Middle School Science Fair Project Help

Although I have a list of middle school science fair project ideas, I realize it can be really hard for students (and their parents) to design an experiment. I got an email about one of the project ideas earlier this week. The topic was "Does Light Effect the Rate at Which Food Spoils?" The problem was figuring out a way to examine the topic. I wrote back the following ideas:

• Compare how quickly bread molds in the light compared with the dark. If your house has low humidity, I'd probably put bread into sealed ziploc bags for this, since bread that is left out in a dry place will just harden.

• Compare how long it takes milk to get 'chunky' in the light as compared with the dark, at the same temperature.

• You could compare the rate at which foods discolor, though that is sort of subjective. Do apples brown at the same rate in light compared with dark? Does meat discolor in the same time?

The student can brainstorm to try to come up with other ways you can tell that food has spoiled. When you stop to think about it, I think some foods stay fresh longer when they are exposed to light, while others benefit from being kept in the dark.

If you find yourself getting stuck figuring out an experiment for a project, let me know. The quickest way to get project help is probably to post a question to the forum. There is a new section in the forum devoted entirely to science fair project ideas and help.