Third Grade Projects, Lessons, Activities (Page 17)

Make Your Own Marshmallows

STEM Activity

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Whether you are huddled around a fireplace, or drinking hot chocolate after a day in the snow, nothing says fun quite like a marshmallow! Even its name is soft and spongy! Have you ever wondered how marshmallows are made? Long ago marshmallows were actually made from a plant, the marshmallow plant, but today we usually make them using a few key ingredients, namely gelatin, corn syrup, and sugar. In this appetizing activity you will get to explore what ratio of sugar to corn syrup produces… Read more

Model the Distances between Planets in our Solar System

STEM Activity

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Did you know that the Voyager 2 spacecraft took 12 years to travel from Earth to Neptune, the furthest planet in the solar system? This sounds like a really long time! Maybe not that long if you consider what distance the spacecraft had to travel to get from Earth to Neptune. In this activity, you will make a model of the planets in the solar system and specifically model their distances to scale. Will it explain why the Voyager 2 took so long? Try it and see! Read more

Moving Water with the Archimedes Screw Pump

Science Fair Project Idea

Scientific Method

Amaze your friends and family by moving water with just a few turns of your wrist! Nope, it's not a magic trick. It's simply an Archimedes screw. In this science project, you will build a very simple pump, called an Archimedes screw, to transfer water from a low-lying location to a higher location. Read more

Tallest Paper Tower Challenge for Grades 3-5

Lesson Plan Grade: 3rd-5th

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Teach your students about the engineering design process with this fun lesson plan. They will design and build the tallest possible tower using nothing but paper and tape, but there's an additional twist on this classic activity. The tower must support a heavy weight at the top without collapsing! Teachers, note that middle school and high school versions of this lesson plan are also available. The 2021 Engineering Challenge is over, but you can still try this fun lesson with your students,… Read more

NGSS Performance Expectations:

3-5-ETS1-3. Plan and carry out fair tests in which variables are controlled and failure points are considered to identify aspects of a model or prototype that can be improved.

The Effect of Temperature on Chemical Reaction Time

Science Fair Project Idea

Scientific Method

Alka-Seltzer® tablets fizzle furiously when dropped into water. The moment the tablet starts dissolving, a chemical reaction occurs that releases carbon dioxide gas. In this science project, you can even measure how long and loudly your tablet fizzes using a smartphone equipped with a sensor app. Do you think you can make Alka-Seltzer fizz faster or more loudly by changing the temperature of the water? How big of a difference in the rate of a chemical reaction can temperature make? Read more

Yeasty Beasties

Science Fair Project Idea

Scientific Method

While looking at a package of dry yeast it is hard to believe that the package has organisms in it that are alive. But add the right ingredients and presto, the mixture becomes a bubbly, oozing, mess of life! What are the right ingredients? What does that yeast need to become active? Do this science project and figure it out for yourself! Read more

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

An Experiment on Nitrogen Fertilizers

Science Fair Project Idea

Scientific Method

Plants need nitrogen to grow healthy stems and leaves. Although nitrogen is the most abundant element in the air we breathe, that form of nitrogen cannot be used by plants. Nitrogen contained in fertilizer, on the other hand, is readily taken up by plants. In this experiment, you will compare plants grown without nitrogen fertilizer to plants grown with nitrogen fertilizer. Read more

Balloon Magic with Bernoulli's Principle

STEM Activity

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Have you ever seen pictures or videos of a roof being blown off a house during a hurricane or tornado? You might be surprised to hear that the roof is actually not pushed off by the strong winds but instead by the air inside the house! This can be explained by Bernoulli's principle, which states that fast-moving fluids or air, such as strong winds, have lower pressure than slow-moving air. In this activity you will demonstrate how balloons can be moved in a similar way. It is not quite as… 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

Third Grade Projects, Lessons, Activities (665 results)

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