Grades 4 - 8

Eastern Newfoundland Science Fairs Council (Grades 4-6)
Canada's Eastern Newfoundland Science Fairs Council produces this extensive list of Elementary Project ideas for students in grades 4-6. This is only a list of project titles, so it is useful in narrowing down a student's area of interest, but it doesn't give much more information than what to call the experiment. Scroll down to the bottom of the page for Experimental Projects where a bit more of an idea is presented in certain categories. This may be a good site for parent and child to discover together.

Science Fair Central
A wonderful starting places for grades 5-8. Science Fair Central includes sections to help teachers and parents. Children will like the colorful graphics and easy-to-use links. A long list of project ideas will get them thinking, and the Soup to Nuts Handbook clearly explains the whys and hows of creating a science fair project. Janice Van Cleave, author of many science fair project books and aids for kids, has her own page that offers hints from her handbook, valuable help in the form of FAQs (enter a search word to bring up a list of kids' questions she has answered), and a sampling of project tips from five different areas of science. This site should be on every Favorites list.

Successful Science Fair Projects
While not a list of experiment ideas, this site is a great place for kids to read about and understand what makes a good project and what doesn't. Each section of a project is clearly yet simply explained, eliminating the fuzzy "Huh?" questions that arise when a student doesn't understand the difference between a hypothesis and a conclusion. Tips for a good display are also included.

Your Science Fair Project Resource Guide
As usual, the Internet Public Library comes through with a great page. An introduction breaks the problem of doing a project down into parts. Separate pages dealing with each subject provide annotated links to many other sites. This is appropriate for all grade levels. Great for surfers, but site does not control content.

Eastern Newfoundland Science Fairs Council
For Grades 7-9. Intermediate Projects (grades 7-9) on Canada's Eastern Newfoundland Science Fairs Council lists project ideas for students in middle grades. This is only a list of project titles. There are a few Experimental Projects at the bottom of the page where a bit more of an idea is presented in certain categories.

Grades 9 - 12
Eastern Newfoundland Science Fairs Council
For Grades 10-12. Canada's Eastern Newfoundland Science Fairs Council lists project ideas for students in middle grades. This is only a list of project titles. There are a few Experimental Projects at the bottom of the page where a bit more of an idea is presented in certain categories.

The National Student Research Center
There is nothing very visually appealing about this site, yet it contains many, many student reports of successful experiments. The main page is merely a long index of nine volumes of collected reports (1993-2001). The searcher will need to weed through a volume of plain text to find the right experiment, but it may well be worth the search. The beginning of each report states the student's grade, so that will help. Grades 1-12 are represented here with corresponding degrees of difficulty. The appeal of this site is that all the reports detail the entire experiment, along with their conclusions, written according to the scientific method. Older students may find this more helpful, as younger kids may lack the patience to sift through all the text.

The Ultimate Science Fair Resource
Geared toward middle and high school students, this site is maintained by Dr. John W. Gudenas, a multi-degreed academic who enjoys helping kids with science fair projects. Scroll down the page a bit and click on The Idea Bank to bring up a list of suggested ideas -- not instructions on how to do the experiments but a springboard to further creative thinking. Below that is a link to The Idea Board, a place well worth a look where students post projects that worked well for them. This, in particular, is inspirational for the project-impaired. Also Dr. John's clearly written how-to section includes articles on the proper way to set up any project, hints for success, how to write the final report and, most important for all students, a step-by-step explanation of the scientific method.