Do you think cognitive science is a solid field for my science project?

Question

I'm very interested in neuroscience, psychology, etc so naturally I would like to do my annual science project in those fields. I'm in 7th grade by the way. The fair I'm competing in has two sections, one for juniors (5-8th) and one for seniors (9-12th).

The fair is organized into subjects - Mammalian Biology, Chemistry, etc. Most subjects are for both junior and senior levels, but Cognitive science is only for Juniors.

I know that cognitive science is a growing field right now, but its more related to psychology. More towards theory in the experimentation part, I think.

My brother, who has gone to the State level twice, says that I should reconsider doing it in Cognitive Science.

Alternative fields that I am interested in are Chemistry (I recently received a chemistry set and I love it) and Biology.

What do you think? Last year I was not able to compete in this since I had science camp the week of the fair, although I was selected to go.

This is the sort of project I first had in mind: http://www.usc.edu/CSSF/Current/Projects...

But Biochemistry is another field I find very interesting. Here's a project that involves both neuroscience and biochemistry:

http://www.usc.edu/CSSF/Current/Projects...

Or perhaps something with genetics? I recently read a book on the subject, and its pretty interesting to me.

Thank you!!

Answer 1

Do the project on what interests you!  Only you can decide which is more important to you, winning a competition, or a good learning experience.  A quality science project report is a good thing to include with a college application.

The links you provided are not valid, complete links.  They are abbreviations, like text was cut/pasted from a Yahoo Answers item.  I suggest providing additional info with the real links, carefully added.

Answer 2

The pages you provided didn't work, but if you are interested in biology, and neurology, then I have a great project for you. I am going into 8th grade, and did this project for my 7th grade science fair and won Grand Prize out of the entire school. It is more research than actual building, but it requires dissection, intense study, and a bit of of talent in PowerPoint.

You want to find the anatomical, physiological, sociological, and patho-physiological similarities and differences between humans and a select group of animals. I chose-

Frog

Perch

Pig

Grasshopper

Starfish

Clam

Cat

Dog

Mouse

Thats a good selection of animals. I could have done more, but I had very little time to complete my science fair project. Feel free to choose whatever animals you would like as long as you are okay either watching a dissection, or performing a dissection on the animals chosen. I didn't watch or perform a dissection on a dog or cat because I love them so much, so I interviewd a veternarian about those animals, but performing dissections do strengthen your presentation, and project as a whole. I would recomend getting a dissecting kit, some spare bottles and formaldihiyde, and keep some organs from the fetal pig, and I will explain why in a bit.

So the first part is getting to know your specimens. Study the basic internal anatomy of the animals chosen, as well as their physiology. Although this may seem like a lot of work, if you buckle down and do it, this step shouldn't take more than a week. Once you are familiar with the anatomy and basic physiology, it is time to dissect. Some dissecting books even come with background information on the animals. Dissect, I would recomend video taping it or at least get some pictures, and take notes as you go. Make sure to wear gloves and a face mask for the larger specimens, and some goggles for the fetal pig seeing as they are usually loaded with formaldahyde. Choose maybe 2 organs that you are interested in, and extract them from all the animals that have them. I chose to extract the brain and heart (I want to become a neurologist when I grow up. Like you, I am a HUGE science nerd, hency my name (: )

Compare these, and write a report. The dissecting process can be done with over the weekend. As an added bonus, sorry I forgot to mention this above, take some tissue samples out, and look at them under a microscope, take some pictures, and compare the cellular structure as well. Once you have done all this, compare all of the animals to the human body anatomically and physiologically. All of the steps I have shown should take no more than a month to complete.

Once you are done with that, it is time to research the social tendencies of all the animals. I would include socialization, sexual conduct ( it is actually very facinating and not gross as you may expect), and shelter building habbits as well as caring for the offspring. Compare these to the human. That would take maybe a weekend to do. After this, write your report. Include pictures, models, and diagrams. Now comes the PowerPoint presentation. Go to this webpage: http://www.turbosquid.com/3d-models/3d-p...

There are pictures of the same pig, except it is showing different layers, and different anatomical systems. This is the gold right here. Enlarge these pictures, and save them. Then open up power point. For a presentation, layer these pictures and then make one layer fade away, to see whats underneath. For example, take the pig with the skin, and put the picture of it's muscular system under it. Set it up so when you click a button, the skin picture fades away. It looks as if only the skin faded away. This is gold. People were very impressed by my "virtual pig dissection". You can play around with this a lot. I made one for the presentation, and another interactive one with the use of buttons. All of this will take maybe 2 hours to do.

Buy some cheap anatomical models for your display as well. They go great with the poster. And if you have extra time, go all out. The possibilities for this project are truly endless. If you have any questions about this project, pleas email me, I'd be happy to answer them. Feel free to contact me any step of the way because at some points it can be fairly hard.

All you need is confindence, persistance, patience, and a passion for science. Good luck!