Help me decide on a science fair project

[mattc183]

I need to come up with something cheap and more or less easy.
I was thinking about the effects of co2 on saltwater or adding iron or fertilizers to a phyto culture, or maybe propagating mushrooms. I don't have funds for more lighting so as cool as actnics are have to rule them out.
But these seem pretty dull. I was hoping for something a little different that I could learn from. And I can always use another excuse to spend more money on saltwater. Just not to much.
Oh, I have about a month to complete the experiment.

thanks
mattc

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

I show an iodine/macroalgae growth experiment here, and I expect you could do iron similarly:

Iodine in Reef Tanks 2: Effects on Macroalgae Growth
http://www.advancedaquarist.com/issues/april2003/chem.htm

here's background on iron:

First Iron Article: Macroalgae and Dosing Recommendations
http://www.advancedaquarist.com/issues/aug2002/chem.htm

Second Iron Article: Iron: A Look at Organisms Other than Macroalgae
http://www.advancedaquarist.com/issues/oct2002/chem.htm


What effects were you thinking of with respect to CO2? pH?

Have you taken chemistry? Does pKa mean anything to you? The third pKa of phosphate in freshwater and seawater could be interesting. It changes a lot, and the explanations go to the root of a lot of seawater chemistry.

[mattc183]

I was just thinking how people say aerating salt water changes the ph. I'm not sure why it happens and thought it would be interesting to find out. I've taken hs and college chemistry. And still had to look up pka, didn't help much still ignorant. Looked like it had a lot to do with biochemistry. I should've mentioned I'm a elementary education major and this is for a science methods class, where the class is designing, hosting, and entering a science fair. After looking at the second iron article I think I may stick with iron supplementation. Or I might breakdown and buy some 20" flourescents in different kelvins, I have some old hoods and might get away for less than $60. Since the activities for the class is oriented more towards younger kids, I was hoping for something that is easily interpeted or percieved visually.

thanks
mattc

[mesocosm]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=8330465#post8330465 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by mattc183
... I should've mentioned I'm a elementary education major and this is for a science methods class, where the class is designing, hosting, and entering a science fair. ... Very cool ! ... :thumbsup:


<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=8330465#post8330465 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by mattc183
... Since the activities for the class is oriented more towards younger kids, I was hoping for something that is easily interpeted or percieved visually. ... If you're targeting the K-6 population, you'll probably find that projects skewed towards the phyiscal sciences, or the physical vs. biological science interface, are probably less expensive, less constrained by time, and easier to interpret ... JMO.

Crystals are always fun to work with, focusing on topics like ...

Crystallizaztion ... what solids are precipitated via evaporation from (i) different dKH levels; (ii) different specific gravities; (iii) different pH levels; (iv) different concentrations and/or compositions of solute; ... you can also throw in rates (with all their wonderful data gathering and graphing opportunities) by adding a heat source (such as a simple desk lamp). How does this contrast with the crystallization patterns of sugar dissolved in water, or liquid bluing, salt, and food coloring placed on top of charcoal brickets? How do these crystals look/contrast under magnification? How do different concedntrations of phytoplankton effect crystallization patterns (if at all)? The possibilities go on ...


On another tangent ...

Kinetics ... dry ice is always fun to work with ... it's also cheap, easy to work with, and consistently impressive to K-6 students. How fast will a known weight of CO2(s) sublimate in response to room temperature air, tap water (straight from the faucet), and heated (boiling) water? Why does it do what it does? ... with great measurement, data gathering, and graphing opportunities throughout. Leads directly into further explorations involving physical state and the conditions under which shifts in physical states occurs. The possibilities go on ... including the liquid nitrogen stuff. Don't miss out on the chance to schedule the physics department guys (or the local gas company folks) to demonstrate how to have fun with Dewar flasks and "frozen air."


If you're really interested in the biochemistry, consider ...

Stoichiometry ... collect, measure, and utilize gases resulting from biological respiration (typically from green algae or aquatic plants). Again, lots of measurement, data gathering, and graphing opportunities ... and lots of variable options (different temperatures, different light sources, different algae or aquatic plant species, different pH levels). The possibilities go on ...


If you're talking about really young students, consider ...

Simple Data Recording ... drawing a coordinate grid on a piece of plastic, and overlaying that "quadrant grid" onto the primary viewing plane of a aquarium allows for direct, basic observation of aquatic organism movement and swimming. Where is the fish specifically? ... where is the fish relative to its physical space? ... where is the fish is relationship to the other fish in the tank? ... what do we see when we combine your data with everyone else's data?.

The possibilities go on ... ;)


Assuming that the instructor hasn't already done this, you folks might want to divide yourselves up into different disciplines so that you can get max. variety for the time and space that you're working with ... just a thought.



If you're looking for background information, these might be worth a glance ...

PEI Science Awareness and Technology Site
http://stas.edu.pe.ca/english/sub.cfm

6 Steps to Doing a Science Fair Project
http://stas.edu.pe.ca/english/sub.cfm?source=sevensteps


Their steps are ...

Coming Up With an Idea
http://stas.edu.pe.ca/english/sub.cfm?source=flowchart1
Your Hypothesis and Researching Your Topic
http://stas.edu.pe.ca/english/sub.cfm?source=flowchart2
The Scientific Method and Writing Your Report
http://stas.edu.pe.ca/english/sub.cfm?source=flowchart3
Results and Observations
http://stas.edu.pe.ca/english/sub.cfm?source=flowchart4
Displaying Your Results
http://stas.edu.pe.ca/english/sub.cfm?source=flowchart5
Evaluating and Judging
(*Note: This part varies widely depending upon the organizers of the fair)
http://stas.edu.pe.ca/english/sub.cfm?source=flowchart6



Also ...

Science Fair Projects 13.01
How to Do a Science Project
http://members.ozemail.com.au/~macinnis/scifun/projects.htm




If you want to communicate with educators, researchers, and other students regarding science fair projects, these may be useful to you:

Society for Amateur Scientists
http://www.sas.org/

Science Fair Idea Exchange
http://scienceclub.org/scifair.html

IPL: Science Fair Project Resource Guide
http://www.ipl.org/div/kidspace/projectguide/





If you decide that you want to use animals (something I do not personally recommend for the K-6 population ... but plants and microorganisms are great), and you want to employ the same guidelines that the big kids use:

Biosafety in Microbiological and Biomedical Laboratories (BMBL) 4th Edition
http://www.cdc.gov/od/ohs/biosfty/bmbl4/bmbl4toc.htm





If you're interested in utilizing the internet as a research tool, this post I presented in another discussion board may be of interest ...
An Introduction to Searching for Scientific Literature on the Internet (http://www.zeovit.com/forums/showthread.php?t=3898)




Sorry for the rant ... hope I didn't wander off on the wrong tangent ... HTH
:D

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

I was just thinking how people say aerating salt water changes the ph. I'm not sure why it happens and thought it would be interesting to find out.

OK, I explain that one in detail here, and you could set up an experiment to show the effect with a pH meter:

Low pH: Causes and Cures
http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2004-09/rhf/index.htm

High pH: Causes and Cures
http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2005-03/rhf/index.htm

[mattc183]

Thank you both very much! Mescocosm are you a teacher? I really like the idea for drawing a grid on the aquarium for young kids. Though I think I would do like identify the object at x,y coordinates kindof a teaching the algebra and marine biology without them knowing it, that's way cool! The other ideas and links have and will be very helpful. It's just going take awhile to go through them all. I'm going to show this thread to my instructor I think she may like it. Randy, that's exactly what I was thinking about with the ph.

thanks
mattc

[SoupySteve]

mattc183 -
I also like the idea of introducing the coordinate plane without doing so in the COLD MATHEMATICAL fashion as I was :)
If you choose to do something about the coordinate plane, let me suggest you use a sheet of egg crate for a visual aid - JMO
I'm not a teacher, but I AM a father of a two year old. I think that I may put the coordinate plane lesson up in a couple of years - but I use my aquarium a MEGA-visual aid for a LOT of things with my daughter; day/night cycle, water vs solids, eating (and poo-ing), etc... One of her "sentences" was "Popa, feed Pootie (the Tang) algae, OK?"
:bum:

[mesocosm]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=8334059#post8334059 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by mattc183
... Mesocosm are you a teacher? I really like the idea for drawing a grid on the aquarium for young kids. Though I think I would do like identify the object at x,y coordinates kind of a teaching the algebra and marine biology without them knowing it, that's way cool! ... I taught high school and middle school math and science for 8 years, and worked in outdoor science schools and science summer camps for a decade before that. There's only one way to properly introduce science concepts to young students ... hands-on.

You're lucky ... it never occurred to my science curriculum instructor to show teaching candidates how to actually do a science fair. Running a science fair is a lot of work ... and is worth every bit of it.

I wish I could take credit for the aquarium coordinate thing, but like all public school teachers who commit themselves to do real science in the absence of funding or physical resources ...

... I quickly learned to steal ... :D ... ;)



I stole the coordinate thing (and lots of others) from here ...

GEMS
(Great Explorations in Math & Science)
Lawrence Hall of Science
University of California, Berkeley
http://www.lawrencehallofscience.org/gems/

More specifically ...

Aquatic Habitats
http://www.lawrencehallofscience.org/gems/GEMaquatic.html

Here's a link to their teachers' guides listing:
http://www.lawrencehallofscience.org/gems/gemsguidestopic.html#Biology

Truly great stuff ! ... :thumbsup:



SoupySteve ... eggcrate is indeed quite useful for a single student working up close to the aquarium, but for larger groups I found clear laminate sheeting with the grid drawn on (... yet another student activity ...) to be much more "viewable" by larger groups at a greater distance. Alternatives include colored string or yarn taped to the tank.

JMO ... :thumbsup:



mattc183 ... if the school or district affords access to functional pH probes, meters and calibration solutions then Dr. Holmes-Farley's suggestion is by far the best. The only things more cool than good technical instrumentality ... are things that explode, rapidly sublimate, or fly.

In a safe, harmless, politically correct way ... of course ... ;)

But if such resources are unavailable and you're looking for a way to visually present pH shifts, you might wish to use chemical indicators. Here's a link for background info, and a list of various indicators and their pH ranges:

Wikipedia topic: pH Indicator
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PH_indicator

BTW ... Beets, Blueberries, Carrots, Cherries, Curry Powder, Grapes, Onion, Red cabbage, Red Radish, Rhubarb, Rose Petals, Strawberries, Tea, Thyme, and Turmeric can all be used as natural pH indicators. Any experimental material or artifact that a student actually makes themselves adds a whole new layer to the enrichment of a learning experience.


JMO ... HTH
:D

[mattc183]

Mesocosm, really I don't think I can thank you enough! I've learned so much today. Got a lot of great ideas and well made my whole day pretty darn peachy. That's really cool about the plants, and talk about cheap! You definitely reminded why I love science and teaching.

mattc