Science Buddies: "Ask an Expert"

My first grader is interested in the Marines/Military. He wants to do his science fair project involving the Marines. Any suggestions.

Do you have access to people in the military? (I would assume so, since he's interested in the topic.) What about something like, 'Does military training affect your reaction time?' Reaction time is really easy to measure--just have someone hold their index finger and thumb close, put the end of a meter stick between them, and drop the meter stick unexpectedly. The person will grab it, and you can measure how far they let it fall before they grabbed it. Have a bunch of military and non-military people of similar ages do this, and see if it differs. (Note: don't allow them to make eye contact with the person dropping the stick, because that adds an additional variable--some people are really good at knowing when someone else is going to do something.)

Here's a Science Buddies project on the topic: https://www.sciencebuddies.org/science- ... p009.shtml . As written, it's WAY too advanced for a first grader, but it should give you some ideas and point to some sources you can use for background research.

In general, if you have access to military members, I would suggest looking through Science Buddies' projects on human behavior, sociology, and human biology and health (on this page: https://www.sciencebuddies.org/science- ... l?From=Tab ). See if any of these interest your son, and then see if it differs between military personnel and civilians.

Good luck!

Melissa, Thank you so much that really helps with ideas.

i agree this a really good idea