Students in fifth grade assume more responsibility in designing and conducting their own science fair experiments. Advise them to select an intriguing topic with testable questions that can be completed within an acceptable timeline.
Assemble an interactive learning experiment about polymers for children to appreciate their chemistry! They will love this hands-on demo with acids and bases!
Glow Sticks
Glow sticks offer an inexpensive and engaging way to introduce students to chemical reactions. Not only are they fun and exciting ways of exploring chemical interactions, they can also ignite curiosity, passion, and further interest in learning more.
Based on Steve Spangler Science videos, this experiment uses glow stick liquid to demonstrate the impact of temperature on chemical reaction (chemiluminescence). Furthermore, students observe, record and analyze results as part of learning the scientific method.
An engaging STEM challenge for students of all ages is to build a model bridge capable of supporting books or other objects, offering an excellent chance to teach engineering design principles as well as Newton’s Laws of Motion. Children will enjoy using their imagination with this project while teachers can use this task as an opportunity to evaluate different lighting conditions’ impact on photosynthesis by growing plants under these lighting conditions and comparing height, leaf number and photosynthesis rate over time.
Quicksand
Quicksand, which often traps travelers in classic Western movies, is a fascinating scientific phenomenon. This non-Newtonian fluid looks similar to gel when undisturbed but rapidly decreases viscosity under pressure from human weight.
Are your students creating small “quicksand” pools using cornstarch and water mixture? This fun yet messy experiment is an excellent way to introduce Non-Newtonian fluid science concepts in grades 3-8.
Have each student put his/her finger into the mixture and slowly stir it, and ask them what they notice; older kids can record their observations on a chart.
Water Striders
Have you seen water striders (also referred to as “pond skaters”) skimming across the surface of a lake, river or pond? They do this using hydrophobic legs and high surface tension in water to float, making this science project ideal for students to build their own wire water strider and learn about hydrophobicity, surface tension and the engineering design process.
Help students explore physics with this classic ball-run challenge for 5th grade STEM experiments! Students will learn about friction and slopes while being introduced to potential and kinetic energies.
Trampoline Rockets
Students of all ages can use this exciting STEM challenge to discover gravity, springs and kinetic energy! Plus it gives them practice coming up with hypotheses, testing variables and gathering evidence to support their conclusions.
Are your students eager to see how different liquids affect the buoyancy of an egg? This experiment can be conducted either in class or at home using materials commonly available around the house.
Explore how acidity impacts plant growth with this experiment using common kitchen ingredients. It is an excellent way for students to understand basic biological concepts.
Microscopes
Students will gain hands-on experience creating hypotheses, testing variables, and gathering data. They’ll also gain exposure to science concepts like gravity, density and forces by watching how crushed soda cans either float or sink when placed into water.
Some microscope experiments require using methylene blue, a biological dye used to highlight red blood cells more easily. It makes red blood cells easier to see.
Make Your Own Microscope Slides Students can also make their own microscope slides using any subject they select, simply placing their slide on the stage of their microscope and clipping in one of its lowest power objective lenses. Blanks are provided for recording the date, subject matter and stain used along with space to record what can be seen through a microscope.