Finding Inspiration for
Science Fair Topic Ideas

Finding inspiration for science fair topic ideas is important if you want your student to have a chance at placing in the science fair.

Science fairs are academic competitions that task students to create a scientific study and analyze and prepare the results.   Fortunately, science fair topic ideas are plentiful and even the simplest and most mundane of topics can yield excellent projects if the research is conducted in strict accordance with the scientific method and the data analysis is thorough and presented in a clear and concise manner. 

Remember that the goal is not to discover something new or make a world shattering invention--rather, the idea is to show that the student is capable of following a real research project all the way from inception to data presentation.

Science fair ideas that involve physics are often ideal since physics experiments are typically much easier to conduct than experiments in biology or chemistry.  Since there are typically fewer variables in a physics experiment than in other types of experiments, it is easier to prove or disprove the hypothesis, which is the goal of the project. 

For example, a simple physics experiment might involve dropping balls of various weights and seeing how quickly they hit the ground.  In this case, the variables are few:  ball weight, height, and time.  On the other hand, if the experiment involves plants or animals, then the variables are almost endless.  Maybe the rat was sick the day it ran the maze, maybe the bean plant that was used had a genetic mutation that made it grow more quickly or more slowly than average, etc.

The world of physics has a number of great science fair topic ideas.  Experiments that study the properties of magnets are very easy to implement and very interesting.  Magnets are ubiquitous yet most people understand very little about them.  Interesting science fair topic ideas include studying the strength of magnetic repulsion and attraction versus distance, studying whether magnetic force can permeate different materials (i.e. is it possible to shield or screen magnetic fields), and studies that attempt to determine the shape of the magnetic field.

No matter what science fair topic ideas you choose, the most important thing is to ensure that the student properly follows the scientific method.  Science fair judges are looking for demonstrable knowledge of scientific practices, not Nobel prize winning discoveries.