1st Grade Science Project Ideas

admin — Fri, 16 Apr 2010 13:27:40 +0000

First grade is usually the time when teachers begin to introduce the scientific process to students, preparing them for future years of education in the sciences. With the introduction of the scientific process, students are then told to use this knowledge and compose science fair projects. While science projects for 1st grade do seem early, I have prepared some 1st grade science project ideas.

First every science project begins with a TITLE. Tell your first grader that everything should have a name and therefore the science fair project should have a name as well.

The next requirement for science fair projects in the first grade is a PURPOSE. Why are we doing this experiment? This should be quite an easy requirement to satisfy as first graders are naturally curious about the world. First graders ask many questions and one of these questions could be the purpose.

Then we have the HYPOTHESIS. What do you think will happen when you perform the experiment? Just tell your first grader to guess. It doesn’t matter if he/she is right.

Next, we have MATERIALS and PROCEDURE. This is a list of steps of the experiment and the materials required to perform the exhibit. It should be the easiest section to complete.

Finally we have RESULTS and CONCLUSION. Results document what happened during the experiment. They can include charts, photographs or the remainder of the experiments. The conclusion is a few sentences on what the first grader found out from doing the experiment. Was the hypothesis correct? What really happened when the experiment was performed?

Some simple 1st grade science project ideas:

Young kids love magnets. So why not do an experiment testing different object’s attraction to magnets? How about plants? Kids love growing their own plants. See what effects plant growth. Maybe place one plant inside a cupboard and another plant in the sunlight. Monitor the responses. Make sure the plant inside the cupboard stays alive! Static Electricity: First graders are always amazed by static electricity. It shocks them when they are taking some heavy clothing off in the winter and also makes they hair stand up. Take a balloon and rub it against different materials and see if static electricity is produced. A fun activity is to hold the charged balloon near hair and observe if the hair stands up. Rub the balloon against different materials and see which materials produce static electricity.

Science fair projects for first grade may seem like a big task for such a grade level, but they are actually quite easy and fun to do!

By: Alan Wagner

Second Grade Science Projects and Ideas

admin — Tue, 02 Mar 2010 13:31:31 +0000

Second grade science projects are simple and fun to do. You should pick a topic that can hold the interest of the children. At this age they are just learning how to figure things out for themselves, instead of being spoon fed information, and they’re very eager to learn new things. It’s very beneficial to children to start doing experiments at this age; it stimulates their mind and encourages them to think things out.

Some fun experiments for second graders would be to see if a certain type of animal prefers one food over another; such as, do ants prefer sugar over bread? What about white sugar over brown sugar? Other fun 2nd grade science projects is the traditional volcano model, however while this is fun for the kids, it’s not really answering a question. Another idea might be to see if animals behave different when they’re faced with a visual reflection of themselves like a mirror.

If so, what do they do? Try to play with their reflection? Maybe get mad at their reflection? Maybe they even get scared. Does it make a difference if the mirror is up close or a distance away from them? One fun project for young kids might be to see if the shape of a paper airplane affects the distance it will fly. You can test this out by making a long narrow plane and a short stubby plane and seeing which one flies further. There are tons of fun projects for this age group; it’s just a matter of picking one out of many.

By: Dee Schrock

Science research » Young Kids

1st Grade Science Project Ideas

Second Grade Science Projects and Ideas