Science fair projects provide students with critical opportunities to learn science in a hands-on manner and connect it to real life. In addition, they provide most students’ first introduction to experimentation and the scientific method. Help your students further develop their understanding of biology by guiding them towards projects in line with their interests and abilities.

Fish Science Fair Ideas

High School Biology Science Fair Project Ideas

Cotyledons and Embryonic Development

Have your students determine how much of the cotyledon, the portion of a seed that develops into the embryo’s first leaf, is necessary for germination to occur. Teach students, using a seed anatomy guide, how to identify the cotyledon. Students can then soak four groups of four beans overnight, in distilled water. The following day, they should remove portions of the cotyledon from three of the groups. They should remove 1/4 of the cotyledon from the first group, 1/2 of the cotyledon from the second group, and 3/4 of the cotyledon from the third group. They should leave the cotyledon of the fourth group intact. Have students cover the beans in a damp paper towel, wrap the towel with foil, and check on the beans periodically over the course of 48 hours. Ask them to report on the effect, if any, that cotyledon removal has on germination.

The Effect of Disinfectant on Bacteria

Grow laboratory strains of E. coli in several petri dishes, in an incubator. Leave one dish of E. coli untreated, so that it can serve as a control. Treat the other dishes of E.coli with common household disinfectants, by adding a small quantity of disinfectant to the media of each dish. Observe any differences in the growth of E.coli cells, on a daily basis over three days. On the fourth day, treat dishes with methylene blue, which stains the membranes of dead cells blue. In this way, determine which cell plate incurred the most cell death.

Distractions and Productivity

Biology encompasses not only physical processes in nature and humans, but also mental processes. Study the effect of distractions on the quality of students’ work. Students can devise a short, ten-question test based on logic and compare the test performance of three groups of subjects. The first group should be distracted (by blaring music or a TV) throughout the test. The second group should incur a short, two-minute distraction in the middle of the test. The third group should take the test in a quiet environment. All groups should be given the same amount of time to take the test. Have students report on trends in test performance, and account for any experimental outliers.

Nanoparticles in Cells

An extremely hot area in biotechnology concerns single-cell magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), the process whereby researchers get cells to phagocytose (literally, eat) nano- and micron-sized magnetic particles. When solutions containing these cells are visualized using magnetic resonance imaging, we can view the individual cells. A current challenge in this area lies in determining which cells will take up these particles. Order nano- or micron-sized particles from a science supply company for your students’ experiment. Have students take a swab of their own cheek cells, grow them in two petri dishes, and add the magnetic particles to one of the dishes. They can view cells under a microscope to determine if cells indeed took up the particles. Furthermore, after a week, they should compare the vitality (percentage of live cells) between the two dishes, to determine whether particles have adverse effects on cheek cells’ ability to thrive.

Tags: group cotyledon from, magnetic resonance imaging, Science Fair Project