Fifth grade science fair projects provide students the chance to explore scientific topics that intrigue them, with help from expert mentors guiding the experimentation process as students discover, analyze, and report back their results.
Kids love this messy experiment that teaches them about surface tension and gas molecules! For best results, use an open space.
Archimedes’ Screw
Archimedes’ screw is a positive displacement pump designed by Greek mathematician Archimedes that used positive displacement to move liquid or particles between locations. Primarily used for transporting water, or dewatering mines.
Workstation works by placing the open end of a helix-shaped tubing in a body of water and rotating it, with every revolution scooping up water from below and lifting it thread by thread until reaching the top. You can adjust its tilt angle to control how much rises.
Newspaper Engineering
5th grade science fairs provide meaningful opportunities for students to engage with the scientific process. While students perform experiments and analyze data, encourage them to critically consider their findings and consider why their original hypothesis did not pan out. Even “failed” experiments may still offer invaluable learning experiences by reflecting upon why their original hypothesis did not materialize as intended.
Develop teamwork and communication skills through this engineering challenge involving newspaper. Teams must use 10 sheets of paper and 18 inches of tape to erect a tower that holds their textbook.
Bridge Design
This STEM challenge provides children with an excellent way to demonstrate how geometry affects strength. Teams work in cooperation to construct different kinds of bridges before testing how much weight each can hold before collapsing under its own weight.
Provide each engineering team with a box of flat toothpicks, wood glue or Elmer’s glue, cardboard and waxed paper as well as small bucket of rock material (gravel, pebbles or sand) in which to build bridges from. Make an experiment area where each team can test their designs. Ask each team to estimate how much weight will bring down their bridge and record their predictions in their test log.
Density Demonstration
Students will explore how an object’s weight relates to its size with this fun science experiment. They’ll measure density samples from metal, plastic and wood cubes in order to understand that various materials have various densities.
Students will explore how objects float on liquids with lower densities while sinking through those with higher densities with this exciting and straightforward experiment. They will also witness first-hand how salt affects the density of water.
Static Electricity
Many children have encountered static electricity while rubbing their hair or walking on carpet while wearing socks. This occurs when an electrical charge collects extra electrons and becomes negatively charged, while water or tissue has positive charges; they attract each other!
Remind students that electrons can also conduct in dirt by creating an electroscope with aluminum foil and neodymium magnets. For safety’s sake, this experiment should only be attempted under adult supervision since these strong magnets pose serious threat. This provides a wonderful lesson about energy and electricity!
Lava Lamp
Think back to the 1960s and you may recall bell bottom pants and flowers, as well as popular home decor items like lava lamps! Created by Edward Craven Walker, these lamps were known for their vibrantly hued wax globs whirling freely inside a clear liquid base.
Lava lamps utilize an amalgam of two irreconcilable liquids – water and paraffin wax (the same kind used to produce candles). When heated, the wax becomes less dense than water, rising to the top before cooling and dissolving back into it again.
Gummy Bear Experiment
Kids love this simple gummy bear experiment to demonstrate the principle of osmosis! While it requires them to wait overnight, the results can be truly fascinating!
This demonstration’s science may be more complex, but it’s easily taught in 3rd, 4th or 5th grade classrooms. First, potassium chlorate is melted using an endothermic process before decomposing to release carbon dioxide and water, repeating itself over and over – every cycle affects gummy bears!
Insect Attraction
Old explanations for why moths are attracted to lights haven’t stood up well under scrutiny, so students review what is known and devise an experiment designed to determine whether it’s heat or light that attracts moths and other insects.
Experience the lifecycle of a praying mantis insect through this insect experiment or watch its lifecycle in real time with bug watching! Kids also get to learn tactile communication through projects that explore honeybee dance language – great way to teach biology, physics and chemistry!