Stand out with your junior high school independent research! A collection of fun experiment and craft ideas
To all middle schoolers who want to wow teachers and friends with a “That’s awesome!” in your independent research project! There are tons of experiments in science and crafts that lead to surprising discoveries—even with simple materials.
Make a train run with copper wire and a battery, pop a balloon with an orange peel…
The real charm is getting to witness strange phenomena you’d never notice in everyday life with your own eyes.
Here, we’ll introduce fun experiments and crafts that can spark ideas for your project.
Whether you love science or not, you’re sure to find discoveries that make you go, “Aha!”
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Stand Out with Your Junior High School Independent Research! A Collection of Fun Experiment & Craft Ideas (141–150)
Wasei-Eigo (Japanese-made English)
Words that look like English but are used uniquely in Japan, such as “consento” (electrical outlet), “one-piece” (dress), and “cunning” (cheating), are called wasei-eigo, or Japanese-made English.
These days, katakana words are full of wasei-eigo.
It often turns out that the katakana words we casually use every day are actually wasei-eigo.
Simply collecting and compiling these terms could be considered highly practical research.
If you take it a step further and investigate the origins of the words, it will feel even more like proper research.
Jomon pottery making
Jomon pottery, which supported the lives of ancient people, might be something you only ever encounter in history class.
How about trying to see for yourself how such pottery was made, using your own hands? The process is simple—knead the clay, shape it into a vessel, and let it dry—so it’s easy to enjoy casually as well.
You can try faithfully recreating pieces by referring to textbooks and other sources, or you might have fun coming up with an original design.
If you manage to make something sturdy enough to actually use, it will make the experience even more rewarding.
If you cool a ping-pong ball to -196°C, it turns into a Beyblade.
You can actually recreate the Beyblades we used to play with using ping-pong balls! The method is simple: just put a ping-pong ball into liquid nitrogen at -196°C and warm it up! Why does the ping-pong ball end up spinning so fast like this? How about turning this super fun experiment into a science project?
Let’s try making old-fashioned food.
Dishes that are prepared using cooking methods unique to a specific region and widely passed down are called “local cuisine” or “regional dishes.” In our grandmothers’ generation, these dishes were commonly made as everyday side dishes.
However, due to the effort involved or changes in taste preferences, they are being made less and less.
To rediscover the value of these regional dishes—and to learn about their history—let’s cook and present them.
Continuing the history of our predecessors’ wisdom in this way is truly wonderful, isn’t it?
Making a planetarium
When you think of a planetarium that lets you experience a starry sky indoors, you might picture large-scale installations, but you can aim for high quality even with a DIY build.
The mechanism is simple: light passes through a cover with holes arranged like stars, projecting a starry sky around it.
To faithfully recreate a realistic night sky, using a commercially available kit may make the process easier.
If you go with the method of punching the holes yourself, it takes more effort to achieve realism, but the upside is that you can create your own original constellations.
It’s recommended to decide which direction you want your planetarium to take and enjoy it with a free, creative mindset.
Slime Mold Maze
I also recommend the slime mold maze, where you can enjoy a truly mysterious sight.
To start, slime molds are, simply put, single-celled organisms that can move and proliferate like animals.
They’re also known for being able to find the correct path when placed in a maze.
It’s fascinating that a single-celled organism can solve a maze, isn’t it? How about researching the mechanism behind that? Even just recording how it solves the maze can be plenty of fun.
You could also try another approach: make the maze as complex as possible and challenge the slime mold with it.
Aquatic Organism Survey
For those who live near the ocean or a river, an aquatic life survey is also recommended.
This involves investigating the creatures that live by the water.
Try looking into what kinds of organisms are there and whether there are differences between upstream and downstream areas.
You could also create and take home an aquarium display.
In the case of rivers, it’s a good idea to test the water quality as well.
Even using a simple test kit can reveal a lot.
It can be a good opportunity to think about environmental issues and the relationship between living organisms and water quality.