Science Buddies'
middle school science projects are the perfect way for
middle school students to have fun exploring science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM). Our
middle school projects are written and tested by scientists and are specifically created for use by students in the
middle school grades. Students can choose to follow the science experiment as written or put their own spin on the project.
For a personalized list of science projects,
middle schoolers can use the Science Buddies Topic Selection Wizard.
The wizard asks students to respond to a series of simple statements and then uses their answers to recommend
age-appropriate projects that fit their interests.
If you like to bake, this could be a good science project for you! Have you ever wondered about the purpose of each of the ingredients in your favorite recipes? For example, why is baking powder used in some muffin recipes? How does the baking powder affect how the muffins look, feel, and taste? In this food science project you will use a scientific method to find out!
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FoodSci_p007
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Time Required
Short (2-5 days)
Prerequisites
Previous experience with baking is helpful, but not absolutely necessary.
Material Availability
Readily available
Cost
Low ($20 - $50)
Safety
Minor injury possible: hot oven. Be sure to have an adult help when using the oven.
There's nothing quite like the smell of fresh-baked muffins for breakfast on a Saturday morning! If you're into baking, you might want to try this project, which will give you insight into some of the chemistry that's going on in your muffin batter. You'll get some practical knowledge about substituting ingredients. Who knows, it may even get you started on the path to some new culinary inventions!
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FoodSci_p008
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Time Required
Short (2-5 days)
Prerequisites
Previous experience with baking is helpful, but not absolutely necessary.
Since ancient times, nothing has said "special" and "dessert" quite like cheesecake! The Romans even sacrificed their form of cheesecake, called libum, in religious ceremonies. Modern cheesecakes are more likely to be eaten at parties and at restaurants than used as sacrificial offerings, but no matter how they're enjoyed, all cheesecakes require some finesse in their baking and mixing to avoid common cheesecake faults, like cracking, collapsing, or failure to rise. In this cooking and food…
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FoodSci_p068
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Time Required
Long (2-4 weeks)
Prerequisites
None
Material Availability
Readily available
Cost
Average ($50 - $100)
Safety
Adult supervision is required while using kitchen appliances and the oven.
Ever wonder why it is harder to keep your balance with a heavy backpack on? Or why it is difficult to
make a toddler's sippy cup tip over? Maybe you are the kind of person who wonders about circus balancing acts and would like to learn how to ride a bike on a rope. Or perhaps you want to know how to make your toy car less prone to toppling over when racing through a sharp curve. In this science project you can learn about balance using marshmallows, skewers, and toothpicks. Sticky, yummy…
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What do humans need to survive? We need food, water, and warm shelter. We all need a warm place to live, particularly when it's chilly outside. How do many of us warm our houses or apartments? We depend on fossil fuels to supply gas and electricity to our heaters. But burning fossil fuels to create energy is harmful to the environment. What if there was a way to warm our homes without burning fossil fuels and it was free? In this science fair project, you will build a solar air heater and see…
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EnvEng_p028
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Time Required
Average (6-10 days)
Prerequisites
None
Material Availability
Readily available
Cost
Average ($50 - $100)
Safety
You need to cut cardboard for this project and use paint. Always exercise caution when using a sharp knife and scissors. Paint in an area with good ventilation.
Did you know that the same digital photo you see on a computer monitor may not look as good in print? When it comes to color profiles, there are a lot of options: RGB, CMYK, grayscale and indexed color! How do you choose the right color profile for the job?
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Photo_p008
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Time Required
Very Short (≤ 1 day)
Prerequisites
None
Material Availability
Specialty Item: Requires Adobe Photoshop or similar photo editing software
Have you ever bitten into a beautiful golden-brown cookie only to realize in dismay that the bottom is burned and black? What causes that uneven baking? Can it be prevented? You can discover the answer by conducting a science fair project to determine whether different types of cookie sheets result in noticeably different cookies. First you'll need to do some background research to figure out what kinds of baking sheets you can buy. For example, there are aluminum, steel, insulated, and…
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FoodSci_p023
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Time Required
Average (6-10 days)
Prerequisites
None
Material Availability
Readily available
Cost
Low ($20 - $50)
Safety
Adult supervision recommended when baking the cookies.
Why do so many people use cell phone cases? Do cell phones really need the extra protection, or is it just because cases look fancy?
In this engineering science project, you will test the durability of calculators instead of cell phones, find out if cases increase the durability of the device, and build some of your own cases that do!
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ApMech_p050
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Time Required
Short (2-5 days)
Prerequisites
None
Material Availability
Readily available. See the Materials and Equipment list for details.
Do you enjoy playing video games? Do you like the challenge of reaching a difficult game level and
scoring lots of points? Video games include many graphic elements that are great to watch, but did
you know that not only sighted people enjoy video games? Blind and visually impaired players can also play video games by relying on sound cues — the pings, pops, bangs, and bursts of music that make a game fun or exciting. When building a game that will be accessible to differently abled…
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Picture this situation: An elderly woman is rushed to the hospital complaining of severe abdominal pain, tinnitus, and lethargy. Suspecting a drug interaction, the emergency room doctor starts questioning her. The doctor learns that the woman takes no medicines except aspirin for her arthritis. Since she cannot swallow pills well she takes a powdered form of aspirin which she buys in bulk and keeps in a plastic container in her kitchen next to her baking goods. She had just finished a day of…
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Chem_p093
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Time Required
Very Short (≤ 1 day)
Prerequisites
Material Availability
A kit containing specialty items needed for this project is available from our partner . See the Materials tab for more details.
Cost
Average ($40 - $80)
Safety
Wear disposable gloves when working with chemicals.
