Students should start planning their science fair experiment early and select an area of interest they feel confident pursuing. Once selected, research the topic before using scientific method to conduct an experiment on it.
Explore kinetic energy and potential friction with this classic science fair project for high school. All you’ll need are some bricks, markers, and muriatic acid.
Engineering
Engineering projects typically comprised of engineering projects for science fair projects in high schools involve designing, building, analyzing or improving devices, materials or technologies – sometimes in tandem with experiments designed to test or create materials.
Engineer a modern-day battering ram in this exciting science experiment to test students’ engineering design abilities or have them build a trampoline and see what materials can bounce a marble (and other objects) off of.
This experiment is one of the more traditional physics science experiments that children find engaging. It helps teach potential and kinetic energy, and provides practice calculating acceleration. While you will require specific supplies for this project – they may still be available online – please ensure it has approval by an adult before undertaking.
Biology
Students looking for projects for their science fair experiment should select an interesting yet manageable biology topic and state their research question clearly before collecting evidence that supports or disproves it.
This simple science fair project will demonstrate to students how forensic scientists use muriatic acid and oily fingers to find fingerprints. Furthermore, students can test out different antibiotics on both Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacteria found in petri dishes.
This high school physics experiment will demonstrate static friction using standard bricks, with weight being used to vary their friction and force of pressure varying accordingly. Students can also explore kinetic energy of a bounced ball during this activity.
Chemistry
Students preparing high school science fair projects can participate in various chemistry experiments. These may be advanced versions of lab exercises done in class, with more detailed calculations or increased safety precautions. One popular design involves testing chemical responses between substances. Children can experiment with acid-base reactions (acids donate hydrogen ions and have pH values between 0-7; bases accept them and taste bitter) and explore whether reactivity changes depending on temperature changes.
Students can conduct experiments that explore the solubility of common substances like salt, sugar and Epsom salt in water, or examine water samples both pre and post filtration to identify how many electrolytes may exist in sports drinks they like to drink. Such projects provide students with an excellent way to explore their interests while developing critical thinking abilities.
Physics
Students participating in this category must demonstrate their knowledge of physics principles by applying them to real-life situations, with experiments covering subjects like gravity, friction, momentum and conversion of energy.
Learn the difference between potential and kinetic energy with this classic Newton’s Cradle experiment! Students interleave sheets of paper before measuring how much force is necessary to pull them apart – an excellent high school science fair project to introduce concepts which will later be studied more extensively in greater depth.
Discover whether commercial laundry detergents really do remove stains with this straightforward high school science fair project. Muriatic acid, oily fingers and color-changing chemicals all come together in this brilliant demonstration of chemical reactions!
Optical Illusions
Optic illusions fascinate students, and there are various ways they can explore them directly. From learning about flip-books, thaumatropes, phenakistiscopes and zoetropes to exploring why our eyes see colors they don’t actually exist via Afterimages projects and other means, students will love exploring optical illusions!
Students can explore how human perception affects the “impossible arrow” illusion, wagon wheel effect and stroboscopic illusion – as well as add coding with their Use an Arduino to Control a Color-Changing Infinity Mirror project.
Forensic science can be fascinating, and this experiment helps students identify latent fingerprints. You can find more forensics experiments here. Or let students use an inexpensive calorimeter made of household items to measure electrolytes in popular sports drinks and then compare their findings with water or orange juice.