Anyone have an idea for a project?

Question

My group needs an idea for a science competition. It can be in any field of science or mathematics. I can't seem to come up with anything good enough. We need to be able to experiment on it and write a research paper on it. Please be realistic, and thank you.

Answer 1

summer school?

Answer 2

I would recommend studying the life habits of organisms. There are so many organisms that scientists cannot possibly study them all. That's your opportunity to make discoveries on your own.

The work is actually rather boring - you just write your observations of a single organsim over and over again. At the end of the project you tabulate your results, and then ask around the teachers of your school to find a statistician to help you to analyze your data.

You might introduce a stimulus. Here is a good example:

Take a piece of an apple. Put it outside a certain distance from an ant pile. Then measure how long it takes the ants to find it. Do this many times, at all times of the day, and at many different distances. Note the time of day, the distance, the temperature, the weather - any variable that might have changed from one observation to the next.

When I say "many", I mean hundreds of times - that's the boring part of being a scientist - you have to repeat your same observations over and over again. Once you get your data, can take it to your statistician (maybe even your Principal if that is the only person who knows statistics) and come up with a trend of how quickly ants find food versus distance, temperature, time of day, etc. If you also note the exact type (species) of ant that comes, you will have publishable data. If you stick that in a decently-written report, you will have a publishable report.

Make sure you try to correct for as many variables as possible. For instance, you should only use one type of food. If it rains you should note that in that result. Try to ensure that you are using the same species of ant, although using different ant piles (note that in your notes) would be helpful. And note a description of the ant that finds the food first (big or little, color, etc).

Also you'll want to define the term "discover", which means when the first ant gets it, or perhaps when there are five ants at the food? I think defining "discover" as five ants would be better, because you are more secure that the ants have truly discovered it.

The key is many different obervations, and then statistical analysis of those observations. The statistical part is beyond the typical education of secondary school students, but somebody at your school should be able to help you with it.

Answer 3

Mentos powered models. Drop the mentos in some diet coke and watch it fizz. We had to do this in intro class. It was kinda fun.

Answer 4

here are some

-bacteria. you can check the cleanliness of your school and    its students

-organic food

-magnets

-new gas resources. you know our resources are running out why not research and get more??

-butterflies

-deep sea you dont know what i know about that well research

i hope you like these ideas