Science fair projects at high schools usually consist of testing scientific theories through experiments and research, providing students an excellent way to practice using the scientific method and covering a range of fields.
Choose a project that excites and intrigues you while being achievable within your allocated time. Speak to your science teachers and guidance counselor if competing at the science fair is something that interests you.
1. Water Filtration
Water filtration is an issue in many communities. Discover how clean your tap water is at home, and examine its delivery system’s impact.
This classic experiment combines acid/base reactions and density. It’s an engaging way to observe how various solutions react.
With this eco-friendly project, impress friends, family and judges alike with its wonderful feats of engineering! Not only is this great fun but also provides you with a fun opportunity to explore genetics and ecology!
2. Heart Rate
Heart rate is an engaging topic to investigate for science fair, making an engaging experiment to measure someone’s heart rate during different types of exercise. To conduct the experiment, volunteers’ heart rates must be measured during various types of physical exercise sessions.
Ask volunteers to take an initial heart rate measurement while at rest, before engaging in three 15-minute activities and take breaks between activities for their hearts to return to normal resting rates before calculating an average heart rate for them.
3. Plant Growth
Plants make for an engaging science fair project topic for students interested in biology, ecology and more. Growing plants allows students to experiment with various light levels, soil types and watering regimens while simultaneously learning more about themselves as people.
Cress is an ideal candidate for this type of project as its rapid growth can be tracked with ease with just a simple chart. Furthermore, this experiment helps budding scientists practice their observations and record-keeping skills.
4. Music Memory
Students can put music to the test as they investigate its effect on memory recall with this exciting experiment. They’ll use various musical selections associated with different words to see if recalling those words becomes easier when listening to their melody.
Engineering projects make an ideal selection for high school science fairs. Teenagers can design and construct contraptions that showcase engineering principles like friction, force, gravity and more.
5. Fire Extinguisher
As part of their high school science fair project idea, kids can explore how to put out fire using baking soda and vinegar – and learn all about acid-base reactions as they do so! It is also an excellent opportunity for exploration.
Carbon dioxide released by an extinguisher blankets the flame, suffocating it while blocking oxygen from reaching it and fueling its burning. This experiment can be easily conducted at home using minimal supplies.
6. Magnifying Glass
Any clear liquid can act as a lens to magnify an object, providing students with opportunities for experimentation with diffraction patterns using drops of water on newspaper lines or plastic cups magnifying straight lines on pieces of paper.
This high school science fair project expands on the classic balsa wood bridge by adding engineering design and problem-solving skills for an impressive result, teaching buoyancy principles along the way.
7. Buoyancy
Sink-or-float experiments provide a tangible demonstration of buoyancy – the physical law which states that denser objects will sink while lighter ones float – an ideal physics science fair project that also encourages observation and hypothesis testing.
Examine objects such as Lego bricks, aluminum foil and slices of an apple to gain insight into how their shapes and materials affect buoyancy. Also compare objects of various sizes in terms of flotation capacity.
8. Liquid Density
Make a spectacular demonstration of ocean layers with this intriguing liquid density experiment! Carefully pour water, corn syrup and vegetable oil into a beaker or jar and observe whether a raisin sinks or floats before placing one into each beaker/jar.
Students conduct an experiment in which they compare equal weights of water and corn syrup to determine which material has more density, ultimately sinking the latter. This activity serves to reinforce that mass does not depend upon volume alone.
9. Plant Dance
Engaging students in fun plant experiments can teach them about how plants respond to various types of music. Students can also identify all the components necessary for plant growth and describe what would happen if any one element were absent.
Get hands-on experience with chemistry with this chemical reactions experiment. Or explore physical science with this bridge building project; or even find out how forensic scientists find fingerprints using this cool science experiment!