If you have noticed some people are great with words and can express themselves really well. They have no problem coming up with flowery language to put on the display board of their science fair project. On the other hand they usually are not too good at crunching numbers. This means that they prefer not to do too many complicated calculations as part of their science project.

Have you wondered why this is so? It has to do with which side of your brain rules you. Roger W Sperry was an American psycho-biologist who did some  research in 1960 and came up with this theory. He said that the brain was divided into two main portions. The left side which is logical and objective and the right side which is emotional and subjective.

As you can guess the people who process the information thrown at them with the left brain are more likely to be the one who can handle mathematical calculations and logical flowcharts well. Plus the people who use the right brain to process information will be more likely to design beautiful display boards and use eloquent language.This does not mean that you can do only one and not the other.

Many people can use both skill sets with ease, but they find one set easier. So when you sit down and think about it, you will realize that you too are better at one type of information processing. Once you know which side of the brain you use more, the subject or the objective, you can pick out a complementary science project. That way you will be playing to your strengths and will find the project easier to do.

If your Grand Ma had mentioned to your Grand Pa that she wanted to honeymoon in a hotel in space, he surely would have thought that she was crazy. It was not possible for a human being to imagine flying in the sky in a commercial airline jet at that point. Yet with some experimentation and a lot of science projects later, the experience of flying has become quite common place.

Now although it is still rare, many human beings have been to space and back safely. So it is quite likely that the next generation may think of heading for a holiday to outer space the same way that we think about flying to Europe or China. Already the Space Station is up and running and a company is planning to accept its first paying guests to a space hotel  in 2012.

The Galactic Suite Space Resort as it is named will cost you around $5 million for a three day space stay. This does include a two month training on a tropical island before you are shot into space. This is a huge step forward to space tourism. Naturally it would not have been possible without the many science projects that went into outer space exploration.

Even the simple Velcro has proved a great find for space explorers. So you never know what will come in handy from a basic project. To make the impossible dream a reality it is necessary to start small. You never know when your science fair project today, will be the cornerstone of a new invention tomorrow.

A question we get a lot around here goes something like this: “My kid needs a project, but we’ve got soccer, gymnastics, homework, and chores every day… we need a good science fair project and QUICK!”

Unfortunately, I don’t have an easy answer for this.  Most folks are still trying to cram a week’s worth of activities into a mere 24-hours, and then wonder why they have trouble coming up with great science project ideas.  It’s a miracle if dinner’s even on the table on soccer night.

Science fair projects can feel this way a lot.  They are usually something added ON TOP OF all the other stuff you have to do – homework from math, extra credit assignments from spelling, extra books to read and report on… and the last thing you need right now is yet another project, only this one is going to be judged.

So how can you survive this stressful science season and still enjoy the process? Well, I generally don’t think as well under pressure as I do when I am free to be creative and enjoy the process.  And one of the most powerful ways to generating great content (and projects) is total immersion.  Here’s what you can do to really make the process enjoyable and educational:

1. Slow down. Schedule time in your week where you can sit with your project for at least a couple of uninterrupted hours.  To get your creative juices flowing and allow for side-tangents, this is the minimum amount of time you’ll need to get the most out of your efforts. This means no phone calls, internet surfing, computer games, or iPODs.  Your mind is totally free to focus entirely on the task at hand.
2. Banish perfection. Take the stress out of trying to find the perfect project and focus rather on what you find interesting.  Bugs or brain cells? Rockets or robotics? Lasers or llamas?  Once you have a ballpark idea on what you want to learn more about, then you can start gathering your information.
3. Start a journal. Even if your kid’s not a writer, it’s important to start logging what you’re finding interesting so you can go back and research more if needed (it’s also a great start to your report’s bibliography).    For non-writing kids, use a video camera to capture the sparkle in their eyes as they delve into their project.  Use still photos to paste into your journal as you go.
4. Get help. Start tapping into resources you already have around you.  You don’t  need to re-invent the wheel, but you do need to make significant progress on your project.  Success always leaves clues, so look for kids that won last year and find out what exactly they did to make it to the top (if that’s your goal).  Chances are it had little to do with the official “topic” of study but rather the way they went about it. Find other local clubs in the area that would be helpful to you, from local astronomical clubs to airplane pilots to the tech at the pharmacy… they can all help steer you in the right direction.

So there you have it – time saving tips for your science fair project season.  While initially these tips may seem to take more time than they save,  you’ll find that the focus and clarity you get in return will be worth tenfold.

Happy Experimenting!

One of the main problems that you face when preparing for a science fair is procrastination. There is a lot of effort that goes into making a great science project. You always want to do a great science project, but time is also short.  It tends to be so much simpler to do it a bit later when you have some time on your hands.

The trouble is that the time eventually runs out and you have less than a week to do the project. So now you panic and start wondering what to do. You see your friends putting the finishing touches to their projects and the funny sensation in the bottom of your tummy intensifies. What are you going to do? For starters you will stop panicking.

Now you will decide on which branch of science you need to make your project in. Just jot down all easy science projects that come into your mind on a note pad. Stop when you have twenty ideas. Now filter out the ones which need no specialized material. Keep the ones that can be done with stuff from around the house on the list and cross out the rest.

Collect all the material that you will need in one room in a specific area. Think ahead of all the things that you will need and get it all here.  Now that you have all the material organized get to work on the science project. Make the model, the display board and anything else that you need. Now

Hi there! It’s been a few months since my last post, so I wanted to be sure to get you great information now that I’m back in the swing of things!  One of the best ways you can encourage your child to do their own work is to provide them with the right tools and information that are interesting to them.  So if your kid is nuts about lasers and light but couldn’t care less about plants (and you’re a botanist!), doing a science fair project about photosynthesis probably isn’t going to work out so well.

However, if you toss a handful of spinach leaves in the blender along with a bit of water and whirl away… and then hit the plant juice with a UV (black) light, you’ll find that it glows red. Not only is this a great start to a science fair project, it will also kick-start their brain in a way that engages them in the project and leaves you on the sidelines as ‘coach’ (which is where you want to be anyway – this is THEIR work, not yours!)

There are tons of great ideas on this website about how to do interesting science just by using regular household materials (did you find the picture of the laser light show build inside tupperware on this site yet?)  And we’re here to help you through it. One of the things you want to do before you leave this site is download the ‘Free Stuff’ and see what you can find inside.

For older kids, the Free Guide isn’t going to be enough – you’ll actually need to check out our science fair project kits, especially the Linear Accelerator and the R.O.V. project.  The physics and math modeling behind the Linear Accelerator is enough to make a college student cry, so don’t go overboard on the the mathematics.  Just have fun and enjoy the process.

I’ll write more cool ideas soon, including how to make a homemade telescope and microscope.  Happy experimenting!

~Aurora

Any vehicle that takes a ride down bumpy terrain is likely to test the efficacy of its shock absorbers. Guess what new science experiments at MIT under Zack Anderson have found a way to make a bumpy ride useful. The energy released by the shock absorbers has so far just been in the form of heat. Now they have come up with a way to make the energy useful by converting it into electrical energy.

The science project hopes to power electrical devices inside the car or the truck using this electrical energy that the modified shock absorbers produce. The trucks and military vehicles which routinely travel over rough surfaces are likely to be prime candidates for this trial product. If it works the fuel used to power electronics in the car will be reduced drastically.

The new product developed is called GenShock. It is supposed to convert the kinetic energy into electrical energy without adversely affecting the ride in any way. The trouble is that GenShock is currently not much use on smooth roads and highways. It is the bumpy ride that generates the electrical energy.

Currently some Israeli and British experts are trying to find a solution to this problem. They are working on an experiment involving pressure sensitive crystals. While they continue to carry out their research perhaps you could come up with a science fair project using similar science principles. Who knows you might be the one to solve the problem of the non bumpy ride generating more electrical energy.

If you think that science fair projects can only be done in laboratories think again. Some of the most unconventional projects can be possible at locations such as traffic lights. In fact German zoologist Josef Reichholf, even managed to get a complete book out of this. It all began when he saw that crows would deliberately drop nuts at the traffic lights.

His curiosity had him examine the situation closer. That’s when he realized just how ingenious these crows were. The vehicles would pass over the nuts and crack them open. After the lights turned red again, the crows would swoop down and pick up the food. The cars were being used as a nut cracking service.

There have been other instances of the intelligence of crows and their relatives. This group of birds is called the corvids. The Jackdaw is a prime example. If you want the jackdaw to eat, just point a finger in the direction of the food and it will find it. Owners of Jackdaws have long maintained that these intelligent creatures are able to use human behavior to their advantage.

Research carried out by  a biologist Auguste von Bayern, even suggests that corvids may be able to read the message in human eyes  even better than a chimpanzee. So far chimpanzees were considered the best at deciphering what the human being was trying to communicate. However this new science experiment at Oxford University sure changes that view.  Here are a few tips on getting an interesting science fair project on the way.