Eighth Grade, Environmental Science Projects, Lessons, Activities (Page 5)

Science Fair Project Idea

Scientific Method

What covers less than 10% of the Earth's surface, yet is a vital natural resource for terrestrial life? What filters ground water and supports most of our food production, not to mention the production of building materials and paper? The answer, often overlooked, is: soil. With this project you can get all the dirt on soil formation, soil horizons, and the composition of different soils. Read more

How Stable is Your Food Web?

Lesson Plan Grade: 5th-9th

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"Giant Kelp Forest" © 2010 Tom Thai Could you describe the kelp forest food web as a system? Your students will design and use a simple model to test cause and effect relationships or interactions concerning the functioning of a marine food web, ranking their hypothetical ecosystems according to their stability when faced with a natural or man-made disturbance. Read more

NGSS Performance Expectations:

5-LS2-1. Develop a model to describe the movement of matter among plants, animals, decomposers, and the environment.
MS-LS2-3. Develop a model to describe the cycling of matter and flow of energy among living and nonliving parts of an ecosystem.
MS-LS2-4. Construct an argument supported by empirical evidence that changes to physical or biological components of an ecosystem affect populations.
HS-LS2-6. Evaluate the claims, evidence, and reasoning that the complex interactions in ecosystems maintain relatively consistent numbers and types of organisms in stable conditions, but changing conditions may result in a new ecosystem.

Landfills

Science Fair Project Idea

Scientific Method

Visit your local landfill to collect dumping statistics by watching the types of trash people bring to the dump. Identify problem areas and types of waste that are commonly brought to the dump. Propose new uses for common landfill problems like tires, construction materials, plastics, appliances, and computer parts. Measure packaging materials of some common products. Invent ways to reduce the amount of packaging and increase the use of recyclable materials like popcorn or corn-based packing… Read more

Landscapes and Water Usage

Science Fair Project Idea

Scientific Method

Some plants use a lot of water, and some are very drought-tolerant. Drought-tolerant grasses are good for water conservation because they require less water to grow and stay green. How much less water do they need? Which types of grass are drought-tolerant? You can buy different types or brands of grass seed at your nursery that claim to be drought-tolerant. Grow them in a container and then starve for water after they are established. Which brands die out first? You can conduct a similar… Read more

Looking Downstream: Could Nanosilver in Consumer Products Affect Pond Life?

Science Fair Project Idea

Scientific Method

Do you know that many consumer products, such as sports clothes, cosmetics, and even food containers contain tiny silver particles? These so-called nanoparticles—usually 1–100 nanometers (a billionth of a meter) in size—are toxic to bacteria and fungi and therefore, are used to prevent them from growing on everyday items you use. But what happens if the silver nanoparticles get into the water; for example, when you wash off your makeup or clean your clothes? Do they affect… Read more

Making Everyday Objects Out of Mushrooms: Environmentally Friendly Design

STEM Activity

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Maybe you have grown vegetables or flowers, but have you ever grown the flowerpot? Yes, you read that right! In this activity, you will use mushroom roots to grow a biodegradable material that can be molded into a product of your liking, like a flowerpot! Growing a set of bowls, a lampshade, or a pot is easier than you might think. Once you try it out, you just might feel inspired to replace some of your plastic objects with ecological counterparts that you created from mushroom roots! Read more

Native Landscapes

Science Fair Project Idea

Scientific Method

Do your parents like to garden? Then you might have a beautiful lawn surrounded by flowers, or a vegetable garden. Humans have been introducing plants to our landscapes for centuries, which has dramatically altered the natural habitat of many environments. Chances are, the landscape you live in is not a natural landscape. One movement is to restore these habitats by re-introducing native plants. Conduct a survey in your area looking for native and non-native plant species. You can take… Read more

Runoff and Fertilizer Use

Science Fair Project Idea

Scientific Method

Many people routinely use fertilizer for crops, gardens, and lawns. What people don't know is that each time they apply fertilizer, the fertilizer seeps through the soil into the water table. This can eventually lead to the contamination of a local water source, like a stream, pond, lake, bay, or ocean. This is an especially big problem for agricultural practices that frequently use large amounts of fertilizer on fields that are connected by irrigation channels. The run-off of fertilizer… Read more

What To Do About CO₂?

Lesson Plan Grade: 5th-12th

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Where does CO₂ come from and how does excess carbon dioxide in the atmosphere affect the ocean and aquatic life? In this lesson students are introduced to the carbon cycle and explore pH and acidification with hands-on experiments. They then connect their experimental data with real-world data to evaluate claims about carbon dioxide and ocean acidification. Finally, students are introduced to how different companies and research groups are using green chemistry to build carbon capture… Read more

When the Sun Rises: The Effect of Light on the Movement of Daphnia

Science Fair Project Idea

Scientific Method

Changes in the environment, or stimuli, affect your behavior and movement over the course of a day: When you get cold, for instance, you might get up and put on a sweater. Or if it is sunny and warm, you might go outside to play sports or go for a walk. Different stimuli, including light, affect the movement of other organisms as well. But how does the type of light influence their movement? Do they respond differently to different kinds of light, depending on other factors in their… Read more

Eighth Grade, Environmental Science Projects, Lessons, Activities (61 results)

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