Science Fair Project Help

[Jazzy]

My 8th grader is working on an idea for a science fair project. This is something I am truly terrible at and have never enjoyed. She is excited and looking forward to it, so I'm trying to figure out how to help her.

 

She came up with the idea to do a project on batteries. She has been studying how batteries work and all of the components of them, and she says she wants to buy a bunch of batteries and test them to see which is better. I don't see how this will work because aren't all commercial batteries made in pretty much the same way?

 

How do I guide her into turning this into a real project?

 

I was thinking maybe she could experiment with different ways of making her own batteries, but I don't even know if this is a good idea.

 

Any tips or advice?

Edited September 26, 2017 by Jazzy

[MerryAtHope]

I think you should let her test out batteries and see what she finds. Is her hypothesis (that some will last longer than others) correct? 

 

(FWIW, Consumer Reports says that some ARE better than others--so hopefully she would find a pattern. I would have her test several batteries from each brand to see if she notices an overall trend. She might try to research about each one to see if she can discover whether there are differences in how they are made that account for why some last longer than others.)

 

I LOVE the idea of her also building her own battery. 

[City Mouse]

Science buddies.org used to be a great site for science project idea. I haven't used it in many years, but maybe it will have some ideas with batteries.

[Jazzy]

Okay, I'll let her stick with her idea, then. Thank you for the feedback. This is WAY outside of my comfort zone so I have no clue what I'm doing!

[Farrar]

I just wanted to second that I think her idea sounds great. Science fairs are supposed to be about the scientific method where you make a hypothesis and test it. Some of the things that we think of as stereotypical "science fair" projects, like building a model of a baking soda and vinegar volcano, don't actually fulfill that goal very well. Her project - assuming she has a hypothesis about which batteries will be best and why, then it'll be great. There's a lot of room to test them in different ways. There's a lot of data keeping for the project. It really does seem like a good concept.

 

If she builds her own battery, I think that would be neat too and would definitely extend her learning. But it also shouldn't be necessary for it to be "enough" of a project or a "real" project.

[Jazzy]

So for her hypothesis would she state which battery she thinks will perform better AND why? Or does she save the why for her conclusion?

 

I'm glad her project idea sounds good. I guess this is an area where I can learn alongside her.

[Alessandra]

It might also be interesting to see if battery life depends on how they are stored. Cool, dry places are preferred. Why? Just thinking aloud, do batteries have expiration dates or codes as to when they were made?

 

Regentrude may have some good ideas (she teaches physics).

[Farrar]

Yes, in general I think you want to have a sense of the why of what you're predicting in the hypothesis and not just pull one out of a hat, though it's okay if the hypothesis is incorrect. If you pick a project off a site like Sciencebuddies or from a book, it'll often guide you by saying what the generally expected outcome is. In this case, she might do some research about different battery brands and predict that the ones that did well on tests by others will do better for her. Or, like Alessandra suggested, she could predict the ones stored in the fridge would last longer. Or that the more expensive ones would last longer. Or maybe some advertise a different method or are made differently.

 

Science fair projects are sort of like Mythbusters. They're for letting kids play around with ideas and follow the scientific method. The best ones will be a bit showy and will involve some research and maybe even make things like the battery that you suggested - that would be a really good different project, I think... but they're not like being in a lab doing science or being in a classroom or anything. The goals are different from classroom science. It's more like a chance to be hands on for kids and go through the process themselves in a small way.

 

IIRC, Regentrude doesn't think hands on science before proper labs in high school is a necessary thing, so I'm not sure what her take on science fairs would be. I'm sure some focused science types don't like them because they don't necessarily contribute to advancing a student through the specific body of knowledge of any science that they need to actually enter a scientific field. They're really as much about science enthusiasm, understanding the basics of what science is as a process, and a great deal about organization skills and carrying out a project. Some kids take it further and really do real research, of course. But a lot of science fair projects are chosen from a book and done in a pretty canned way. I think it's one of those things that takes a good teacher or a motivated student to be really worthwhile a lot of the time.

[Jazzy]

This is really helpful. Thank you!

[Alessandra]

Thinking out loud some more. Is the project about regular alkaline cell batteries? What about those flat button batteries, the sort that cameras use? Rechargeable batteries? Solar cells, are they related? (Please excuse my ignorance.) And why couldn't the engineers at Samsung make a battery that didn't combust spontaneously!

 

I think your dd will have a great project! It's making me want to go off and read about batteries, lol.

 

ETA

What about environmental concerns with battery disposal? Iirc, battery disposal could be a problem with solar collectors, as they age.

Edited September 28, 2017 by Alessandra