Eighth Grade Science Projects (Page 20)

Go Fish! Creating an Ocean-Friendly Fishing Video Game

Science Fair Project Idea

Engineering Design Process

Video games are entertainment, but like other such media (say Oscar-winning movies or award-winning books), they can also point out challenges facing people. In this science project, you will design and create a fishing video game that teaches the player about which fish are plentiful enough to catch and which fish are not because their population is declining. Maybe your game can help solve the problem of over-fishing and help sustain healthy fish populations. All while having fun of course! Read more

Pinwheel Magic: Take a Spin with Animation

Science Fair Project Idea

Scientific Method

Do you enjoy watching cartoons and animated movies? Do you have fun playing video games? What do all of these things have in common? Fantastic computer animation, that's what! It's a cool job to take an interesting story or game and make it more entertaining by animating it. In this computer science project, you won't animate a full-length feature movie, but you will animate a pinwheel—a project that can go a long way toward creating your own longer animations! You will create an animated… Read more

Out of Control!

Science Fair Project Idea

Scientific Method

Have you ever watched an inexperienced video game player pick up a controller and start playing a game? Often the player bumbles around trying to figure out which button makes the onscreen character jump, run, turn left, or perform other actions. Some games are different though, they have control schemes that are more real-world based. For example, most modern Mario Kart games give you the option of steering with a joystick or turning the entire controller like a steering wheel, which is more… Read more

Image Compression vs. Image Quality: Finding the Best Tradeoff

Science Fair Project Idea

Scientific Method

In this project you'll learn about how digital image files are encoded, and how digital images can be compressed so that the files take up less storage space and can be transmitted more quickly. You will also measure the quality of compressed and uncompressed images, which will give you important insights into the tradeoffs between file size and image quality. Read more

Throwing You Some Curves: Is Red or Blue Longer?

Science Fair Project Idea

Scientific Method

This a straightforward, but interesting, project in geometry. It is a good first proof to try on your own. You should be able to figure it out by yourself, and you'll gain insight into a basic property of circles. Figure 1 below shows a semicircle (AE, in red) with a series of smaller semicircles (AB, BC, CD, DE, in blue) constructed inside it. As you can see, the sum of the diameters of the four smaller semicircles is equal to the diameter of the large semicircle. The area of the larger… Read more

Can You Make a Happy Song Sad?

Science Fair Project Idea

Scientific Method

Are there some songs that always make you feel sad when you hear them? How about "Scarborough Fair," George Gershwin's "Summertime," or the Beatles' "Eleanor Rigby"? All of these songs are in a minor key. Minor and major scales both use the same number of notes and include the same number of semitones (also called half tones), but in a different pattern. Some musicologists (people who study music) maintain that minor-key songs are more likely to be perceived as sad, while major-key songs are… Read more

Mean & Green: Fruit & Vegetable Hardening

Science Fair Project Idea

Scientific Method

When you open a can of green beans, have you ever wondered why the beans are not mushy, or more like a puree? Canning requires boiling the beans for a long period of time to kill bacteria, so why don't the beans fall apart into small pieces? Some fruits and vegetables—like cherries, apples, potatoes, sweet potatoes, beets, carrots, beans, cauliflower, and tomatoes—have the ability to undergo hardening, or firming of their plant tissues. A special enzyme, called pectin methyl… Read more

A Bright Idea for Saving Energy

Science Fair Project Idea

Scientific Method

In the United States, lighting for homes accounts for about 14% of all residential electricity usage (EIA, 2014). That's billions of dollars worth of electricity per year. The U.S. has passed legislation to phase out older, more inefficient incandescent light bulbs, and they are being replaced with newer, more-efficient bulb types like compact fluorescent lights (CFLs) or light-emitting diodes (LEDs). How much energy (measured in kilowatt-hours [kWh]) and how much money could be saved by… Read more

Dry Spells, Wet Spells: How Common Are They?

Science Fair Project Idea

Scientific Method

Can you remember what the weather was like last week? Last year? Here's a project that looks at what the weather was like for over a hundred years. You'll use historical climate data to look at moisture conditions in regions across the continental U.S. You'll use a spreadsheet program to calculate the frequency of different moisture conditions for each region and make graphs for comparison. Which part of the country has the most frequent droughts? The most frequent periods of prolonged… Read more

What's the Best Method to Communicate Data Graphically?: An Experiment in Visual Perception

Science Fair Project Idea

Scientific Method

Graphical methods of data presentation are a key feature of scientific communication. This project will get you thinking about how to find the best way to communicate scientific information. Read more

Eighth Grade Science Projects (220 results)

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