

Ask HN: 5th Grade Science Fair Project Ideas - steelhive

Last week someone asked about good college science fair ideas so I thought this might be a good place to ask about 5th grade science fair ideas. The neighbor boy has asked me (being the neighborhood geek) for a good science fair idea. He's a bright kid and could tackle a somewhat complex project. The complication: it's due Wednesday, he asked his mother to call me about it two weeks ago and she didn't - until one hour ago. So, any good ideas that can be done on such short notice?
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Mystitat
My most successful middle school science fair had me experimenting with
different liquids to see which would exhibit the most capillary action. I made
it a little more scientific by using different concentrations of sugar water,
but he could also use juice or soda or things like that.

Seriously, though, the kid should be expected to come up with ideas on his
own. Go through his science book with him and see what he's learned about
that's most interesting to him.

------
Scott_MacGregor
Genetics Research:

 _Pedigree Analysis: A Family Tree of Traits_

[http://www.sciencebuddies.org/science-fair-
projects/project_...](http://www.sciencebuddies.org/science-fair-
projects/project_ideas/Genom_p010.shtml?fave=no&isb=c2lkOjEsaWE6R2Vub20scDoxLHJpZDo1Nzg4ODU2&from=TSW)

Materials and Equipment:

    
    
      Paper 
    
      Pen 
    
      Access to a photocopier (optional)

~~~
steelhive
This one's a pretty good idea. His family is _huge_ (both sides of his family
have their reunion in my barn, so I know) so he should have plenty of data. I
didn't know the thumb business was a Mendelian trait.

~~~
Mystitat
I can actually see a 5th grade teacher nixing this one because it seems to
encourage drawing conclusions from research rather than a hands-on experiment.

