Third Grade Science Projects for Elementary Students
Third grade will be the first opportunity many of your students get to carry out science projects beyond a rudimentary level. Keep projects simple by focusing on a specific scientific discipline and providing plenty of explanation about the processes involved in the project. As your students are between 8 and 9 years old, you should consider completing and demonstrating experiments to students yourself, particularly if there is any hazardous material or equipment used.
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Biology
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One idea for a third-grade biology project that your class can carry out over the long term involves keeping a formicarium (ant farm) in the classroom. Buy an ant farm kit from a store and set it up in the classroom. Gather students as you populate the ant farm, which will have several visible areas so that students can watch different types of ants carrying out nesting processes, such as carrying food around. Instruct students to draw pictures of the ants at work -- the best way to achieve this is to leave some ant food (or small crumbs of bread) in the tank a few minutes before class is scheduled to start.
Chemistry
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Composing an educational but safe chemistry project for your third-graders often involves striking a balance between health and safety and educational merit. One project that is relatively safe gets students to make their own pH indicator solution using red cabbage and boiling water. Lead the class through this project, as you first blend red cabbage with boiling water. Leave this to set for 10 minutes before straining the solids away so you are left with a reddish liquid -- this is your indicator. Allow this to cool before getting students to dip pieces of blotting paper in the solution and test a range of substances for acidity or alkalinity. Provide students with vinegar and lemon juice, for example, and get them to observe the outcome of testing the blotting paper.
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Physics
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Making physics fun and accessible for the third grade presents a challenge. One simple project that will get students enjoying learning about levers and force requires a hammer, nail and a block of wood. Clamp the wood to a table so it can't move around, and tap a nail into the surface so it can stand up without being held. Now, ask a student to remove the nail from the wood -- he should succeed. Now, hammer the nail deep into the block. Ask the same student to try to pull the nail out with his hands -- he won't be able to do it. Then, hand him the hammer and show him how to lever out the nail using the opposite end of a hammer head.
Earth Science
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For this third-grade earth science project, gather the class around a table. Take an empty soda bottle and fill it to the brim with cold water. Get a student to chew some chewing gum for a minute until it goes soft, and cover the top of the bottle with the gum -- nothing will occur. Discard the chewing gum, empty the bottle and fill it with very hot water. Get another student to chew some gum and press it over the top of the bottle. Students will observe the gum slowly break apart by the hot water and rising steam. Get students to think about how the breakdown of the gum is similar to the effect of CFCs on earth's ozone layer.
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References
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