Eighth Grade Projects, Lessons, Activities (Page 26)

Afterimages: The Colorful Tricks Eyes Play

STEM Activity

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Have you ever wondered how visual illusions are made? When we see special effects in movies, or a magic show, we often witness illusions that challenge our ability to correctly perceive things. One way in which our eyes play tricks on us is through afterimages. Afterimages are the images you see after staring at an object for several seconds and then looking away. In this science activity, you will look at afterimages to reveal the secrets of how your eyes see color. Read more

Balloon Morphing: How Gases Contract and Expand

Science Fair Project Idea

Scientific Method

Expanding gases are everywhere, from the kitchen to the cosmos. You've tasted their pleasures every time you've eaten a slice of bread, bitten into a cookie, or sipped a glass of soda. In this chemistry science fair project, you'll capture a gas in a stretchy container you're probably pretty familiar with—a balloon. This will allow you to observe the gas expansion and contraction as the temperature changes. Read more

Build a Light-Tracking Bristlebot

Science Fair Project Idea

Scientific Method

Sometimes engineers get ideas to build robots from animals in nature. There are robot dogs, robot snakes, robot birds, robot cheetahs, and even tiny robotic insects! In this science project, you will build a robot insect of your own. The robot will automatically drive toward a light source, mimicking a behavior called phototaxis, seen in some insects. You will build your own robot and then make adjustments so it can reliably drive toward a light. Read more

Build a Model Planetary Lander with Arduino

Science Fair Project Idea

Engineering Design Process

Imagine that you need to make sure valuable cargo — like a robot or even human astronauts — can land safely on Mars. How would you do it? In this project, you will build your own model planetary lander using an Arduino. It will use a distance sensor and automatically deploy landing gear before impact. Can you avoid a crash landing? Read more

Building Junkbots—Robots from Recycled Materials

Lesson Plan Grade: 6th-8th

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Junkbots are easy-to-build robots that you can make using a simple circuit and some recyclable materials. In this lesson, your students will learn about engineering design as they compete to build the fastest robot. No previous robotics experience is required! Read more

NGSS Performance Expectations:

MS-ETS1-4. Develop a model to generate data for iterative testing and modification of a proposed object, tool, or process such that an optimal design can be achieved.

Chemical Reactions: What is Plastic Made From?

Video Lesson Grade: 6th-8th

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Chemical reactions can result in interesting products! In this lesson, students learn how plastics are made by conducting a polymerization reaction in a simple milk-to-plastic transforming experiment. During their experiments, students will be able to compare the physical properties of their reactants (milk and vinegar) and their resulting organic casein polymer. Read more

NGSS Performance Expectations:

MS-PS1-2. Analyze and interpret data on the properties of substances before and after the substances interact to determine if a chemical reaction has occurred.
MS-PS1-3. Gather and make sense of information to describe that synthetic materials come from natural resources and impact society.

Color Taste Test—Do You Taste with Your Eyes?

STEM Activity

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Have you ever tried adding green food coloring to your milk? Or blue coloring to the butter you spread on your bread? You may not have tried this, but for years, scientists have studied the effect of color and food appearance on how food tastes. Believe it or not, our eyes are an important part of how we taste and perceive food! In this activity, you will learn about how you can trick your taste buds—with just a little food coloring! Read more

Colorful Patterns in Melting Ice

STEM Activity

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Have you ever wondered why ice cubes in your cold drink become gradually smaller, or why their surface becomes smoother as they melt? Does ice always melt this way? In this activity, you will use water balloons to create giant ice balls and observe how they melt. Can you predict the effect a bit of salt will have on your giant ice ball? Read more

Design Your Own Virtual Reality Headset

Science Fair Project Idea

Engineering Design Process

Virtual reality (VR) headsets are becoming increasingly popular with consumers for things like viewing 3D pictures and videos, or for playing video games. However, dedicated gaming headsets like the Oculus Rift® and PlayStation® VR can cost hundreds of dollars. Some headsets, like Google Cardboard™, which is literally made out of folded corrugated cardboard (Figure 1), are much cheaper because they can use any smartphone as the screen. Figure 1. A… Read more

Do Video Game Players Have Faster Reaction Times Than Non-Players?

Science Fair Project Idea

Scientific Method

When someone yells, "Think fast!" and throws you a ball, are you able to catch it? When the bell rings at the end of class, are you the first one out of your seat? Can you make it through a sudden hairpin turn in a video game without crashing? If so, then you likely have quick reaction times. In this science fair project, you'll look at reaction times (how fast people react to sensory events), and see if people who play video games have faster reaction times than those who do not. Read more

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