Science fair projects for 8th grade

What to expect

By 8th grade, judges expect the project to stand up on its own. That means a clear question, a hypothesis with a reason, a procedure someone else could follow, at least three trials per level, a mean and a graph, and a conclusion that talks about what could have gone wrong (the sources of error) and what to test next.

Eighth graders are past the volcano, so pick a project where the answer isn't obvious and the second variable makes it interesting. The pendulum with different weights, the rubber band with two bands, and paper airplanes with a nose clip all have a twist. Many middle school fairs feed into regional fairs that follow stricter rules, so check your school's sheet early.

Counted from the projects on this page: 23 about how things move, 13 about water, ice and mixing, 14 about growing and weather; 17 using kitchen things, 21 using paper, tape and toys, 12 using the outdoors and some seeds. 31 are free with what most houses have, and the rest cost about $1 or about $2 or about $3 or about $4. Testing takes from 1 to 21 days. 10 have a step a grown-up does, marked on the page.