Seventh Grade Projects, Lessons, Activities (Page 21)

Are Your Eyes Playing Tricks on You? Discover the Science Behind Afterimages!

Science Fair Project Idea

Scientific Method

Yogi Berra said "You can observe a lot by just watching." In this human biology science fair project, you will observe how your eyes perceive color by watching afterimages. Afterimages are the images you see after staring at an object for several seconds and then looking away. You will also learn how different cone cells in your retina respond to different colors. Read more

Balance the Forces Within a Mobile

STEM Activity

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Have you ever seen a mobile? Not a mobile phone, but a hanging art sculpture. You might have had such a mobile in your room when you were little. These mobiles hang from the ceiling and are usually made up of many layers of rods to which lots of differently shaped objects are attached with strings. When you look at the mobile sculpture, you might wonder how it can stay balanced all the time even when it is moving in the air. In this activity, you will make your own mobile sculpture and find out… Read more

Basketball Physics: Where Does a Bouncing Ball's Energy Go?

Science Fair Project Idea

Scientific Method

Have you ever noticed that when you drop a basketball, its bounce does not reach the height you dropped it from? Why is that? When a basketball bounces, such as on a basketball court, its bounce actually loses momentum by transferring energy elsewhere. This means that to dribble the basketball, players must continually replace the transferred energy by pushing down on the ball. But what happens to the "lost" energy? As we know from physics, energy is not really lost, it just changes form. One… Read more

Bombs Away! A Ping Pong Catapult

Science Fair Project Idea

Scientific Method

If you were in a raiding army in the Middle Ages, a catapult would come in mighty handy for taking down castle walls. But only if you could aim it reliably! With this science project, you will try your hand at catapult technology. Using a rubber-band-powered catapult you will send ping pong balls flying through the air. The catapult's design makes it easy to measure and repeat how hard the ball is launched and its direction, so you can find the right catapult settings to hit the target reliably. Read more

Bouncing Basketballs: How Much Energy Does Dribbling Take?

Science Fair Project Idea

Scientific Method

Playing basketball can be hard work. Players not only constantly run around the court, but just dribbling the basketball takes a lot of effort, too. Why is that? It has to do with how the basketball bounces. When the ball hits the court, its bounce actually loses momentum by transferring some of its energy into a different form. This means that to keep the ball bouncing, players must continually put more energy into the ball. In this sports science project, you will determine how high a… Read more

Bridge Building Bonanza: Which Design Wins?

STEM Activity

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Have you ever ridden in a car driving across a suspension bridge? Suspension bridges, with their tall towers, long spans and gracefully curving cables, are beautiful examples of the work of civil engineers. How do the cables and towers carry the load that is on the bridge, which includes you and the car you are in when you cross the bridge? Can a suspension bridge carry a greater load than a simple beam bridge? You can try to answer these questions in this science activity! 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 Recycling-Sorting Machine

Lesson Plan Grade: 6th-8th

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In this lesson plan, your students will build their own recycling sorting machines that use various methods, like magnets or puffs of air, to separate shreds of paper from paper clips. This lesson is inspired by the real-world engineering challenge of separating various materials, like paper, plastic, and metals, that get combined in single-stream recycling programs. Read more

NGSS Performance Expectations:

MS-PS2-3. Ask questions about data to determine the factors that affect the strength of electric and magnetic forces.
MS-PS2-5. Conduct an investigation and evaluate the experimental design to provide evidence that fields exist between objects exerting forces on each other even though the objects are not in contact.
MS-ETS1-2. Evaluate competing design solutions using a systematic process to determine how well they meet the criteria and constraints of the problem.

Build a Speedy Light-Tracking Robot (BlueBot Project #2)

Science Fair Project Idea

Engineering Design Process

Have you ever seen a cat chase a laser pointer or a flashlight beam? What if you could make a robot do that? In this project, you will build a robot that can automatically drive toward a bright light source. The robot uses a simple electronic circuit to track light, so there is no computer programming required! You can also do three other robotics projects using the same kit of parts, so this is a great way to get started with robotics before moving on to more advanced projects. Read more

Butterfly Wings: Using Nature to Learn About Flight

Science Fair Project Idea

Scientific Method

Have you ever seen butterflies fluttering around outside, gliding through the air and landing on flowers? While they are delicate and fragile, butterflies are actually excellent flyers. They are so good, in fact, that scientists at Harvard University studied butterfly wing shapes as an inspiration for building a miniature flying robot. In this science project, you will do your own version of the Harvard scientists' experiment to measure the flight performance of butterfly wings. Read more

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