Idea Tips for Investigatory Projects
Finding a good topic for an investigative project can be tricky. The student has to be interested in the subject to make it more interesting for him or her. Here are a few guidelines on how not only to find good topics but also to determine if they are any good or not.
- The topic should be something interesting to the student.
- The student should be able to conduct tests to find an answer to a question regarding the topic. An investigative project is, after all, not a simple report or demonstration. A good scientific project needs experiment for validation purposes.
- To make the activity effective, it should require little supervision from family members or teachers. Having too many people do the project for him or her takes away the learning as well as the fun.
- It should not involve anything dangerous or hurt people and animals.
- The project open doors for more things the student would want to know.
The World Wide Web is brimming with research resources and investigative project examples.
For Physics, Chemistry, Meteorology and Botany experiments, ScienceProject.com has a lot to offer. Although it requires a fee to get details on certain experiments, browsing through the library is FREE and it brims with possible project ideas.
Examples include:
Fire and Burning - what factors affect burning?
Musical instruments - the scientific principles behind them
How strong is a toothpick?
Which materials can be charged with static electricity?
Which battery lasts the longest? How can power be increased?
Chemical reactions that produce energy or that require energy
Effects of sunlight on rubber, ink, paper
Making salt water potable, removal of pollutants
How does the amount of water affect plant growth?
Another website, FreeScienceFairProject.com, also contains a lot of possible project ideas suitable for students of different grade levels. And, the best part is, the information is FREE!
For public high school students, click on “Intermediate Projects (for Grades 7 and 8)” or “Senior Projects (for Grades 9 to 12)”.
One interesting project would be on how to Make a battery from a potato. Using only some copper and zinc electrodes, a fresh potato, a digital or analog multimeter to measure voltage and some alligator clips, students can find out more about electrolytes and how a potato can be used as one.
Aside from investigative projects, there are also a lot of possible research paper/analyses ideas available in some online libraries. One of which is a Dallas school website with a wide range of debates on topics like abortion, animal rights, assisted suicide, censorship, date rape, depression, dress codes, drug tests, privacy, environment, suicide, women’s rights and teen pregnancy.
There are so many ideas that the young minds in the class can dive into with passion. So before beginning with the actual project itself, explore all possibilities!
Sources:
n. a. (n.d.) Great Projects from Real Experts. Retrieved January 16, 2008 from www.scienceproject.com
n. a. (n.d.) Make a Battery from Potato. Retrieved January 16, 2008 from
http://www.freesciencefairproject.com/projects/electricity_from_potato.html
n. a. (n.d.)Popular Research Topics. Retrieved January 16, 2008 from
http://www.dallas.k12.or.us/DHS_Library/web/popular.htm
n. a. (n.d.) What makes a good project? Retrieved January 16, 2008 from
http://miniscience.com/goodproject.asp?count=4
(Published 21 January 2008, Smart Schools Program)
