What are good ideas for a sixth grade science fair?

Answer 1

you could use the question: how does earth worms affect plant growth, or how a volcano affects the earth after it erupts that's only if you are that kind of person who likes explosive things
Hermit Crabs

Answer 2

I will recommend a project I did with my daughter when she was in grade 5: the assay of Vitamin C in citrus fruit.

This is an excellent project because it is of potential use, even for scientifically-oriented consumers. It also makes use of easily obtained materials and tools -- all available from Ebay at reasonable cost, from multiple sellers. The total investment should be less than $40 USD, with the equipment and plenty of materials left over for future chemistry projects.


The project makes use of crystalline ("metallic") iodine, which is an exceedingly interesting material for the chemistry beginner (or even the adult guide!). A worthwhile detour, while carrying out this project, is to demonstrate the sublimation of iodine, which produces the most beautiful purple smoke! This must be done outside, though, taking care to ensure nobody actually breathes the iodine vapor (which is rather nasty, like chlorine).


The project-in-chief is the titration of vitamin c-containing fruit juice(s) (or what have you) with iodine/potassium iodide solution, to produce a color change. By measuring the amount of iodine used with a burette, the amount and concentration of vitamin C in the analysate can be determined with the simplest algebra (within the standard 5th-6th grade curricula, in California public schools).


When I did this project with my daughter, we compared unripe citrus with ripe citrus. Can you guess which had more vitamin C?


I won't reproduce the instructions for the project here, as these can be found easily on the internet (try googling "ascorbic acid iodine titration") Enjoy!

Answer 3

When I was in school my father and I did a volcano together. We made paper mache and formed it into the desired shape and rigged it to explode and erupt. I always remember this time with him and it makes great memories.