reduce drag.

Agricultural Technology, Plant Biology, & Environmental Science

2. Build a Circuit to Automatically Water Your Plants: build a circuit with a soil moisture sensor and a pump to automatically detect when the soil is too dry, add water, and stop when the soil reaches the right moisture level.
3. Can Biodegradable Hydrogels Help Conserve Water in Farming?: make environmentally friendly hydrogels and experiment to see if they can help soil retain water and reduce the amount of water needed to grow crops.
4. Harvesting Fresh Water With a Fog Catcher: learn about fog catchers to capture and collect water droplets from the foggy air and experiment to find out which mesh materials are best for collecting water from fog.

Artificial Intelligence

5. Build Personal Playlists with Machine Learning: use a K-Means model to design a program that can deliver personalized music playlists.
6. Can AI Diagnose Breast Cancer?: create a KNN machine learning model that can assess breast tumors and predict whether a tumor is malignant or benign.
7. Can AI Predict Who Survived the Titanic's Sinking?: use the KNN algorithm with passenger information from the Titanic to see if AI can correctly predict who survived.
8. Can Humans Recognize AI-Generated Images?: experiment with AI image-creation tools and see how accurately people can differentiate between real photos and AI-generated images.
9. Can Humans Recognize ChatGPT's AI-Generated Text?: see if volunteers can correctly identify whether different passages of text were written by a human or AI.
10. Can Machine Learning Solve a Maze?: explore the variables used in the programming of an AI agent that is trying to solve a maze and learn from its own mistakes.
11. Explore Perceptrons: A Simple Type of Neural Network: learn about a simple neural network called a perceptron that can make a yes/no decision based on several inputs and experiment to improve the performance of a perceptron.
12. Think Like a Computer: Try Machine Learning: learn about neural networks and walk through a paper model to see how an AI can be configured to weigh several inputs and make a decision based on math.

Astronomy

13. Colorizing Images from the James Webb Space Telescope: explore how scientists process data from a space telescope to create the colorful images shared with the public.

Chemistry, Cosmetic Chemistry, & Green Chemistry

14. Can Biodegradable Materials Replace Plastic as Protective Food Packaging?: make hydrogels from gelatin and cornstarch and experiment to find out what ratio of ingredients makes the best packaging material.
15. Create and Test Your Own Hydrogel Face Mask Recipe!: explore the ingredients used in hydrogel masks for moisturizing the skin and design your own
16. Explore the Mixing Behavior of Liquids: investigate the mixing behavior of liquids and create a colorful stack of liquids.
17. Grow Vegan Kombucha Leather: investigate kombucha leather as a leather alternative and grow kombucha biofilm at different sugar concentrations to see how the sugar concentration in the fermentation process changes the kombucha leather's material properties.
18. Make Sustainable Fabrics from Seaweed: make several biofabrics from seaweed (alginate) and conduct tests to find out which one is most suitable as a textile replacement.
19. Testing the Hydrating Power of Hydrogel Face Masks: make and compare collagen hydrogel masks made with and without the addition of glycerin to find out which is most moisturizing.
20. Testing Sunscreen Effectiveness and Water Solubility: explore Sun Protection Factors (SPFs), ingredients, and application methods for sunscreens and then test the effectiveness and water solubility of different sunscreens.
21. The Cold Wash Challenge: Testing How Well Enzymes Work in Laundry Detergents: experiment to see if enzymatic detergents are as effective as non-enzymatic detergents at different water temperatures.

Electricity and Electronics

22. Build a Light-Up Activity Timer: convert a stuffed animal into a light-up activity timer.
23. Efficient LED Circuit Design: learn how to design and build your own LED circuit to add LED lighting effects wherever you want.
24. Make a Pomodoro Study Clock: use Arduino to build a customized Pomodoro timer or clock that can display the time, messages, or use lights, sound, or moving parts to get attention.
25. Use Sewable Circuits to Make Cool Costumes and Accessories: explore the process of sewing circuits and sensors directly into fabric to make wearable electronics.

Genetics and Genetic Engineering

26. Using Synthetic DNA as a Secret Barcode: explore some of the challenges in making a molecular DNA tagging system.

Health and Human Biology

27. Can You Train People to Breathe Better?: build a device to provide visual feedback about how a person breathes to help train people to do more belly breathing.
28. Do Antibiotics Change Your Gut Microbiome?: experiment to see what happens to the bacteria in your gut when you take antibiotics?
29. Model How Environment and Genetics Change the Chances of Getting Cancer: build a simple model and explore how environmental and genetic changes affect the development of cancer.

Mechanical Engineering

30. How Does Spark Plug Gap Affect Engine Performance?: find out how "gapping" a spark plug affects engine performance.
31. Ping Pong Pickup Challenge: use paper and tape to design a device that can pick up a ping pong ball from a distance and return it to a start line.

Physics

32. Find the Horsepower of a Toy Car: learn about horsepower and find the horsepower of a battery-operated toy car.
33. The Physics of Simulation vs Reality: investigate how a physics simulator works and compare the results to a physical experiment.

Robotics, Physical Computing, & Programming with Arduino

34. Build a Fuzzy Companion Robot: add an Arduino to a stuffed animal to build a purring companion robot.
35. Build a Jumping Robot: design a jumping robot that uses energy from a rubber band and experiment with the design to see how high and far the robot can jump.
36. Build a Radio-Controlled (RC) Robot: use Arduino, the BlueBot robot kit, and additional electronics to build a radio-controlled (RC) robot.
37. Build a Remotely Operated Vehicle (ROV) for Underwater Exploration: design and build a small remotely operated vehicle (ROV) that you can test in a bathtub, pool, or local small body of water.
38. Build a Robotic Arm: design and build a working robotic arm that could handle a specific task.
39. Build a Simple Walking Robot: build a simple robot that walks using a single motor.
40. Build a Sound-Tracking Search and Rescue Robot: build a sound-tracking robot that can use two microphones to drive toward a sound source.
41. Build an Arduino Walking Robot: build a robot that walks on four legs.
42. Build an RC Boat: build a radio-controlled (RC) robot boat using an Arduino and a plastic food storage container.
43. How Does Robot Behavior Affect Human-Robot Interaction?: program a robot with different behaviors to see how people react.
44. Human-Robot Interaction: Do Looks Matter?: experiment to see how a robot's appearance relates to how people think about and interact with the robot.
45. How Do Swarms of Bristlebots Behave?: use vibrating Bristlebot robots to explore the behavior of a group (or swarm) of robots.
46. Make an Origami Robotic Gripper: make a three-dimensional robotic gripper from a single sheet of paper.
47. SeaPerch: An Underwater Robot: use SeaPerch to build and experiment with an underwater remotely operated vehicle (ROV).

Video & Computer Games, Photography, and Coding

48. Design a Game to Help Alzheimer's Patients: design a "brain training" game that can help people keep their brains healthy as they age or help people with memory problems exercise memory skills.
49. The Wagon Wheel Effect: explore and film your own wagon wheel illusion.

More than 1,300 Projects!

To find additional projects that match individual interests, use the Topic Selection Wizard or:

• Browse all projects
• View projects matching UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)
• Read about the Broadcom Coding with Commitment® award for middle school coding projects

Educator Lesson Plans and Resources

The following lesson plans were added to our educator resources in 2023:

• Algae String Chemistry and Design
• Build an Arduino Mini-Drone
• Build an Arduino Self-Driving Car
• Foldable Paper Robotic Gripper
• Immunotherapy: How Antibodies Can Be Used to Treat Diseases
• The Math Behind Circuits

To find additional lessons to support your STEM teaching:

• View all lesson plans
• View thematic STEM resource collections on curriculum topics

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