Hey my kids have to come up with ideas, I thought it might not just be us. So how about posting past projects, to spurn some thoughts for our kids!

We have done:
soap testing regular soap vs anitbiotic soap

does the color of m&m's affect the taste

is water the best liquid for growing plants

which fast food place give the best deal on ff

By Melanie on Thursday, October 11, 2007 - 09:05 am:

Last year, ds tested the effectiveness of seatbelts. He placed an egg in a toy car and sent it down a ramp, crashing it into a wall. Some eggs were restrained and the others weren't. He rated the damage of the eggs and drew his conclusions.

By Annie2 on Thursday, October 11, 2007 - 09:41 am:

My dd compared if a person comprehends a reading passage better if they read it themselves or it is read to them.


I like the M&M's taste test idea. I'll have to remember that one!

By Dawnk777 on Thursday, October 11, 2007 - 10:43 am:

What about the temperature of water affecting the growth of yeast in bread? Or is that too complicated? It does really matter if the liquid is the right temperature.

Or the amount of light needed for a plant to grow?

Annie, what was the conclusion at the end of the experiment? I'm a more visual learner than an audio learner and my mind tends to wander when people are reading to me. I think I would comprehend a reading passage far better if I read it myself!

By Bemerry84 on Thursday, October 11, 2007 - 11:24 am:

A couple of ribbon winners my ds had were two identical plants, one watered with tap water and one with salt water and the other was which laundry soap dissolves oil the best, you get baby food jars and fill with water and a tablespoon of vegetable oil, add the laundry soap and shake to see which ones separate or dissolve, tide powder with bleach was our winner.

By Annie2 on Thursday, October 11, 2007 - 11:25 am:

Dawn, I was surprised about the results. Well, maybe not surprised.
I'm also a visual learner. Even when the kids read a sentence to me to find out the definition of a word, used in a sentence, I need to read the sentence myself.
She had various ages in her study. She used age-appropriate material for each age group. Younger kids, preteens and teenagers scored about the same on comprehension on both sides of hearing a text or reading it for themselves.
However, people who were older, starting around the age of 30 and up, did better when they read the text themselves.
Another tangent that could be used is if the material to learn was a topic of interest for that person and vice-versa. I know that would make a huge difference.

By Dawnk777 on Thursday, October 11, 2007 - 02:44 pm:

Wow, interesting and what a good hypothesis.

I had a mom typing up test results for the yeast question, a few years ago! (okay, yeah son was old enough to type it himself, but he'd put it off until the last minute and mom was a faster typer. I had opinions about it, but I kept them to myself! LOL! At least he'd done the research by himself, with some of mom's assistance, since they had to make a lot of bread!)

I remember my cousins having a test to find numbers in a grid, while they read them off (I think). Anyway, one time we did it and had all the time in the world and the second time we did it, we were under time pressure! LOL! Time pressure was definitely harder and more stressful!