Science Experient Ideas for Science Beltloop?

[resqman]

My den is working on the Webelos science award. One of the requirements is to complete the science beltloop. One of the requiements of the beltlooop is to complete a science experiment and use the scientific method to document.

 

I was wondering if anyone had any ideas of possible scientific experiments I could offer as suggestions to my den members.

[Lisabob]

Resqman, we had a blast with this one. You could go in a hundred directions with it but here are a couple of experiments that my guys really enjoyed, that we did over the years:

 

Blowing up a balloon using vinegar and baking soda in a pop/water bottle (very cheap, very easy, potentially messy: discussion can follow of how chemical compounds form, combine, why the two mix to give off enough gas to blow up a balloon, etc.)

 

Viscosity experiments (take glasses of various clear liquids/thicknesses - shampoo, molasses, cooking oil, etc.. Drop a brightly colored item like a marble into each. Which one takes the longest to sink/which sinks the furthest and why? Can discuss viscosity, friction, etc. here)

 

Egg drop contests (construct a container for the raw egg out of various household materials - you can get as elaborate and well-planned, or as simple and on-the-spot as you want; see what works best to keep the egg from breaking; discussion of various physics concepts can follow)

 

Dirty penny experiment: does Coca Cola really clean up that nasty penny? What else works as well or better and why?

 

Baking "alternate" cookies or cakes, where you leave out a specific ingredient or make substitutions. Gets an interesting discussion going of kitchen chemistry and you can eat the results if they aren't too gross.

 

Making ooblek - discussion of how/why it forms a "perma-slime". THis is an easy/fun one but somewhat messy.

 

Here are a couple of links to places with a bunch of science experiments. Word of caution though, test drive these at home before trying at a den meeting. I never can get the one where the egg gets sucked into the bottle to work, for example!

 

Need some other ideas? Try talking to your son's science teacher or the local middle school science teachers or, if you have one, a teacher's supply/homeschool supply bookstore. I've always had good luck with that too.

 

http://www.fatlion.com/science/

 

http://www.sandlotscience.com/ (I liked their optical illusion stuff for the webelos science badge too)

 

http://www.sciencespot.net/Pages/sciclub.html (a wealth of good ideas if you dig around a little bit)

 

The egg drop and the vinegar & baking soda were probably the group favorites. Have fun with it!

 

Lisa'bob

[SWScouter]

Hi Resqman,

 

When my den worked on this, we shot rubber bands at various angles and measured the distance traveled. I made a simple apparatus that they used to perform the experiment with.

 

I really tried to have them follow the scientific method so they came up with a hypothesis (what angle would shoot the farthest) and shot the same rubber band three times at each angle and took measurements. We averaged the distance for each angle and came up with a result that either proved or disproved the hypotheses that they came up with.

 

There was some gotchas with the experiment so they had to adjust the method a bit and start over. I think it worked out well.

 

Have fun with this,

SWScouter

[ManassasEagle]

In our Webelos den, as part of the Engineer Activity Badge, we build trebuchet catapults. Later, my son used his catapult for his school science project. He used several different amounts of counterweight and measured how far each would fling the payload (marshmallow). Full scientific method and presentation at the school science fair.

 

We also built and shot off Estes model rockets for the Scientist Activity Badge and he's going to use his rocket along with different size parachutes and measure the time of descent for his science project this year.

 

[clydesdale115]

For a campout with TREES theme, we held an experiment about which roll of paper towel would be the most absorbent, the el cheapo, the mid-priced, or the "ultra" absorbent brand. The boys divided into ranks, made their predictions (hypotheses) and conducted the experiment. It was interesting to see how the different groups conducted the experiment. One group stood the whole roll of paper towel up in the water pan, while another tore off sheets and then rung them out to see how much they absorbed. Each grouped timed how long they kept the paper towel in the water. Very interesting to watch it happen! We had Tigers - Webelos and it was appropriate for all ranks.

clydesdale115

[JerseyJohn]

The oobject lessonis to learn the scientific method.....SO

 

Have them apply the scientific method to the following scenario

 

They flip a light switch in the room and the light ddoesn't go on?

 

Using the scientific method, determine why it is not working....

 

1. Is the electricity on in the house?

2. IS the lamp on?

3. Is the bulb blown

4. etc,etc,etc

 

Or make it a toaster, video game, or other