Sixth Grade, Pandemics – COVID-19 Science Experiments (Page 2)

Spread the Soap, Not the Germs

Science Fair Project Idea

Scientific Method

Do you wash your hands? You should— it's the best way to prevent the spread of germs. But germs can be tricky; they find nooks and crannies to hide in, so it takes good hand-washing technique to get rid of them. In this science project, you'll investigate which parts of the hand are the most difficult to wash germs off of. Read more

BLASTing Flu Viruses

Science Fair Project Idea

Scientific Method

Remember going to the doctor and getting vaccine shots? It is no fun getting poked with a needle, but fortunately, a vaccine helps our immune system to develop protection against a serious illness for years to come. But what about the flu vaccine? How come there is a new one every year? This science fair project will show you why. Read more

Model How Herd Immunity Works

STEM Activity

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Have you ever wondered why you need to get a flu shot regularly? The vaccine protects you from getting sick with the flu, which is an infectious disease. Such diseases, like the flu or COVID-19, can easily spread through a population and cause a pandemic by making many people sick. Measures such as social distancing can reduce the risk of catching the disease, but real protection only comes from gaining immunity against the disease. This is the reason for vaccinations—to make someone… Read more

Can Herd Immunity Combat Viral Epidemics like COVID-19?

Science Fair Project Idea

Scientific Method

One strategy you may have heard suggested for dealing with the COVID-19 epidemic is to let nature take its course and let COVID-19 infect enough of the population for us to reach the herd immunity threshold. Does this make sense as a public health strategy? You can explore this question scientifically using SimPandemic, a free online tool for modeling infectious disease outbreaks. Before you begin, you will need to know a bit about herd immunity. Herd immunity, sometimes called community… Read more

Program Your Own COVID-19 or Flu Simulator with Scratch

STEM Activity

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Are you curious about how public health officials think about and model how diseases like flu and COVID-19 move from one person to another? In this activity, you will use the kid-friendly programming language Scratch to write a simulation that uses bouncing dots to represent healthy and sick people. The simulation will show how we can take measures to slow the spread of a transmissible disease. Read more

Seasonal Disease Outbreaks

Science Fair Project Idea

Scientific Method

"Flu season" is something we deal with every winter. Cyclical or seasonal outbreaks of an infectious disease can occur for a variety of reasons, such as seasonal changes in host behavior (for example, more people staying indoors), the seasonal abundance of disease carriers (for example, mosquitos), and many others. Another factor that can play a role in cyclical outbreaks occurs when the natural immunity to a disease has a short duration. This enables each individual in the population to… Read more

The Importance of Making Sure a Drug's Aim Is True

Science Fair Project Idea

Scientific Method

Scientists recently found that some small drugs can stop infection by the deadly Ebola virus in its tracks. Lab researchers found that these drugs bind to a protein that the Ebola virus uses to enter our cells, and this is how infection is prevented. However, this also means that the bound protein no longer functions in our cells. How might these drugs accidentally disrupt important biological processes in our bodies? What other proteins might these drugs bind to? In this science project,… Read more

Tracking COVID-19's Genomic and Clinical Evolution

Science Fair Project Idea

Scientific Method

Over time, viruses evolve. Their evolution is influenced by both neutral drift, the natural mutation rate of the virus, and selective pressure from the hosts' immune systems. Scientists study a virus's genomic evolution—the changes at the nucleotide and amino acid level—to better understand how the virus is spreading and the clinical implications. You can use public databases and tools to do the same type of tracking and analysis of COVID-19 that scientists around the world do. … Read more

DIY Face Mask

STEM Activity

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To slow the spread of COVID-19, the CDC recommends wearing a mask or cloth face covering—particularly in places where it is impossible to maintain social distancing (staying at least 6 feet away from others). This recommendation is for everyone age two or older (children under the age of two should not wear masks). Many instructions to make your own mask are available online. This activity will help you think through the process of designing and making a mask as an engineering problem.… Read more

Foldit: Playing a Game While Solving Protein Structures

Science Fair Project Idea

Scientific Method

Unlocking the three-dimensional structure of a protein is crucial to help scientists understand how it functions in our bodies and how it can cause devastating diseases if it becomes disrupted or interacts in the wrong way. However, figuring out the structure of a protein in three-dimensional space can be very challenging. Proteins are the functional units of our cells, and every protein is made up of a long chain of amino acids. Amino acids come in different shapes and sizes, and they have… Read more

Sixth Grade, Pandemics – COVID-19 Science Experiments (24 results)

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