Hello my fellow dopers
My sister (she’s in 5th grade) is having trouble thinking of a science project for her school. Now, myself knowing NOTHING about science projects (or science in general…my worse topic in school) so I need some cool topic you guys might have done or something in the level of a 5th grader…not too hard too… thanx you guys!!
Reoch
My sixth grade science project was a comparison of various alternative fuels and what would be a good way to move away from fossil fuels.
Beyond that, there are books at the library on how to choose a science project.
Just Google “Science project” - more ideas than you know what to do with.
I’m trying to remember the Elementary School Science Fair that I judged - I recall lots of seeds in cups… and volcanos…
I did the effects of aquariums on heartrates. I fudged alot of the data but it was fun and I got a high A…
I’ll bet a nickel that if you take her down to the public library, the Children’s Librarian will be more than happy to point her towards an entire shelf of “science project” books.
I did a project on Venus when I was in 5th grade…back then NASA had a satellite enroute to it and they had some new information and it was cool…hmm…and I’m sure they’ve found out something new about it since 1991.
You could always borrow an idea from Bill Nye the Science Guy. He tends to do interesting stuff, and you can get a wide range of ideas from him. I don’t know his site address, check www.pbs.org, I guess.
In 5th grade, I did a science project on growing my own stalactites and stalagmites like at the bottom of this page. It was pretty cool since it actually involved doing something and it worked pretty well.
thanks for all your help…I’ll make sure to tell my sister about it 
Reoch
Non-newtonian fluids. Although it can be pretty in depth, there’s some cool information about it, AND, if she needs some sort of demonstration she can make the classic cornstarch-and-water mixture and make silly putty from Borax and Elmer’s Glue. The silly putty is great, because if this is for a Fair, she can even give it away, if she wants to spend a few bucks on DIxie cups, popsicle sticks, Borax, and white Glue. I don’t know how in-depth she’ll want to go, but it is kinda neat stuff. As part of the Chem/Biochem club on my campus we do a display room every year with a bunch of stuff like this aimed at little kids - the interactive and gooey things are the most popular, trust me!
Here are a couple of sites with basics: