| T.R | Title | User | Personal
Name | Date | Lines |
|---|
| 1323.1 | Science Fair | AUNTB::DILLON | Southern Comfort | Mon Mar 02 1992 12:21 | 14 |
| My son just did one (and got an A) that was simple and cheap (Science
Fair projects can get VERY expensive).
He compared sugar content in 10 different bubble-gum flavored
bubblegums. His hypothesis was that Super Bubble would be sweetest
because it was biggest. (which was, by the way, disproven).
He first weighed each piece (in the wrapper) then he and some friends
each chewed a piece. The gum was then re-weighed and the difference in
the weights before and after weighing recorded.
He graphed out the differences, took polaroids of the kids chewing
the gum, etc. It turned out pretty good. I was impressed because he
was really able to do this simple project *on his own*. (So many
Science Fair projects are obviously the work of an adult)
annie
|
| 1323.2 | Way back when... | CIVIC::MACFAWN | Training to be tall and blonde | Mon Mar 02 1992 14:12 | 30 |
| My kids aren't old enough for Science Projects yet, but here's one I
remember from when I was in grade school.
In third grade, everyone's baby teeth were falling out. We took some
of the baby teeth and put one tooth in each cup. (I think there were
like 6 cups) and we filled each cup with soft drinks and juice like
Coke, Orange Crush, Gingerale, Kool-aid, etc.
The NEXT DAY, we emptied out all the liquids and examined the teeth. I
can remember emptying the Coke out and seeing this tooth covered in
tiny holes after just one day. So now if I drink a glass of coke, I
have to immediately go and brush my teeth after. We had to do a write
up on what we found the next day and why we thought things happened the
way they did. (IE: Sugar content, carbonation, etc.)
If you think about it, it's kind of gross, but I can remember being
fascinated with the results.
I can also remember doing experiments with Celery and colored water.
We took 5 pieces of celery. One we cut diagonally across, one we left
as is, one we split down the middle, etc. We had to put these celery
pieces in a cup of colored water and watch and see which one "drank"
the colored water the fastest and then figure out why.
One other one was making a volcano with paper mache and putting colored
water, cream of tarter and vinegar and making it erupt. That was fun!!
Hope this starts the thinking process.
Gail
|
| 1323.3 | testing for iron | CTHQ2::SANDSTROM | born of the stars | Mon Mar 02 1992 17:49 | 167 |
| Every year in my local school we do "Teacher for a Day" where
you (the adult) spend a day teaching/working with one of the
classes (K-12). I had a 4th grade class last year and this is
what we did for science.
This is from the book "Science Experiments You Can Eat". This
experiment lets the kids discover what juices contain iron by
mixing strong tea with fruit juice.
I used clear plastic cups instead of glasses or test tubes;
and the juices were: prune juice (canned), Hawaiian Punch
Red (canned), grapefruit juice (bottle), and apple juice
(bottle). Make the tea up the night before and leave the
tea bags in it - it'll get real strong!
This tied in with their math class (I had them measure the
juice and tea), a little geography (where does tea/fruit
come from) and science (rocks and minerals...and you
actually EAT some minerals (iron)).
Here's the stuff I gave to the kids. This was done with
the whole class, but could easily be done as a project by
one or two. (the rest of this reply is just the instruction
sheet and data sheet)
Conni
*********************************
* *
* FRUIT AND TEA PUNCH *
* *
* TESTING FOR IRON *
* *
*********************************
There are certain chemicals in tea that will react with IRON
to form a "precipitate" (small newly formed particles) and
turn the mixture cloudy. Since not all fruits contain IRON,
you can use this experiment to learn which ones do.
MATERIALS AND EQUIPMENT:
juice glasses or test tubes
about 2 cups of strong tea at room temp.
different kids of fruit juices including canned
and bottled juices, red juices, pineapple
juice, and prune juice (all at room temp.)
PROCEDURE:
Set out a row of small glasses or test tubes and put 1/4 cup
of tea in each glass.
Label the glasses for each juice you are going to test.
Prepare your data sheet to record what you see.
Add 1/4 cup of ONE juice to one glass of tea, 1/4 cup of
another juice to another cup of tea, etc. Watch for
cloudiness in the juice/tea mixture.
If cloudiness forms, put a + next to the name of the juice
on your data sheet. If the mixture stays clear put a - sign.
If you are not sure, put a ? mark and try the test again.
**Some juices are cloudy to begin with - be sure that the
cloudiness changes when you add the juice. You can compare
the mixture with a sample of plain juice to be sure.
*********************************
* *
* FRUIT AND TEA PUNCH *
* *
* DATA SHEET *
* *
*********************************
*+*+*+*+*+*+**+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*++*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+
| |
FRUIT JUICE | CONTAINER TYPE | RESULT
| |
*+*+*+*+*+*+**+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*++*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+
| |
| |
| |
| |
________________________________________________________________________
| |
| |
| |
________________________________________________________________________
| |
| |
| |
________________________________________________________________________
| |
| |
| |
________________________________________________________________________
| |
| |
| |
________________________________________________________________________
| |
| |
| |
________________________________________________________________________
| |
| |
| |
________________________________________________________________________
| |
| |
| |
________________________________________________________________________
| |
| |
| |
________________________________________________________________________
| |
| |
| |
________________________________________________________________________
| |
| |
| |
________________________________________________________________________
|
| 1323.4 | another | CSOA1::FOSTER | Frank, Mfg/Distr Digital Svcs, 432-7730 | Wed Mar 04 1992 17:00 | 16 |
| The one I remember from my youth......
What you need:
one glass milk bottle (this may be hard to find these days)
one hard-boiled egg (peeled)
matches
a piece of paper
Light the piece of paper and put it in the bottle. Set the egg on the
opening. As the fire consumes the Oxygen, the egg gets sucked into
the bottle.
Frank
|
| 1323.5 | try the Museum of Science Library | DELIBE::OLEARY | | Thu Mar 05 1992 11:58 | 7 |
| And if these great ideas aren't what he's looking for, take him to the
Museum of Science library. There are lots of children's books full of
ideas and information.
Some of the books are sold in the museum bookstore.
-Nancy
|
| 1323.6 | | PINCK::GREEN | Long Live the Duck!!! | Mon Mar 09 1992 16:09 | 37 |
|
A few from 5th grade science class. (might need an adult nearby.)
1-
- Fill a sturdy metal gas container with 1-2 inches of water
- Put on a hot plate or flame until steam is emerging for a while.
- Remove from heat and close the container. (must be air tight)
- When the container cools, it will colapse... why?
If you are carefull, you can put it back on the heat and the can might
come back to shape. That is, if it did not crack on contraction.
2- Thermometer
What you need
Baby food jar
rubbing alcohol
food color
straw
wax
- Put the alcohol in the freezer overnight
- Make a hole in the jar top for the straw
- Put the straw in and make the hole air type with the melted wax
- Fill the baby food jar with rubbing alcohol and some food coloring
- Put the lid on.
- When the rubbing alcohol warms up it will rise in the jar and be a
thermometer
- Calabrate with a known thermometer if you wish
3- Borometer
Take a two liter botle and put part of a broken latex balloon on the
bottle mouth. Secure a light stick or straw to the latex. A change in
pressure will move the latex balloon and then the straw. Watch for the
change of the straw to predict changes in whether.
|
| 1323.7 | "Simple Science Experiments" | DEVMKO::CULLEN | | Wed Mar 11 1992 14:50 | 3 |
| Another good book is "Simple Science Experiments" available from
Discovery Toys. My 2nd and 4th graders like to just do the experiments
at home. I'm sure you could get some good ideas from the book.
|
| 1323.8 | Gentle Elephant | AKOCOA::TRIPP | | Wed Mar 11 1992 15:27 | 11 |
| A thought just occured.... There is a toy/educational development
store in Northboro (MA) called the Gentle Elephant. They carry a wide
variety of toys that could be classed as "educational", from toddlers
up to elementary schools, as well as many books to guide youngsters
through things like simple science experiments.
They are on West Main Street, across from the Julio's market. I did
find them to have a wide variety of non-usual things, but just a
warning, they tend to be a little on the expensive side!
Lyn
|