Eighth Grade Science Projects (Page 41)

Build an Adaptive Game Controller for a Raspberry Pi

Science Fair Project Idea

Engineering Design Process

People with limited mobility, especially in their hands, may not be able to use traditional video game controllers. Adaptive game controllers use a variety of peripherals, like larger buttons, foot pedals, or specialized joysticks, to let people with limited mobility play video games. This video shows how to build a very simple adaptive controller that works with Scratch games on a Raspberry Pi. Can you build an adaptive game controller for a hardware platform and game of your choice? If you… Read more

Background Bop: Do Different Businesses Play Different Tempos in Background Music?

Science Fair Project Idea

Scientific Method

Walk into a fitness club and what kind of music do you hear? Slow, sparkling, relaxing music? Or driving, "up-tempo" songs that are designed to encourage you to move? Fitness clubs and other businesses, like restaurants and grocery stores, use background music to set the mood and to determine how fast they want their customers to move. The tempo of the background music is a key component to the environment that businesses want to create. Tempo is an important number or word inscribed by a… Read more

Do People Prefer Virtual Reality Headsets over 2D Pictures?

Science Fair Project Idea

Scientific Method

Are you convinced that virtual reality (VR) will soon become mainstream and improve our lives in unpredicted ways? Or maybe you believe it is a big hype doomed to fade and disappear. In this science project, you will use one aspect of VR—the headset—and investigate if it could convey reality better than traditional pictures or 360° images. You will go out and measure how people perceive pictures and images you took. Will people embrace the VR headset and what it can do or… Read more

Weathering the Windchill: How Does Wind Speed Affect How Quickly an Object Cools?

Science Fair Project Idea

Scientific Method

Have you heard the term windchill used before? Maybe on the TV weather forecast? The windchill factor describes what happens to an object (like your body) when it is cold and windy outside. As wind increases, heat is carried away from the body at a faster rate, driving down both skin temperature (which can cause frostbite) and eventually the internal body temperature (which, in extreme cases, can lead to death). In this science fair project, you will use a device to measure wind speed (an… Read more

Create Light Up Artwork with a Raspberry Pi

Science Fair Project Idea

Scientific Method

Have you ever seen night lights that automatically turn on when it gets dark? What about art projects, like paintings or sculptures, with embedded lights? This project will let you combine the two, by adding lights to an art project of your choice. You can make the lights automatically turn on when it gets dark using a Raspberry Pi. Check out the video to see what this simple, but fun, project looks like. IMPORTANT: The instructions for this project were originally written using Scratch 2 on a… Read more

Processed Cheese, Please! Get Your Grilled Cheese Oooey Gooey Instead of Oily and Gloppy

Science Fair Project Idea

Scientific Method

A delicious and quick lunch is a cup of tomato soup and a grilled cheese sandwich. Biting into the toasty, butter-soaked bread and gooey cheese is very comforting. But what makes the cheese melt so nicely? Do all cheeses melt this way? In this cooking and food science fair project, you will experiment with making and determining the best recipe for processed cheese. Read more

Take a Hike: Train Your Robot Dog to Walk with a Virtual Leash

Science Fair Project Idea

Scientific Method

Have you ever walked a dog on a leash? Depending on how well-behaved the dog is, it can be very easy or very difficult. It would be great if you could tell your dog exactly how to behave, right? With that in mind, in this project you will build a robotic dog using a LEGO® Mindstorms® kit that you can teach to "walk" using the beam from a flashlight as a virtual leash. But your robot dog will not know how to walk on a leash on its own — you will have to "train" it, just as you… Read more

Should My Robot be More or Less Squishy?

Science Fair Project Idea

Scientific Method

In our introductory VoxCAD project, we provided a template with four materials: two active materials that expand and contract in the physics sandbox mode, and two passive materials — one hard and one soft. The project mentioned material properties, but it did not go into much detail — you just used the default settings from the template. Changing the material properties can drastically change how your robots behave. Engineers must take material properties into account when designing… Read more

Bat Detector: Listen to the Secret Sounds of Bats

Science Fair Project Idea

Scientific Method

Do you have bats in your neighborhood? Have you heard them "whoosh" by you, but not been able to see them? In this science fair project, you will be able to detect flying bats by listening in on the ultrasonic signals they produce to locate objects in their environment. The bat detector is a useful and fun tool for studying the biology of this nocturnal flying mammal. Read more

Squishy Robot Simulator: Physics Settings

Science Fair Project Idea

Scientific Method

In our introductory VoxCAD project, we provided you with a template file that included default material properties and physics simulation settings. These settings include friction, gravity, and temperature — all of which can drastically change how fast your robots move. However, we did not explain what exactly all these physics simulation settings meant, or how to change them. You can access the physics settings through the Physics Settings tab after entering the Physics Sandbox mode, as… Read more

Eighth Grade Science Projects (786 results)

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