Projects, Lessons, Activities (Page 169)

Dancing Water Droplets

STEM Activity

1

2

3

4

5

1 review

Do you like watching raindrops on your window as they move and run down the glass? It is fascinating to observe how some of them just sit there by themselves, whereas others combine to build a larger drop. Have you ever wondered what makes them move and behave in different ways? Controlling and influencing wetting, the spreading of liquids on surfaces, is actually important for many industries. For some purposes, you want a surface to repel a liquid; just think of your water-repellent jacket as… Read more

Data Models

Science Fair Project Idea

Scientific Method

Math is used by many different types of scientists to model phenomenon and evaluate data from an experiment. By building mathematical models scientists can understand how different physical, chemical, and biological processes are affected by different variables. The most important tools are: making a graph to give a visual representation of the relationships between your variables and making an equation to give a way of computing the relationships between your variables. Find a source of data,… Read more

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

Design a Delayed-Release Tablet

Lesson Plan Grade: 6th-8th

1

2

3

4

5

2 reviews

In this lesson, students are challenged to design and build a controlled-release tablet, which will be made from different colored bath tablets and a variety of water-soluble plastics. First, they will have to test the properties of each of the different plastic materials. Then their task will be to create a tablet that releases three different colors, each at a pre-determined time after the tablet has been submerged in water. As students design and build their controlled-release tablets, they… Read more

NGSS Performance Expectations:

MS-PS1-2. Analyze and interpret data on the properties of substances before and after the substances interact to determine if a chemical reaction has occurred.
MS-ETS1-3. Analyze data from tests to determine similarities and differences among several design solutions to identify the best characteristics of each that can be combined into a new solution to better meet the criteria for success.

Design a Seeding Machine to Counteract Deforestation

Lesson Plan Grade: 6th-8th

1

2

3

4

5

4 reviews

Forests are the green lung of the Earth and home to millions of different plant, fungi, animal, and bacteria species. Unfortunately, today many forests are threatened by deforestation, which causes significant biodiversity loss. Ongoing reforestation efforts across the world intend to counteract the effects of deforestation. As planting trees by hand does not scale well, machines on the ground, as well as flying drones have been developed to help plant tree seedlings or seeds. In this lesson,… Read more

NGSS Performance Expectations:

MS-LS2-5. Evaluate competing design solutions for maintaining biodiversity and ecosystem services.
MS-ETS1-2. Evaluate competing design solutions using a systematic process to determine how well they meet the criteria and constraints of a problem.
MS-ESS3-5. Ask questions to clarify evidence of the factors that have caused the rise in global temperatures over the past century.

Design and 3D Print a Snowflake

STEM Activity

1

2

3

4

5

36 reviews

Design and 3D print your own snowflake ornament with Tinkercad in this fun winter-themed STEM activity. Read more

Design Your Own 3D Optical Illusions

Lesson Plan Grade: 8th-12th

In this lesson your students will design their own 3D objects that exhibit "anomalous mirror symmetry"—that is, their reflections appear flipped left to right when you put them in front of a mirror. Students will start by defining the outline of a 2D shape using functions. They will then use MATLAB or Python code to convert the 2D shape into a 3D curve that replicates the outline of the 2D shape when viewed from a certain angle. Finally, they will convert the 3D curve into a solid 3D… Read more

Designing a Speaker for Bass or Treble

Science Fair Project Idea

Scientific Method

Whether you have already tried the Science Buddies Build a Paper Speaker activity or the Measure the Frequency Response of a Paper Speaker project, or you just like music and are interested in exploring more about the science of sound, then this project is for you. You probably know that sound waves can have different frequencies. If not, you can read more about that in the background section of the Measure the Frequency Response of a Paper Speaker project. The range of human hearing is… Read more

Digital Image Processing

Science Fair Project Idea

Scientific Method

Students who are mathematically inclined can use the student version of a program like MatLab or Mathematica to convert a digital image into numbers, then perform operations such as sharpening or special effects. This is a great way to learn about image processing algorithms. Read more

Digital Photo Contrast

Science Fair Project Idea

Scientific Method

What do you do if you take a photo and it turns out too dark or too bright? You can use your computer to fix it for you. Read more

Projects, Lessons, Activities (top 2,000 results)

Explore Our Science Videos