Budding engineers will love designing, building and testing this 7th grade science fair project based on Leonardo da Vinci’s 500-year-old wooden bridge from Leonardo’s The Vitruvian Man.
Germ experiments are always popular with students and will leave them amazed at what lurks on their school supplies and household objects. Just make sure that students follow all prescribed procedures.
Build a Hand
Building an artificial hand can be tricky. This science fair project helps students gain insight into skeletal anatomy and the way hands operate to pick up objects.
Students will construct either a simple clawlike gripper with two fingers that each have one joint or more complex designs with multiple joints controlled individually (similar to arcade machine claws) that will pick up various objects depending on its design.
Build a Bridge
Students put their engineering skills to the test in this physics-based project. They’ll discover which shapes are structurally soundest and how much weight their bridges can support.
With index cards as building materials, students create a bridge to support an object such as a penny or other object. Students will also discover how tensional and compressive forces interact to either create or break down structures; it’s an effective way to demonstrate engineering design principles.
Build a Balloon Car
Students tasked with this STEM challenge are challenged to design and engineer a balloon-powered car out of materials found around their home, using materials they already have on hand. Experimentation may include playing around with wheel sizes and balloon dimensions to maximize speed.
Exiting air gives the car kinetic energy, helping it move over surfaces quickly. Note that rougher the surface, the greater its frictional force will be and therefore the slower its progress is likely to be. Friction is an integral component of studying physics.
Build a Geodesic Dome
Geodesic domes utilize triangles to form a sturdy and self-supporting structure. Kids can learn that tension forces between adjacent struts balance compression forces on each individual strut to make the structure stronger than any one straw alone.
These structures can be found around the world as homes, greenhouses and even at outdoor events like Burning Man. They require less building materials than traditional houses and perform better in structural tests than them.
Build a Solar Oven
Students engage in this educational engineering activity to explore thermal energy, convection and more while learning about solar power and sustainable practices.
Kids can build a solar oven out of an empty pizza box to function like a greenhouse, with aluminum foil-lined flaps sealed by plastic wrap and sealed shut to prevent leakage. They can use their new creation to cook cheese melts or even create their very own s’mores!
Examine chemistry through this exciting 7th grade science fair project! Students can test how various materials insulate liquids.
Build a Balloon-Powered Car
Students create an eco-car using recycled materials and powered by air escaping from a balloon’s nozzle, practicing iterative design along the way. After completion of their masterpieces, students compete against one another to see who goes the furthest distance.
Introduce kids to salt levels through this fun experiment with an unexpected outcome. However, as it could get messy quickly, this activity should ideally take place outside.
Build a Pet Feeder
Students design an automatic pet feeder using basic materials, creating an engaging project to teach mechanical engineering concepts as well as basic physics principles.
Do cooked fruits and vegetables contain less vitamin C than raw ones? Students in 7th grade science fair run this nutritional science experiment as part of their science fair project.
Germ experiments are another popular option for 7th grade science fair projects. By swabbing household objects and school supplies to see what germs live there.
Make Cellular Mitosis Models
Students using this simple science fair project can discover how chromosomes divide during cell division. Furthermore, this experiment also helps them explore chromatin and its homologous pairs.
Tie the ends of a 10-foot (3-m) piece of string together and form a circle on the table to represent a parent cell’s cell membrane, explaining that telophase and cytokinesis are the last two phases of mitosis.
Test Caffeine
Students can explore gravity and centripetal force through this engaging experiment. By designing a balloon-powered car and testing different fuels on it, this simple but engaging activity helps them develop an understanding of these forces.
Prescribed investigations, or experiments designed to follow a plan laid out for them, can serve as great practice in following directions and following directions. They’re ideal for 7th grade science fair projects to practice this important skill.
Test Plant Growth
Students can gain insights into plant growth, osmosis and more through engaging experiments that foster knowledge. Plus they’ll enhance their science process skills by formulating hypotheses, conducting an experiment and collecting data!
Make household items germ-free with this straightforward bacterial experiment! Are certain foods higher in Vitamin C content than others? Put this theory to the test with this 7th grade food science project!