Computer Science Projects, Lessons, Activities (Page 7)

Science Fair Project Idea

Scientific Method

Many websites ask you to answer "security questions," like "What is your mother's maiden name?," to recover your account if you ever forget your password or login ID. However, sometimes the answers to those questions are easy to find online. Does this pose a risk to the security of important accounts like email and online banking? Are people even aware that this information about them is available online? In this project, you will investigate how secure people think security questions are, and… Read more

Image Compression vs. Image Quality: Finding the Best Tradeoff

Science Fair Project Idea

Scientific Method

In this project you'll learn about how digital image files are encoded, and how digital images can be compressed so that the files take up less storage space and can be transmitted more quickly. You will also measure the quality of compressed and uncompressed images, which will give you important insights into the tradeoffs between file size and image quality. Read more

Invent an Interactive Toy with a Raspberry Pi

Science Fair Project Idea

Scientific Method

Did you ever have a favorite toy like an action figure or doll that could light up, make noise, or move? This project will show you how to make your own interactive toy using a Raspberry Pi. Check out the video to see what this simple, but fun, project looks like. The version you make does not have to be a robot; it can be any shape and have any sound effects you want. IMPORTANT: The instructions for this project were originally written using Scratch 2 on a Raspberry Pi 3B+. If you are using a… Read more

Is a Deleted File Really Gone?

Science Fair Project Idea

Scientific Method

When you delete a file, by accident or on purpose, is the information really gone? Can you get it back? If you accidentally deleted your five-page report for school, you may be hoping it is not really gone. On the other hand, if you do not want someone to get their hands on the goofy and unflattering pictures you and your best friend took while staying up late the other night, you probably hope the files you deleted are gone for good! Computer experts are often asked about file recovery.… Read more

Killing 'Vampires': Saving Money and Power by Turning Off Computer Peripherals

Science Fair Project Idea

Scientific Method

What do you think about killing vampires? No, no, not the kind that drink people's blood, but the kind that suck your power and money away. Equipment like televisions, computers, printers, and fax machines all use electricity to operate, of course, but do you realize that this equipment might still be sucking electricity from the wall, even when you think it's turned off? These electricity-suckers are called vampire loads. In this science project, you will investigate how much power these… Read more

Make a Greeting Card Come to Life!

Science Fair Project Idea

Scientific Method

A singing monkey? An elderly couple doing the chicken dance? What kind of funny electronic cards do you like to email people? Feel free to dream up your coolest and funniest card ideas, because in this science project, you'll create your own animated greeting card with a simple-to-use programming language called Scratch. Scratch is a programming language that makes it easy to create interactive stories, games, music, and art. When the program you have written is complete, you can even share it… Read more

Make a Mood Tracker

Science Fair Project Idea

Engineering Design Process

How do you feel right now? Do you remember how you felt a few hours ago? How about yesterday or last Wednesday? What if you could track your emotions throughout the day and use this information to help improve your mood and well-being? In this science project, you will program a simple, pocket-sized device that you can carry around with you to log your feelings whenever you want or on a specific schedule. Read more

Manipulating Sound Files

Science Fair Project Idea

Scientific Method

Learn how to edit sound files so that you can manipulate the recorded sound mathematically. You can either find specialized audio editing software or do background research to teach yourself about sound file structure so that you can write your own simple program to manipulate sound files. Try arithmetic operations on the sound values (e.g., adding or subtracting a constant, multiplying or dividing by a constant). How do these operations alter the sound? Try other mathematical operations:… Read more

Password Duel

Lesson Plan Grade: 3rd-5th

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Do your students have their own online accounts like email or social media? What about a login for the school computers? If so, they might have to pick passwords. Have you ever had trouble creating (and forgetting) good passwords? This fun lesson plan involves a guessing game that can teach your students how to make their passwords harder to guess. Learn how to keep your accounts safe! Read more

Pinwheel Magic: Take a Spin with Animation

Science Fair Project Idea

Scientific Method

Do you enjoy watching cartoons and animated movies? Do you have fun playing video games? What do all of these things have in common? Fantastic computer animation, that's what! It's a cool job to take an interesting story or game and make it more entertaining by animating it. In this computer science project, you won't animate a full-length feature movie, but you will animate a pinwheel—a project that can go a long way toward creating your own longer animations! You will create an animated… Read more

Computer Science Projects, Lessons, Activities (84 results)

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