Old Wives Tales often have ”grains” of truth to them, and can turn into a really interesting science fair project.
I read this cool story about a girl in Canada who took an old wives tale story that hat been passed down from her grandmother over the years and turned it into n informative and interesting science fair project, and not only that it ended up being an award winning science fair project to boot.
Here is how it went, the family are farmers in Canada wheat is a major crop. So the grandmother kept telling her family that using magnets with seeds would increase the germination time which would end up increasing the crop yield, since they would start growing sooner. No one knew for sure if it was true, it was a story that had been told in the family for years. The daughter did not keep up with the farming side of things and so the grandaughter only knew the story from the stories.
So the granddaughter and her friend get together and decide to create an entire science fair project around this story that the grandmother swears she and her husband experimented with back in the day. It had all the makings for a super project.
What they did was gather 50 seeds from seven different varieties like golden wheat, niger, barley, etc.
Then they split the seeds with each variety having two groups, magnetized and not. From there is was a matter of putting the seeds on a paper plates covered by a paper towel. One group they used water to dampen the paper town to get germination started and the other they just ran a magnet over the seeds. In this experiment, the magnetized seeds showed shoots sprouting from the seeds in just three days.
Is this an interesting science fair project or what? And on top of that is is based on sound science. There is a with a clear question, and prediction. There was only one variable, the magnet, and it would be easy to observe and record the data! Conclusions would be easy to come up with as germinating seeds are something you can see, right in front of you.
Just think of all the old wives tales out there that could be turned into some fast and easy science fair projects! Lot of them are based on trial an error experience,
- Does the full moon really affect the planting cycle?
- Does it really turn out better is seeds are planted in the morning?
- Do adding stones to a planter improve drainage?
- Is tea a good fertilizer for potted plants?
- Do coffe grounds keep slugs out of your compost?
- Do you really have to snort honey to get read of allergies?
It does not matter if you prove it right or wrong, an old wives tale can make your experiment fun. You will probably be surprised at how many of those old wives tales hold some truth to them!
This girl’s grandfather was so impressed with everyday use of magnetic fields that his bed was always turned so his head faced the magnetic north and he lived to be 99 years old. I wonder if anyone would do a long term science experiment on that idea! You can read the complete article on this award winning, interesting science fair project here.
The point is of course that you look to the world around you and ask questions about “Why this or why that,” and then it turn into, “I wonder if this or that will make a difference?” This is the seed for some ov the best science fair projects you see.
Here is a great source of quick, easy, yet interesting science fair projects that have been kid tested and teacher approved that can be completed in one weekend. Some have ended up being award winning science fair project to boot.
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