Recommended for middle school students! A collection of quick science project ideas you can do in a short time.
Are you struggling to choose a topic for your middle school independent research project? In fact, with a small twist, you can easily do interesting experiments using everyday items like smartphones, mouthwash, and even bread! In this article, we’ll share tips for independent research—from original ideas to classic experiments—that will make everyone say “Wow!” All of these experiments let you experience the wonders of science, such as programming and chromatography.
Through your summer vacation project, you’re sure to make exciting new discoveries!
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Recommended for middle schoolers! A collection of quick science project ideas (81–90)
Heron’s fountain
Heron’s fountain, which produces water without using any external power, is a popular topic for independent research projects.
It’s also appealing because you can make it with just plastic bottles and straws.
Before starting the experiment, let’s build a Heron’s fountain.
It’s easy to make by stacking plastic bottles vertically and connecting them with straws.
However, since the process involves drilling holes and gluing with a hot glue gun, be sure to work with an adult for those steps.
Once it’s built, add water and check that it actually functions as a fountain.
Water pressure is involved in why it becomes a fountain, so be sure to look into that as well.
Making a tourist map
How about creating a tourist map of your own town? Using information from the city hall and the tourism association as references, go out and explore to discover what makes your town special.
You might stumble upon some unexpected finds.
You could even publish it on the internet.
Observation of stray cats
A must-see for cat lovers! There are probably stray cats near you as well.
But you might not know what kind of lives they lead, right? So try observing how the stray cats live.
Just be careful—narrow alleys and high places can be dangerous.
Boosting bass using a balloon
Instruments with hollow bodies, like acoustic guitars and snare drums, produce sound with their strings or drumheads, and the sound becomes louder as it resonates and bounces around inside the hollow box.
Using that principle, let’s make a simple smartphone speaker with a balloon! A toilet paper roll is perfect because it’s hollow.
And above all, the king of hollows—the balloon—matches this experiment wonderfully! We’ll make the speaker—the sound outlet—in the shape of a trumpet using a cup.
By creating this setup, the sound from your smartphone’s external speaker becomes dramatically louder.
Give it a try!
Making a cajón
How about making a cajón, a percussion instrument that produces different sounds depending on where you hit it? You can build one with wooden panels and a part called a snare (snappy).
Once you have the materials, it can be finished in less than half a day.
The tone changes depending on the size of the sound hole you make on the side and the position of the snare.
You can buy snares in the percussion section of a music store, but you can also substitute small bells.
If you use bells, you can even get them at a 100-yen shop.
Casein plastic
You can actually make plastic from a drink that’s close to all of us: milk.
If you add vinegar to boiled milk and mix, you’ll get a white, clumpy substance.
This is casein, a protein that serves as the base for plastic.
Remove the moisture from the casein, press it into a mold, and heat it in a microwave for one-minute intervals several times until it hardens.
In recent years, the issue of plastic waste has gained attention, and many of us are thinking about how we can reduce it.
This experiment could be a wonderful independent research project that points toward a future rich in nature.
Recommended for junior high school students! A collection of quick independent research project ideas (91–100)
How to make a seismometer
Why not try making a seismograph using everyday materials? The word “seismograph” might sound difficult, but it’s actually easy to build.
A seismograph mainly consists of two parts: a pendulum that serves as a fixed point and a recording mechanism.
For the pendulum, fill a cup with clay, insert a bamboo skewer as the axis, and hang it from a support made of disposable chopsticks using a hook and thread.
The recording part can be made from a toilet paper roll with a bolt through it and a ballpoint pen.
The base of the device can be anything, so try to find a wooden box that can hold the setup.