Projects, Lessons, Activities (Page 164)

Be Seen After Dark—What Clothes Keep You Safe?

Science Fair Project Idea

Scientific Method

Did you know that the most likely time to be struck and killed by a car in the United States is at dusk, dawn, or at night? In 2014, 3 out of every 4 pedestrian fatalities happened in these types of poor light conditions. Is there something you could do to decrease the chances you, your friends, and your family members are safer when walking or biking at night? Do you think the types of clothes that you wear could make a difference in how visible you are to drivers? Explore the science of… Read more

Beats

Science Fair Project Idea

Scientific Method

Beats are a pattern of oscillating sound intensity (i.e., the volume of the pattern grows and fades with a regular cycle). They occur when two tones of almost equal frequency interfere. People can perceive beat frequencies below about 7 Hz. Figure out how to create sound files to play pure tones on your computer. Create files with a pure tone of one frequency in the left channel, and a pure tone of a different frequency in the right channel. Systematically explore different frequency… Read more

Bending Plant Roots with Gravity

Lesson Plan Grade: 6th-8th

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How do plants know which way is up or down? How does this affect which direction their roots will grow? In this lesson plan, your students will investigate how changes in a plant's environment, like the direction of gravity, affect the shape of its growing roots over a period of several days. Read more

NGSS Performance Expectations:

MS-LS1-5. Construct a scientific explanation based on evidence for how environmental and genetic factors influence the growth of organisms.

Best Wand for Big Bubbles

STEM Activity

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Have you ever tried to blow a bubble, and no matter how hard you try, the bubble just will not form? Why does this happen? Why do bubbles form at all, and why is it harder to blow bubbles sometimes? In this activity, we will explore the limits of how big our bubbles can get! Read more

Bird-Spotting Science: Predicting a Bird's Lifestyle Based on its Feet

STEM Activity

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Have you ever wondered how animals can survive in all sorts of extreme environments, from a polar bear that’s out and about when it’s -40°F and a desert iguana finding food as the temperature rises to 110°F, to a deep sea anglerfish living thousands of feet down in the sea? How do they do it? The answer is adaptations! Their bodies have special features that allow them to live in those environments. In this activity, you’ll investigate what the… Read more

Black in the Spotlight

Lesson Plan Grade: 6th-8th

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How does light interact with matter? In this fun hands-on lesson, your students explore how different materials transmit, absorb and/or reflect light. They create their own experiments to demonstrate these phenomena and use a phones' built-in light sensor and a sensor app to add quantitative data to their arguments. Read more

NGSS Performance Expectations:

MS-PS4-2. Develop and use a model to describe that waves are reflected, absorbed, or transmitted through various materials.

Boys and Girls All Around the Town

Science Fair Project Idea

Scientific Method

Do you ever say you like to go somewhere, and your friend says, "Yuck, that's for girls!" or "Ewww, that's for boys!" Do this experiment to find out if there are some places that girls like to go more than boys, or vice versa. Read more

Brainstorming for Engineering Projects using SCAMPER

Lesson Plan Grade: 3rd-8th

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Coming up with new ideas is hard! How do engineers design new things or improve existing ones? Engineers and inventors use different brainstorming techniques to help them think outside the box and come up with new ideas. In this lesson plan, your students will practice brainstorming with a method called SCAMPER. Read more

Bristlebot Shape and Motion Tracking

Science Fair Project Idea

Scientific Method

Bristlebots are tiny little robots with no "brain." They are powered by vibrations and move around randomly. Even if there is no brain, can you still influence how they move by changing their design? Find out in this fun robotics project! Read more

Build a Color-Detecting Rover

Science Fair Project Idea

Engineering Design Process

The Mars Curiosity and Perseverance rovers use scientific instruments, nicknamed ChemCam (Figure 1) and SuperCam respectively, to help them analyze the composition of rocks and soil on Mars. You can learn more about these cameras from the resources in the Bibliography, and more about why scientists want to analyze rocks on Mars from the video on this page. Figure 1. The two main parts of the ChemCam instrument on the Mars Curiosity rover. For a science… Read more

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