Science fair projects are an integral part of school life for most students, serving as their first major research endeavor and an excellent way to learn the rigors of conducting scientific studies.
Show your 8th graders that science can be engaging and enjoyable through these fascinating experiments! Discover how different temperatures impact spherification or find out which sugar works best for candy making.
Solar Oven Project
Harness the power of the sun with this easy solar oven science project! This demonstration teaches about insulation and absorption principles.
This project requires a cardboard box with an attached lid capable of accommodating a pie pan and solar panel for cooking, to meet United Nations Sustainable Development Goals like clean energy use and cooking without using fossil fuels or smoke.
Candle Carousel Project
Students get a taste of STEM and physics with this engaging experiment. It illustrates how changing the angle of a candle carousel’s rotor influences its speed.
Cut a strip of aluminum foil and attach it to one of your rotor blades horizontal, flat surface – this will block your phone’s light sensor whenever your rotor passes above it, creating an analytic graph for further study.
Paper Cup Structure
If your children are fascinated with roller coaster loops and their science behind them, they’ll love this engaging physics experiment! Plus, this project helps them develop skills such as planning, measuring and analyzing data.
Have students lay out eight paper cups evenly on the ground and place a piece of cardboard over them, testing whether their structure can withstand their weight without collapsing! This experiment provides a great opportunity to investigate gravity and physics!
S’mores Oven Project
Ask students to construct a solar oven out of a pizza box, black construction paper and ingredients for making s’mores. After creating their model they can offer free demonstrations in other classrooms by including switches, personal communication devices and scripted demos as needed.
Discover how food influences reaction times or whether hunger or fullness affect them with this combined physics and nutrition project that also involves taste testing!
Extracting DNA from Onions
Students may already possess supplies necessary for extracting DNA from onions in their home environments. The experiment requires grinding, incubating and filtering before long strands of DNA appear that can be easily collected onto a fork for easy extraction.
Other 8th grade science fair projects could involve investigating how stress impacts body temperature or seeing whether plants thrive faster with or without nitrogen fertilization, as well as discovering which type of plastic wrap prevents evaporation the most effectively.
Electrolysis Water Project
Electrolysis, or water splitting, is an essential process that transforms liquid water into hydrogen and oxygen gases. Since pure water does not conduct electricity effectively, baking soda serves as an electrolyte in this experiment.
Take photos as you progress with your experiment; these will enable you to demonstrate your findings on a board.
Practice explaining your project aloud before attending the science fair to ease any nervousness on presentation day! Doing this will also reduce anxiety levels when making your presentation!
Acid Rain Project
Explore the effects of acid rain on plants with this easy project. Students simply water flowers using either acidic or clean water and record their observations.
Discover how temperature influences yeast fermentation with this intriguing 8th grade science fair experiment that brings together math, engineering and chemistry.
Explore how peppermint affects reaction times with this engaging experiment that involves an eager class and some supplies.
Yeast Fermentation Project
yeast and fermentation projects provide an engaging introduction to science chemistry concepts. Students can observe how different sugars influence how well yeast produces CO2.
Use this simple biology science project to explore how temperature affects yeast fermentation. All you need are 3 clear glasses, 3 balloons, water and sugar; students can add root beer flavorings for added fizz!
Root Beer Brew Project
Students participating in this science experiment can demonstrate how temperature affects yeast fermentation and make their own root beer to enjoy!
This project requires patience as bottles must sit for one to three days in cold temperatures before seeing results – however, they’re well worth the wait! This activity provides an engaging way for kids to learn about gravity.
Battery Project
This experiment employs pennies and nickels to demonstrate how to create a battery capable of producing electric current and to teach basic principles of physics.
Chemistry and physics come to life in this lemon battery experiment, which uses its power to power small LED light bulbs. You could take this further by trying other fruits or vegetables!