Try the Google Idea Springboard
What do you like? What do you have access too? What interests you? Is there a meaningful question you can answer or problem you can solve?
Below is a list of possible experimental "subjects" that I came up with.
Your experimental subject could be a plant:
- do you have enough existing plants to have 5 per group?
- can you plot off sections of your grass?
- leafing of trees
- purchase many small plants
- plant from seeds
- look at germination rates or successes
- a pet (a measurable behavior)
- crickets are 12 for a buck
- feeder goldfish
- brine shrimp (purchased as food for salt water tanks.)
- athletic performance
- senses
- other measurable variables?
- in the past students have tested hair and nail growth and strength
- stay away from preference surveys and psychology or sociology experiments!
- Osmosis
- DNA extraction
- ripening rates
- browning
- rates of decay, molding
- enzymes (meat tenderizers, proteases in pineapple, enzymes in saliva, enzymes that break down hydrogen peroxide etc)
- yeast
- bacterial growth, observed under microscope
- observed with spectrometer
- using petri-dishes and counting colonies (you would need to purchase these or utilize a local lab)
- leaf bags left in streams...evaluate insect populations
- lichen location on rocks and trees, Link to lichen project information
- weed surveys
- effectiveness of re-seeding efforts
- wild bird feeding preferences or observations (make sure you have a control survey and a test survey)
- Is there a claim you want to test dealing with a biological system?
- 5 second rule? Fruit fresh?
- Do you know someone who has access to a lab and equipment at ISU or the hospital?
- Are you willing to call someone you don't know? (See me, I can give you some ideas and get you started.)
- At Poky we have spectrometers, CO2 detector, Soil test kits and other supplies. Just ask.
