Middle School, Human Behavior Projects, Lessons, Activities (Page 4)

Calling It Quits: What Is the Most Effective Way to Quit Smoking?

Science Fair Project Idea

Scientific Method

Maybe you know someone who smokes, and you want to help them to quit. They've probably already told you how hard it is to stop once a person has started smoking. This project tries to answer the question: What is the most effective way to stop smoking? Read more

Candy Confusion: Can Small Children Mistake Medicine for Candy?

Science Fair Project Idea

Scientific Method

Many medicines come in bottles with special child-proof caps so that small children can't accidentally open the bottle and eat the pills. To a small child who can't read the label, the pills might look just like candy. What cues do we use to tell the difference between medicine and candy? At what age can we tell them apart? This project can show you how to find out. Read more

Do People Prefer Virtual Reality Headsets over 2D Pictures?

Science Fair Project Idea

Scientific Method

Are you convinced that virtual reality (VR) will soon become mainstream and improve our lives in unpredicted ways? Or maybe you believe it is a big hype doomed to fade and disappear. In this science project, you will use one aspect of VR—the headset—and investigate if it could convey reality better than traditional pictures or 360° images. You will go out and measure how people perceive pictures and images you took. Will people embrace the VR headset and what it can do or… Read more

Enjoy It Now... Or Enjoy It Later? Understanding Delayed Gratification

Science Fair Project Idea

Scientific Method

Have you ever thought to yourself, "I have got to have that new video game right now?" Or maybe there's a new shirt at the store that you just have to have. So you rush home, break into your bank, and gather all of your money, even though you have been saving to buy your mom a gift. But wait! Maybe if you do a few more chores and save for just a few more days, you can gather enough money to buy your mom a gift and buy what you want. This behavior is called delayed gratification and it's what… Read more

Hands-on Shopping: More Likely to Buy if You Can Give It a Try?

Science Fair Project Idea

Scientific Method

Did you know that the average child sees 20,000 30-second TV commercials in just one year? That's a lot of encouragement to buy new toys, clothes, entertainment, and food. In this behavioral science fair project, you'll find out some other ways (besides commercials) that marketers use to try and get adults to buy products, like having them touch or hold an item. You'll find out if these methods work with kids, too, and if they increase how much people are willing to pay for a product. It's a… Read more

Honesty: How Prevalent Is It?

Science Fair Project Idea

Scientific Method

How trusting are you? Do you think people are basically honest, or do you think people are usually honest only when they think someone is watching? This project explores how well the honor system works for a bake sale-type charity donation. Find out if your hunch is correct. Read more

Interpreting Area Data from Maps vs. Graphs: An Experiment in Visual Perception

Science Fair Project Idea

Scientific Method

Graphical methods of data presentation are a key feature of scientific communication. This project asks the question, "What's the best way to compare the land area of states: a map or a bar graph?" You'll be measuring performance on two different visual discrimination tasks: comparison of areas vs. comparison of position on a common scale. Which method is more accurate? Which method is faster? This project will get you thinking about how to find the best way to communicate scientific… Read more

Motion After-Effects in Vision

Science Fair Project Idea

Scientific Method

If you stare at a waterfall, or look at passing scenery from the window of a moving train, you will have a strange sensation when you turn your gaze to something stationary. You can investigate these types of motion after-effects with simple equipment described by the Exploratorium. How long does it take to induce the effect? How long does the effect last? Can the after-effect be canceled by viewing motion in the opposite direction? (Staff, date unknown) Read more

Now You See It, Now You Don't: Investigating Inattentional Blindness

Science Fair Project Idea

Scientific Method

Have you ever taken notes from the chalkboard during class and not noticed what was going on around you? Or have you ever been so focused on a task that you haven't seen other people around you? In both of these cases, you were paying attention, but you were seeing without seeing! This is called inattentional blindness and it's the topic that you will investigate in this human behavior science fair project. If you are interested in how the human brains perceives information, then this might… Read more

Picture This: How Visualizing Data Can Lead to the Right (or Wrong) Conclusion

Science Fair Project Idea

Scientific Method

Big data is one of the most promising and hyped trends in technology and business today. Big data refers to data-analysis jobs that are too large and complex to be analyzed by applications that are traditionally used. Big data sets hold valuable information. Many publicly available data sets have the potential to improve our everyday lives by giving us insight into the things we care about. How well-equipped are we to extract information from the data? Visualizations and aggregations (or… Read more

Middle School, Human Behavior Projects, Lessons, Activities (43 results)

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