Subject:
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Re: Ideas for a Science Fair Project
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Newsgroups:
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lugnet.robotics
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Date:
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Mon, 4 Jan 1999 15:49:41 GMT
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Viewed:
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4641 times
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GK,
Although we both know that your bean-plant example will get points off for
unoriginality, I wouldn't discount that type of experiment for a
seven-year-old's science fair experiment. A typical bright second grader --
and most adults -- will bring a lot of assumptions and shortcuts to Science
projects, and the bean-plant experiment (or something similar but more
original) is an excellent context to learn about limiting variables, having a
good testable hypothesis and all those other things that science is truly
about.
I have a bright second grader, and another bright _former_ second grader, and
we've had success and failure with SF projects. We did a Lego one a couple
years back -- "What kind of wall is strongest?" using walls of constant
dimensions but varying patterns, placed horizontally between two supports, with
weight added gradually until they break -- and did okay. One of our worst
(IMHO) projects was similar to your idea: Can you make pigment out of
plants? Whether you consider it good science or not, it didn't make it in our
local science-fair community because there was no good way to measure the
results and there were too many variables.
At least in our local setting, an experiment which measures a single physical
effect is the most likely to succeed as a competitive project and as learning
tool.
Best of luck.
Bruce
lego-robotics@crynwr.com (GK Khalsa) writes:
> My son's science fair is coming up, and was wondering if there
> might be any suggestions for a project using Mindstorms?
>
> Although my son is only 7, he is very bright and loves legos.
> Also, his school encourages parent participation in these
> projects to an embarrassing degree. So, rather that have him
> investigate whether bean plants grow better with or without
> sunlight, why not get involved in a slightly bigger project?
>
> So, could anyone suggest a good project? I'd like to put
> it into the scientific experiment framework, like "can a
> robot be programmed to make a bed" or some such thing.
> We can go outside the RCX if we have to. The more
> experimental, the better, I think.
>
> Thanks for any help.
> --
> GK Khalsa khalsa@objectrad.com
> Object Radiance, Inc. v: +1 909 699 8975
> Murrieta, CA USA f: +1 909 677 1478
> --
> Did you check the web site first?: http://www.crynwr.com/lego-robotics
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Message is in Reply To:
 | | Ideas for a Science Fair Project
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| My son's science fair is coming up, and was wondering if there might be any suggestions for a project using Mindstorms? Although my son is only 7, he is very bright and loves legos. Also, his school encourages parent participation in these projects (...) (28 years ago, 4-Jan-99, to lugnet.robotics)
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