Fifth Grade Projects, Lessons, Activities (Page 80)

Day or Night?

Science Fair Project Idea

Scientific Method

Animals have different levels of activity depending upon their habitat, metabolism and behavior. Diurnal animals are more active during the day. Nocturnal animals are more active at night. Being diurnal or nocturnal may have different advantages for different animals. For example, desert animals tend to be nocturnal so they can stay cool and escape the desert heat present during the day. What types of diurnal and nocturnal animals are common in your area? You can set out a small trap to… Read more

Ding, Dong, Ding, Dong: Morning Bells Are Ringing

Science Fair Project Idea

Scientific Method

For centuries, beautiful bell towers, like the Leaning Tower of Pisa, have been the center of village life, announcing the time of day, the joy of weddings, and the sorrow of funerals. They were also used to call villagers to action in times of danger. Have you ever wondered, though, why people put the bells in towers? The bells are so heavy, why haul them all the way up to the top of tall towers? Why not just ring them on the ground? Putting bells up high does make for a dramatic visual… Read more

Divide and Conquer: Proving Pick's Theorem for Lattice Polygons

Science Fair Project Idea

Scientific Method

If you like to play Tetris, then you might like this project. You will learn something interesting about the mathematics of complex shapes as you try to prove Pick's Theorem. The strange shape below is an example of a lattice polygon, which is a polygon whose vertices lie on points in the plane that have integer coordinates. As you can see, it is a complex shape, but there is an easy way to calculate its area, by simply counting lattice points! If you count the number of lattice points on… Read more

DIY Face Mask

STEM Activity

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13 reviews

To slow the spread of COVID-19, the CDC recommends wearing a mask or cloth face covering—particularly in places where it is impossible to maintain social distancing (staying at least 6 feet away from others). This recommendation is for everyone age two or older (children under the age of two should not wear masks). Many instructions to make your own mask are available online. This activity will help you think through the process of designing and making a mask as an engineering problem.… Read more

DIY Mini Drone: Motion Control

STEM Activity

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12 reviews

Most modern smartphones and video game controllers have a built-in accelerometer used for motion control. In this project you will program an Arduino® to use an accelerometer to control the steering of a miniature popsicle stick drone. See this page for a complete list of our mini drone projects. You may wish to do the projects in order. Read more

Do Different Tree Species Grow at the Same Rate?

Science Fair Project Idea

Scientific Method

Trees grow more during the early spring than they do the rest of the year. Because of this period of dormancy, or lack of growth, each year of growth is marked by a line called a tree ring. You can count the number of rings in the cross section of a tree trunk to show how old the tree is. You can also count the number of rings in a stem to see the age of a stem or branch. One way to measure the rate of growth of a tree is to count the number of rings per inch. Trees with high numbers of… Read more

Do Heavy Loads Shorten Your Steps?

Science Fair Project Idea

Scientific Method

You probably notice that when you carry something heavy—whether it’s a backpack filled with books, grocery bags, or a weighted vest—the way you walk changes. Your body adjusts in many ways to maintain balance, avoid fatigue, and reduce injury risk. One of these adjustments happens in your step length—that is, how far you move forward with each step. Biomechanical studies show that adding extra load (weight) often causes people to take shorter, more cautious steps. This… Read more

Do Migratory Birds Like It Hot?

Science Fair Project Idea

Scientific Method

Why do birds migrate? Do all birds have the same reasons for migrating? Where do they go when they migrate? These are questions scientists have asked for centuries. The more species for which they gather data, the more specific the answers become. In this science project, you will choose a species to investigate, then access and evaluate real data collected by scientists to start answering those questions yourself! Read more

Does How You Hold Your Guitar Affect the Sound?

Science Fair Project Idea

Scientific Method

What do a guitar, a piano, a harp and a violin have in common? Turns out a couple of things, including a soundboard. All stringed instruments use a soundboard to amplify (greatly increase) the volume of the sound coming from vibrations of the strings. The soundboard is positioned so that it gathers the sound vibrations coming from the strings and then retransmits them at an even greater volume when it begins to vibrate. Soundboards are common in the world of musical instruments, but they can… Read more

Does Virtual Practice Make Perfect?

Science Fair Project Idea

Scientific Method

You've probably heard the phrase, "practice makes perfect" more times than you care to remember, but is it actually true when you use a music game as your practice for real-life singing, strumming, or drumming? You can design a science fair project to discover the answer! First, you'll need to think about how to measure how well someone is playing or singing a song in real life. Using the test you design, measure several musicians' ability to play or sing a few different songs. Then have your… Read more

Fifth Grade Projects, Lessons, Activities (907 results)

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