5th graders delight in engaging in hands-on science experiments that stimulate their curiosity, ignite their passion for learning and form meaningful science fair projects. These creative projects explore biology, chemistry and physics while engaging students in core aspects of scientific inquiry.
Experience this classic experiment designed to examine density. Watch as different soda floats or sinks!
Water Purification
Distillation allows students to access pure water from water contaminated with contaminants or diseases-causing elements. They learn how to heat it to its boiling point before cooling it to form vapor before collecting pure water as part of its final output.
Science often seems like magic until one understands its underlying principles. Students can build an engaging project using Archimedes’ screw to learn about mechanical energy while having fun!
Kids love this classic science experiment that illustrates density. Plus, it involves food! A 70s trend has made a comeback as part of a 5th grade science fair project to introduce children to acids and bases.
Bacterial Colonies
Bacterial colonies are collections of microorganisms that come together to form one mass. Scientists use them on nutrient agar plates so they can study both cells and colony structure; additionally they often use these colonies in research projects to produce proteins or enzymes for study purposes.
Allow students to explore how genetics impact inherited traits with this hands-on project that investigates recessive and dominant genes. It provides an engaging visual way of learning more about genetics.
Participating in science fair projects provides 5th graders with invaluable research and communication skills. When implemented under guidance from experienced mentors, such projects provide rewarding opportunities to build core elements of scientific process.
Glow Sticks
Glow sticks are an engaging way for children to explore chemistry. This science experiment shows how brightness of glow sticks changes with temperature change in water, providing an engaging hands-on way for teaching about chemiluminescence, energy transfer and how heat accelerates chemical reactions.
Students will gain knowledge about Chromatography with this simple and inexpensive science experiment that uses common lab techniques. Students will get to see first-hand how color separating works as they test out a classic catapult made out of wood craft sticks to test out their designs for strength.
Quicksand
By creating quicksand, students learn about non-Newtonian fluids – meaning fluids which change state under pressure but behave as solids when not. Furthermore, this experiment also introduces them to concepts like saturation and friction.
Students understand that quicksand can cause drowning, yet does not result in them falling to the bottom of a bottomless pit as depicted in movies. Bonn studied the properties of real quicksand which is composed of both sand and salt water; his research demonstrated that trying to walk out while it was still solid would result in death for anyone trying to exit it at once.
This project allows students to explore engineering principles as they create and design a ball run, while simultaneously applying math through graphing results and comparing graphs of graphed results.
Marshmallow Jump
Marshmallow jumps are fun STEM projects that teach children about gravity, density and Boyle’s law while simultaneously helping develop critical thinking skills in children.
Marshmallow painting is an enjoyable and cost-effective way to stimulate creativity and self-expression, as well as an accessible science experiment using common household ingredients.
Start this easy, yet entertaining experiment to test the insulating properties of marshmallows – it will not only show their insulation power but will also build teamwork!
Put students’ engineering skills to the test with this easy marshmallow plane project! Students will discover how design changes can alter launching distances; additionally, this project offers insight into air pressure and density.
Surface Tension
Students using the scientific method will investigate how surface tension influences various phenomena. For instance, they can observe why water droplets remain together instead of spreading out across surfaces like paper. Students can test how many drops a coin can hold before creating eye-catching hydrophobic sand using borax mixed with cornstarch and glue for even further exploration of this subject matter.
Surface tension allows paper clips to float in water, providing students with an opportunity to experiment with various water temperatures and types of clips to see if there are differences in floating behaviors. They can also investigate capillary action by monitoring how water ascends cotton fibers or plant stems – students could even create paper airplanes and see how far they fly!