If you school has science fairs that include the early elementary years, 1st-3rd grade, you may be at a loss for how to find a great science projects for 3rd graders.  They are old enough to want something beyond what 1st and 2nd graders do, but not quite ready for a totally independent project that usually starts in 4th grade.

With 3rd graders the most important step now and in all future science fairs  is to start with a question.  Any decent science experiment for kids will start with a question that the experiment will either prove or disprove.  It can also be inconclusive, which tells you something too.

Where do you find the questions?

The science teacher may send home a list to choose from, which makes things easy.

The best place though is to listen to the questions the kids are already asking.    Here are  some from a recent Science Fair in San Jose, CA that give you an idea of the simple kinds of questions you can make an experiment about.

How do different liquids affect teeth?

Does the volume of music affects boys’ and girls’ Short Term Memory?

How does temperature affects ants ?

Does watching Sponge Bob reduce memory?’

Is the “five second rule” true?

What type of liquid will rust a nail the quickest?

from Mercurynews.com SanJose neighborhoods.

You can just picture it, can’t you?   A apple  drops on the floor and Mom says wash it before you eat it, and the kid says “Five second rule, Mom,” and you say that is a myth and your 3rd grader says, “Ha! I will prove it in my next science fair project.”

Questions  then need a prediction or what they call  hypothesis.

Once you have your question the kid need to  make a prediction, even with science projects for 3rd graders.  The more specific the question, the easier the hypothesis.   Now it is important to realize things can go either way with a a hypothesis.  The experiment will be the same, it is just how you write up the results.  So in this case the Hypothesis will be  “If food falls on the floor there will not be any germs if you pick it up in five seconds”  It could easily be “It does not mater how long food is on the floor, it will pick up germs, so the 5 second rule is a myth. “  Either way the experiment will be the same.

It is important that the kids create this statement on their own.  The more practice with easier predictions now, the easier writing them will be later for more complicated experiments

We have an experiment at 24 Hour Science Projects that looks at the question, “Does covering your mouth really affect how far germs spread?” which is another one of those same  kinds of questions that make for a great science experiment for kids.   We call it Undercover Sneeze.  Check out my Undercover Sneeze review here.

Looking for a quick science project for 3rd graders?  Go to 24 hour Science Projects with kid tested and teacher approved projects you can download now!

http://www.24hourscienceprojects.com/ezGaffurl.php?offer=s7n17y&pid=2&tid=el03132012

I  just read an article, or to be real, the parts of it I could understand, about research scientists from Johns Hopkins University using LEGOS  to demonstrate a complex, microscopic  concept. This struck me because  we here at 24 Hour Science Projects promote the idea of using every day common materials you can find at home. In this kids are not getting  ideas from the scientists, the scientist use science project ideas for kids to help them out!  You can read the full article at  LEGOs Show Researchers What Happens Inside Lab-On-a-Chip

What it boils down to is the LEGOS were used as a visual aid to show microscopic principles, to help understand the concept.

It is all about making the abstract concrete!

With  elementary school level science projects  it is always a challenge to make these ideas more concrete so the kids can understand them.  Getting some great science project ideas for kids that are quick and easy to do and do a great job of giving you a visual is really important.  Many times it is the process of doing the experiment that gives the kids an “aha” moment.  Concepts like gravity make more sense to the very young child when you see the stuff fall.  Photosynthesis makes sense when you compare plant growth with and without sunlight.

Sometimes  the best way to show an a complicated science concept is with a demonstration in front of the class. This not only teaches the kid doing the project, but lets the whole class see first hand what it  up.  Chemical reaction are common in demonstrations but other things can be done too. Demonstration projects make interesting science fair projects!

Demonstration projects can be a bit tricky, so using something the kids like and are familiar with  can help make things go smoother during the demonstration. So enter LEGOS at the elementary level!

We have a project in Watch This! Science Projects that used LEGOs to demonstrate how different object have different density. Try explaining that without some visuals!  Of course they use other familiar objects  too like marbles, candles, some food and different liquids as you need a variety of densities, but.  At the end of the demonstration you have “The Layered Look”  with everything stacked up on top of each other.  So you are able to use a great visual to help explain the concept of density.

I have seen lots of different ways LEGOs and other building blocks are used in projects.  They can be used to build  the framework for bridges , and other engineering projects. Kids like to mess around with LEGOs so they can be used to build cars, electric circuits,  robots, or just  like the Hopkins scientist did to represent something.

You can get demonstration science project ideas for kids downloaded instantly with Watch This! Science Projects. Just click this link!

Your best tool for getting any kind of help on science homework assignments is the Back to School Night, or sometimes it is called Parent Teacher Night or Meet The Teacher night. The older your child is the more important it is that you go to this night where the teachers have a chance to share with you what is happening in their class. Even the most conscientious students do not always relay the full story when they tell you about  projects, homework or what is going on in class. The only way you have to get the complete picture is to get into the school and hear what the science teacher has to say.  Pay particular attention to what they say about  their goals for science projects (both with science fair and homework assignments) are.

What you will learn about giving help on science homework and projects:

• The units they will study through the year and the goals and learning outcomes.
• How often science homework is given
• How often quizzes and tests are given.
• The format work is to be handed in.
• Frequency of science experiments to be done as homework
• Science Fair details, rules, expectations, due dates
  Get your free copy of “The Non-Scientist Parents’ Guide to a Science Project”
• Grading system for each assignment
• The weighting % each element of the class is given in the final grade

How to use that help on science homework information:

Time Management
If you know the schedule and due dates, you can help with scheduling and make sure there is enough time at home during the days or week before a major test or project which will have a bigger effect on the grade.

Quality Control
You can make them re-write messy pages and instill the standards both you and the school expect. You have the teacher’s guidelines as your excuse! You can check for complete sentences and spelling as long as you make they correct everything themselves.

If you have any questions or need more help, just call and make an appointment with the teacher, and then they can help give you some great tips and advice on how to give the best help on science homework assignments and ideas for great science fair projects based on what they know about your child and how they see their learning style taking shape.

Get some help on science homework experiments with kid tested, teacher approved projects at 24 Hour Science Project!

http://www.24hourscienceprojects.com/ezGaffurl.php?offer=s7n17y&pid=2&tid=el092611

A lot of us grew up with the Bounty commercial and the actress Nancy Walker telling us about the quicker picker upper.  Now I may have mixed up my commercials, I tend to mix my metaphors, but you get the idea. We see these commercials all the time telling us that one brand does a better job than another. Nowadays we even see love affairs between dust mytes and the dust rags, or the love lorn mop who has been tossed aside.

Here is a quick science fair project with paper towels You could turn it into dust rags or mops. Hmm.. does the Swiffer really pick up better than a sponge mop? But we will use towels. You could test strength, how well it cleans, ( test for bacteria left behind), absorbency, or how long they last before they fall apart. Lot of choices.

For this example we will stick with how well different paper towels absorb, it can be called “The quicker picker upper experiment.” This is one that would work really well with a small group of kids.

Start with Three to Four different brands of paper towels, including a generic or store brands.

• Get three or four matching dinner plates and fill them three fourths of the plate with water. Be sure it is the exact same amount on each plate.
• Pull off several sheets off of each roll. You make have to cut some off to be sure they are the exact same width and length.
• One at a time, place the towel on the plate and start a timer. Or write down the exact time you put it down. You will need a stop watch or a clock with a second hand. Dip the tissue pieces separately in each plate containing water and note the time you put it down.
• When all the water is absorbed, mark the time down again.
• Which ever paper towel that absorbs the fastest his the quicker picker upper.
• As with most experiment three trials should be used.
• I would repeat the whole thing with a double layer and triple layer of towels. It might be fun to do it with a crunched up towel, they way we tend to use them to see if that makes a difference
• Once you have your results you can come up with a conclusion and as to which one (s) are the the most absorbent.
• BE sure to state that based on THIS experiment, you conclude that the most absorbent is ____. You don’t want to come across as advertising.

When using a small group of kids with one of these kinds of science projects for  elementary students it might be fun to write a “quicker picker upper” commercial of your own. You will have to be very careful as with brand names there are legal issues, so unless you know a copyright lawyer, I would leave it off of You Tube! But you could definitely act it out and make a pretty fun commercial. Kids love to have this kind of thing as the carrot at the end of the tunnel to motivate them with a project.

Once you do this you will notice all sorts of commercials you could use for a quick and easy science project to test out if there really is a difference between brands and generic.

Grab some more quick science fair projects today, by visiting 24 Hour Science Projects.

One of the steps in all science fair projects is to make a hypothesis, which involves coming up with a question.  Any time  you  read about this the  stuff you read just says, Come up with a question,  or Formulate a question, if you want to be formal about it.  I don’t know about you, but I can hear my kids saying, well more of a half cry, half whine with panic thrown in……” I don’t know what they mean, what kind of questions do I do?   Where do I find questions?” (Yes, I hear them..even though they are grown  their elementary voices are fresh.

Sometimes all you need is a jump start.  Before you think of questions  for your science fair project, you need to know what topic you are going to explore, once you have that you can start asking questions about it.  So a brain storm session with your child and the family just talking about all the things they always wondered about…. rocks….. or fertilizer…… or ice…… or insulation……

Once you figure your topic out and general questions, all science fair projects will want you to fine tune the questions, and these will be based  what activity you will be doing.

If you will be measuring or counting  you questions will be…

• How many…
• How often…
• How long…
• How much…

If you want to compare how one thing differs from another.  How are they alike, and what is different.

• How do….fit together
• How are…..different
• In how many ways are ….alike
• In how many ways are ….different

If you are predicting, investigating and experimenting  which is really the most common for science fairs you will be asking these kinds of questions.

• What happens if____
• What would happen if you ____
• Will ____(work, grow,) better than____
• Does ____hold more than _____
• Is ____(stronger, last longer), than ____?

Often the types of school science fair projects will dictate which kind of question you will use.  A collection project will be more how things are alike and different to show categories, but a demonstration project might be  What happens if you mix ____with ___?

One of our experiments   DON’T LOSE YOUR COOL has to do with  comparing insulation.  One student might  focus on how many ways they are alike or different for their question where another might look for which one holds the heat better ?

It doesn’t matter if you are doing a quick and easy science experiments or something that might take a weekend or even a demonstration,  all science fair projects must start with a well formed question, as that is what your results and conclusion will be based on.

Get “Don’t Lose Your Cool!” and other experiments like it, look for all science fair projects options with Weekend Science Fair projects

Some people could say the volcano science fair project has been over done and is not as interesting as other science experiments for elementary students, and it might be true, but for some reason kids just love doing it.  Besides how cool it is to see the “lava” come out of the hole,  I think italso  is because there is the additional fun of  making the “volcano.”

Here are some thoughts and ideas  for the volcano science experiment

One important  part of  science experiments for elementary students is how easy it is to gather the materials.  For a volcano project, the ingredients are so simple, you probably already have them at home: baking soda, vinegar, food coloring (optional, for effect),  2 bottles, like water bottle size with lids, and a funnel that does not tip over when you put it in the bottle. Then you just need the materials for making a mountain to use for the “eruption.”

What you essentially do is add vinegar to baking soda and witness the chemical reaction as it “explodes.”  The food coloring makes it a little easier to see and is cool on top of that.  You would practice first with just the ingredients and your kitchen sink, or an outdoor table if it is a summer time fun family project. Keeping lids on the bottles while you are getting everything set will prevent accidental tips and spills.

Then you also need science experiments for elementary students that are not too complicated for kids to make, with minimal parent help.  With the volcano projcet that means  making the mountain.    You basically use the height of the bottle as your guide, and build around it. The hole of the bottle top will become the volcano top and the mountain goes down from there.
Paper-mâché works well with a cardboard box frame underneath with the box sides cut open and spread  out to form the base.  When it is dry, painting and sealing with a couple coats of decoupage will do the trick.  You do not want the liquid “lava” to  get to raw paper, paint or cardboard!  If you need a paper-mâché  lesson click here!  Just remember to plan for time to let the stuff  completely dry!
Quart and pint or half-gallon ice cream containers can be used by building them up and then you just tape them in place.  The peak would be an upside down container where you can put your bottle and cut a hole the size of the bottle opening.
Clay is always an option to use for building this thing and kids like to get their fingers in it. Again you can use anything as a base and build the clay on top of it.
Scrap wood can be used, to build a base, but you run into the problem of flexibility, it does not move so well, and, supervision with nails and screws and tools.  I’ve seen kids use twigs and small branches they found in the woods and balance them together in a teepee shape,  like you do to start a fire, and then use clay or paper-mâché or to make the mountain.

In reality, you give kids some cardboard, scissors, duct tape and plastic bottles and the kids will take it from there in coming up with ideas of how to make this mountain. Throw the torn up newspaper for paper-mâché and you will be totally set for fun. Building the volcano is usually is the most fun part of the project, even though the lava spouting out is pretty cool when it is all done.

There are other great demonstration science experiments for elementary students that kids can do for a science fair project that are just as fun and just as easy and will teach you some great science along the way. Often you will find that the demonstration projects are great because of the WOW factor, and because they are usually done in front of a class or small group, and not an all school science fair, so they can be less stressful.  As for the kids in the class watching, there will be a wide range of interesting science fair projects to see, that the whole class can enjoy without the yawn factor kicking in.

Imagine alka-seltzer  and liquids……   Find the details at the Watch This! projects  at 24 hour science projects where quick and easy demonstration projects are kid tested and teacher approved.

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Science teachers have different goals for science fairs, and how they organize it should reflect what they are trying to get across.   Elementary teachers are preparing their students for middle school where things start getting more independent  so by 5th grade the students should have had several different experiences with  school level science projects and how they work.

Here are some different examples of what elementary science teachers real goals might be, and what you can expect to see.

• The goal might be simply how to meet deadlines, so a project could be separated into several steps with clear due dates. For this assignment,  the project itself is less important than the process you go through to do it.  The bonus will be learning something interesting about science and hopefully having some fun!

• The goal might be a  specific science concept the teacher is trying to get across, so there will be a  list of specific projects to choose from. These are projects that the teacher knows will demonstrate the idea they want them to experience and learn from.  This is not the time to be creative, just do the project as it was assigned.

• The goal might be  learn how to develop and  write hypotheses as part of the scientific method, so the assignment will be more open ended and based  on creating questions and making predictions about what the students see around you.  This is an important skill to be developed for middle and high school in order for these school level science projects to end up with valid results. The hypothesis needs to be targeted to one variable, which is not as easy to do as it sounds.

• The goal might be to teach the proper way to display your results, so organizing a display board, setting up graphs, and writing a report summary will be emphasized.  Again the science learned along the way will be great, but extra attention will need to be paid to the results end of things.

Is there any way to tell what the teacher’s goal is?

Sometimes the teacher comes right out and states in the assignment which of these things they are targeting.  Other times you can tell by the grading chart and where you see the highest % to the final grade.  When the assignment is open ended, you can figure the process is a priority, when specific experiments are assigned, you can figure the science is the priority.

Most of the time it is a two-fer.  The benefits of science fair projects are great, so you use the key science concepts they want the kids to discover and teaching how to organize their projects and the standard scientific steps to doing a project, that will involve the using scientific method.

Often mini-classroom science fairs or really demonstrations will be used throughout the year to teach the different parts and then it will end the year with a full fledged science fair where the students do an independent project.

Follow this link for some great elementary school level science  projects that not only are set up to follow the standard scientific procedures that all science teacher’s use, but can also be done quickly, easily and most importantly independently.

While some teachers would argue that projects are a waste of time, the majority know that they’re the best way to not just learn about science, but also remember what you’ve learnt throughout your life. Besides this, projects offer the following benefits too:

• They make science more interesting: There’s no doubt that a class that involves hands-on work is much more interesting and preferable to one that comprises only boring theoretical lectures. Projects generate interest in science by inducing curiosity in students and encouraging them to delve deeper into the many layers of the subject. They pose a challenge that students are driven to achieve, and because of this, they look forward to science classes instead of dreading them.
• They bring out the engineer in you: The link between science and engineering comes out strong and clear when you get down to creating working models for your project. You combine out your mathematical and engineering knowledge to come with the perfect scale models that not only look authentic but which also work without a hitch. You go back to the drawing board when there are errors or when your results are not accurate and you research other sources so that your project is better than those of your classmates.
• They tap your creativity: The theory may be the same, but there may be many practical ways to implement it. So even if your whole class is given the same project, your team strives to be the most creative. You don’t have a whole lot of room to maneuver and the competition is tough; this is a situation that gets your juices flowing and encourages you to come out with a stunning design and implementation of the theory.
• They help you understand science better: It’s easy to see that science becomes simpler to understand and learn when working models demonstrate the theoretical equations and principles you read from your textbook. You look at the subject as a means of explaining our world and how things work rather than as just text that must be memorized in order to secure a passing grade in your exams. 
• They encourage teamwork: And finally, projects foster teamwork and encourage bonding with the others in your team. This helps you prepare for real-life situations in work environments where you will most likely be part of a team and must know how to interact with the others smoothly and in good cheer.

Science projects must be encouraged not just by teachers, but by school administrations as well in order to boost interest in the subject and encourage more students to base a career on it.

By-line:

This guest post is contributed by Beatrice Owen, she writes on the topic of bachelors of science . She welcomes your comments at her email id: owen1.beatrice(@)gmail(.)com.

When trying to find a good science project idea, it’s always a good idea to consult with your child’s science teacher. This way, you’ll be sure to know what the class is currently studying to keep the project relevant but not redundant, and clarify any requirements or deadlines that some 6th graders might not quite know how to manage yet.

At the public library, you can search science project books that are reliable and easy to use resources for finding and executing a science experiment.  Visiting the library is a great way to teach your child to search for books by subject matter, in this case looking for science projects or the subject matter that interests them.  It also teaches them to ask for help from the librarian if they need it. 

Finally, the internet is a great place to find huge amounts of 6th grade science project ideas, but you have to know where to look to save yourself time. While you can begin with a general search for science project ideas, it might be a good idea to search more specifically for websites like http://www.akronlibrary.org/DBS/SFDB/Default.aspx that are searchable by subject matter or grade level, so that you aren’t finding projects that are too easy or difficult for your student. Another great tool is the free project guides found at http://www.middle-school-science-projects.com/guide.pdf.

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 24 Hour Science Projects today!

Start by searching for science projects ideas  that suit your 7th grader’s interests. For example, if they want to do a science experiment that has to do with star gazing or space, you can search  ”7th grade science projects, astronomy” to be sure to find a project that is appropriate for their grade level. Odds are, however, that you will need to find a more specific science project website in order to get the best results. 

Next, check out websites that host whole databases of science projects for kids of all ages, and can be searched by grade level or subject area. Some great science project databases include http://www.akronlibrary.org/DBS/SFDB/Default.aspx as well as http://www.youth.net/nsrc/sci/sci.index.html. These websites that are intended specifically for students searching for feasible and fun science projects will likely be more reliable and easy to use than doing a broader search, where the results might be hard to verify.

Another good resource are the 7th grade project guides available for free at http://www.middle-school-science-projects.com/guide.pdf, that are designed with the usual hypothesis through results structure in mind. 

Visit 24 Hour Science Projects

and began working on your science experiment today!