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1st Grade Science Project Ideas

March 24, 2008 | Hits for this post:489 |

First grade is usually the time when teachers begin to introduce the scientific process to students, preparing them for future years of education in the sciences. With the introduction of the scientific process, students are then told to use this knowledge and compose science fair projects. While science projects for 1st grade do seem early, I have prepared some 1st grade science project ideas.

First every science project begins with a TITLE. Tell your first grader that everything should have a name and therefore the science fair project should have a name as well.

The next requirement for science fair projects in the first grade is a PURPOSE. Why are we doing this experiment? This should be quite an easy requirement to satisfy as first graders are naturally curious about the world. First graders ask many questions and one of these questions could be the purpose.

Then we have the HYPOTHESIS. What do you think will happen when you perform the experiment? Just tell your first grader to guess. It doesn’t matter if he/she is right.

Next, we have MATERIALS and PROCEDURE. This is a list of steps of the experiment and the materials required to perform the exhibit. It should be the easiest section to complete.

Finally we have RESULTS and CONCLUSION. Results document what happened during the experiment. They can include charts, photographs or the remainder of the experiments. The conclusion is a few sentences on what the first grader found out from doing the experiment. Was the hypothesis correct? What really happened when the experiment was performed?

Some simple 1st grade science project ideas:

  1. Young kids love magnets. So why not do an experiment testing different object’s attraction to magnets?
  2. How about plants? Kids love growing their own plants. See what effects plant growth. Maybe place one plant inside a cupboard and another plant in the sunlight. Monitor the responses. Make sure the plant inside the cupboard stays alive!
  3. Static Electricity: First graders are always amazed by static electricity. It shocks them when they are taking some heavy clothing off in the winter and also makes they hair stand up. Take a balloon and rub it against different materials and see if static electricity is produced. A fun activity is to hold the charged balloon near hair and observe if the hair stands up. Rub the balloon against different materials and see which materials produce static electricity.

Science fair projects for first grade may seem like a big task for such a grade level, but they are actually quite easy and fun to do!

Visit John’s site at http://sciencefairprojectidea.blogspot.com for more on 1st grade science project ideas and other tips for science projects for 1st grade.

John Liu is currently studying at Cornell University.

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