Category Archives: School

Middle School Science Fair Projects Made Fun and Easy

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Middle school science fair projects are a transition phase for students, neither too elementary nor too high school level. However, just because it is your transition stage does not mean that you have to be ambivalent about your middle school science experiments, far from it. Instead, you should show off your accumulated knowledge and passionate interest in science by adopting any of the following projects. Just remember that before you choose one, you should have assessed in which field of science you are most interested in. This way, you will be more motivated to do your research, conceptualize your project and then accomplish your vision.

Renewable Energy

One of the hottest topics for middle school science fair projects today is renewable energy in the form of solar power and wind turbines. You can tap into this interest by constructing a model of how solar panels and/or wind turbines work to provide energy and electricity to home and industries. This is probably one of the easiest and yet most eye-catching middle school science fair projects for many reasons. For one thing, you can purchase ready-made, easy-to-assemble and easy-on-the-pocket kits for solar energy and wind power science projects. For another thing, you can make it as eye-catching as possible with the addition of houses and buildings complete with lights.

Hydrogen Fuel Cell Car

You may also purchase a ready-made kit for the hydrogen fuel cell car, which provides for 30 distinct experiments. You will be able to demonstrate the workings and benefits of the energy-efficient car, which is one of the more notable inventions technologies of the century. Among the experiments contained in the kit are the uses of solar power for vehicle power, the utilization of fuel cell to separate the oxygen and hydrogen atoms in water, and demonstration of electrolysis. Well, of course, you can always make your own experiments just so your middle school science fair projects stand out from the rest of the competition.

Magnetic Levitation Train

Now this is one science fair project that is absolutely possible! You will, of course, need to do your research about the principle behind the magnetic levitation train, purchase the necessary materials like ceramic magnets for the lifter-rails, wood for the guide rails and model cars, and then execute your drawings and plans. You can then perform experiments with the completed Maglev train set such as using gravity to push the car forward and using the car itself to move something along its path. You can be very creative, maybe even perform quantitative and qualitative analysis of your experiments.

Resurrecting the Dead

Fishes, that is. You are basically recreating the technology of cryonics where dead fishes are placed in a state of suspended animation, which is used in Japan to preserve the freshness of the day’s catch. As part of your middle school science fair projects, you can follow the example of two brothers who supposedly resurrected a dead goldfish by using Mountain Dew, water and a 9-volt battery. Of course, you have to do it on a trial and error basis but that’s where the fun of discovery lies. However, conduct your research before you go about killing all the goldfishes in your home’s aquarium.

With these ideas for middle school science fair projects, you will definitely get the attention of the judges and do yourself, your parents and your teachers proud.

Teenagers With Autism Transitioning to High School

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Thoughts of Springtime bring different images to mind, rain showers replacing snow, flowers, new growth on trees, baby animals, etc. If you are a parent with a child living on the Autism Spectrum Springtime also brings up other images. The school year is ending, if it has been a “good” year, you might be sad to see the year end. If it has been a “bad” year, you are happy to have survived. But whether or not the school year has been “good” or “bad” one thing is certain, change will quickly be upon you and your family. The end of this school year means that in a few short months the next school year will begin. How do you prepare your teenager for that? Helping your teen prepare for a new teacher and a new grade can be challenging, but some transitions are more complicated than others. The years that require moving to new schools seem to be the most overwhelming. Thoughts of moving from elementary school to middle school, middle school to high school and high school to college brings terror to many parents. And those of us who have been through it know what it does to our kids.

We haven’t done the high school to college transition yet, but I remember clearly the transition from middle school to high school. It was “relatively” smooth. Planning started early in 8th grade. We were fortunate in that the high school was right next door to the middle school so for the last semester of 8th grade my teen was able to “work” in the high school library as an aide during his free period. This allowed him to become familiar with the school, the people and routine. It also got him use to going into the building. Having more say in the classes he took in high school was another positive thing for him. He carefully studied the list of offerings and made his selections (he actually figured out his plan for all four years, before his first day of 9th grade). There were some glitches. Some adjustments had to be made after school started. But it was clearly a much smoother start then middle school. Things that stand out that really help:

He had a case manager that he met at the end of 8th grade. His case manager talked to him about his goals and the courses he would need to meet these goals.

He was familiar with the layout of the school. He had one place, the library, where he felt really comfortable.

Before school started we took his schedule and walked around the building, located all his classes, found his locker, and worked the combination.

We arrived at school early each day so he could avoid the mass confusion at the lockers right before the bell rang.

Once school started his case manager checked in with him frequently to make sure things were going well. This was his go to person for questions/problems. This was not a long and involved meeting, usually they spoke briefly in the halls between classes.

The locker area was crowded, my son’s assigned locker was in the middle of a row and thus he did not use his locker at school. But he was allowed to have two sets of books, one set at home, and the others kept in various classrooms, thus sparing him the necessity of going to his locker between classes.

Lunch was another issue with crowds and noise. Finding a relatively quiet place to eat was a priority, but not an impossible task. Lunch time clubs have allowed for peer interaction but in a less crowded forum.

No two teenagers are alike, and what works well for one might not work for another, but we have found that by collecting ideas that have worked for others, we come up with ideas we have not thought of and some of these ideas turn out to be very successful. These are some of the things that worked well for us and we hope we have given you an idea or two that you had not thought of before.