This article contains information on human body, health, and nutrition science projects. Keep reading to find human body, health, and nutrition science project ideas for 1st - 4th grade, 5th - 8th grade, and 9th - 12th grade students.
Science Projects: the Human Body, Health, and Nutrition
This group of science projects focuses on projects in the areas of the human body, health, and nutrition. Although Health may be treated as a separate subject in some curricula, the fact that the human body, nutrition, and medicine are included in science curricula gives us good reason to include them here. Of course, you can adapt them as you wish, not only curtailing them, extending them, adapting them to a different grade level, and modifying them to better suit your child, but also changing them to suit your curriculum. So if health is a separate subject in the schema you're following, don't worry - just shift this list into your health folder instead of your science folder.
1st, 2nd, 3rd, and 4th Grade
Tips: If you remind your students that you're available to assist them as required to complete these science projects, it will help them avoid frustration and keep the focus on science. They may need your help for record-keeping, for learning to use simple tools, and for keeping track of on-going data collection. Students this age may particularly like science projects with an edible aspect.
- Categorize a variety of foods by the food pyramid group(s) it fits in.
- Make yogurt.
- Make cheese.
- Check product ingredients lists. Look for: a) natural/artificial ingredients; b) chemicals; c) a surprising first ingredient.
- Categorize foods my storage requirements, including freezing, refrigerator, keeping covered, keeping in a cool dark place, time period in which it should be consumed.
- Make a poster showing the different approaches to making food safely storable.
- Write the history of frozen, canned, pickled, or dehydrated food.
- Describe 5 foods using all of your senses (think about how you can use hearing before you start).
- Do a blindfold taste test to see if people (including you) can tell the difference between regular, low-fat, and no-fat foods.
- Compare and contrast the appendages people have with the appendages animals have.
- Identify animals that have a backbone.
- Make a poster to illustrate the main organs of the body.
- Measure the left hands of 5 people who were born in the same year. What do you find?
- Describe what each of the major systems of the human body do.
- Explain why people have toes.
- What is the value of hand washing?
5th, 6th, 7th, and 8th Grade
Tips: Middle school students may especially appreciate research that helps them to understand the changes that their bodies are, or are about to, undergo. They may also be desirous of demonstrating their independence. Nevertheless, they may be glad of your accessibility should they need assistance with the more challenging projects. Drawing up a materials list and creating a plan before they jump in may help set them up for success.
- Compare calories, nutrients, and sugar content in your top 10 favorite beverages. Include water, if it didn't make your top-ten list.
- Do a blindfold test among friends or family to determine favorite among several different products. Compare taste-test results to nutritional quality.
- Make a chart of the latest guidelines for caught and store-bought and restaurant-served fish in your area.
- Read about the 5-second rule of food safety here: nytimes.com then test it yourself.
- Research genetically modified food. Have you ever eaten any? How do you know?
- Why do some fruits (e.g. tomatoes) have instructions to not refrigerate them.
- Research taste detection, including not only sweet, bitter, sour, and salty, but also umami. Find out the status of the tongue taste map. Test it yourself.
- Make a model of the human circulatory system.
- Find out the blood types of everyone in your family. Who could give blood to whom safely?
- Explain the process of digestion.
- Create a diorama to show aerobic and anaerobic exercise.
- Take a hearing test and a sight test. Assess whether someone could have a hearing or sight problem that the tests would not catch.
- What are the dangers of cleaning products that kill 99.9% of germs?
9th, 10th, 11th, and 12th Grade
Tips: These senior high school science projects are modifiable to meet the needs of AP (Advanced Placement) curriculum. In addition, you should feel free to adapt them to address different content, if your curriculum guides you in a different direction or should your student be interested. Periodic check-ins will assist in keeping long-term projects on-track.
- Analyze the differences between breast milk, cow's milk, and various types of baby formulas, either using articles or chemistry.
- Assess the use of irradiation in food.
- Analyze the national cases of food poisoning in the first decade of the twenty-first century and draw up a list of recommendations based on your analysis.
- Debate the pros and cons of genetically modified food.
- Research the value of vitamin and mineral supplements. Make recommendations to your family based on your discoveries.
- Explain the roles of calcium and magnesium in muscle function.
- Review the process of fetal development.
- Explain how and why different types of so-called “birth defects” can occur.
- Research how people who are both blind and deaf communicate.
- Explain the roles of Ignaz Semmelweis and Joseph Lister in the understanding of hygiene.
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