High School Biology Science Fair Project Ideas
Biology science projects give high school students plenty of options as to what section of biology they want to focus on. They can do projects involving plants and botany, or animals and zoology. There are also science projects that deal with the psychological and physiological aspects of human nature. For high school students who can’t get enough of crime drama on television, there are forensic science projects.
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Botany
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High school students can learn about pH and plant growth at the same time by conducting a science experiment on how the soil’s pH affects plant growth. In this project, students learn about pH–the acidity or alkalinity of a substance–and how to increase the pH in soils. The students choose a plant and observes how different pH levels affect it by having that type of plant planted in different soils of varying acidity. The control plant will have the original soil and the others will be planted in the original soil plus varying amounts of lime. The more lime the higher the pH/acidity. The students then watch as the plants grow and they observe the variations between plants.
Zoology
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Rather than experimenting on a pet, high school students can learn about the animal world by doing a science project on bacteria. Bacteria can be found everywhere and reproduce easily, making them easy to work with. The students can grow bacteria in a petri dish containing agar–a gelatinous material that provides nutrients and a stable environment for the bacteria. They can get the bacteria by swabbing the inside of their mouths or skin and rubbing that swab in the agar in a zigzag pattern.
Bacteria colonies will form within days. The students can take this experiment further by testing the effectiveness of anti-bacterial substances with the bacteria they just grew. They can place squares of paper soaked in different types of anti-bacterial solutions and see which petri dishes had less bacteria. The one with the least amount has the most effective anti-bacterial solution.
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Human Anatomy
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Students can conduct a science project involving human anatomy by testing how different liquids affect human kidneys. In this simple experiment, they drink the same amount of various liquids and note the differences between frequency of urination and look of their urine. They can create various theories that some drinks cause dehydration (urine is more golden and darker) and some drinks hydrate and flush out the system, resulting in clear urine. They can consider drinking tap water, isotonic saline (sports drinks), coffee or other highly-caffeinated beverages, and comparing the results.
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