In the 10th grade your scientific education really takes off. It is in this grade that you finally start to study more advanced topics and more specific science topics. This new science experience and freedom is great for preparing you for college. However, if you want to get into college today you really need to wow the admission board. One way to enhance your admission application is to win a science fair. Below you will find two sample 10th grade science projects that you can use as a guide for creating your own winning science fair projects.
Student Attendance vs. Student GPA
In this science project you will be exploring the possible relationship between student attendance and student GPA. For this project you will need about 30 volunteers who are willing to submit to you their attendance record and their GPA records. You will want to sample students from various grade levels.
HYPOTHESIS: Poor student attendance is directly linked to low GPA scores.
EXPERIMENT: To test this hypothesis you will need to compare each test subject’s attendance record to their GPA.
DATA: The data that you collect will be attendance records from the last two semesters and GPA scores from the last two semesters. The analysis of this data will be to first categorize the test subjects by GPA. You will then analyze each GPA by calculating its median, mode, mean and standard deviation. You will then try to find a relationship between GPAs and attendance.
Pond Biodiversity and Water Quality
In this project you will be exploring the realm of biology. This project is great for 10th graders who are enrolled in Biology I or Biology II. For this project you will need access to several ponds with varying degrees of water quality, a microscope, a journal and sample collection supplies.
HYPOTHESIS: The murkier the pond water is the lower its biodiversity will be.
EXPERIMENT: To test this hypothesis you will first need to collect water samples from several ponds with varying levels of water murkiness. You will also need to collect a sample of ground water via a hose or faucet to act as your control sample. Next you will observe each sample under a microscope. You will then describe what you see in terms of murkiness and biodiversity.
DATA: The data that you collect include observations about the murkiness of the water sample, a description of the location that the sample was taken from and a biotic count from the water. The analysis of your data will start by assigning each sample a murkiness rating between 0 and 5, with 0 being perfectly clear and 5 being fully saturated with particles. Next you will need to count the number of different species that you can find in the water and their populations. Finally you will look for a relationship between the murkiness of the water and the amount of biological entities in the water.
