15 Science Projects for Middle School Students

If you are in middle school and want to understand how science works in real life, doing a science project is one good way to start. A science project helps you take what you study in class and test it through your own experiment or small research idea. You can choose topics like energy, plants, weather, or materials, and try to answer a question by testing or observing something yourself.

Starting a project now gives you more time to build on your ideas before high school. You can improve your project each year, collect better data, and learn how to explain your results more clearly. This helps you improve at research and understand how scientists work step by step.

What are projects for middle school students?

Science projects for middle school students are short research tasks or experiments that explore one clear question. You first choose a topic, form a hypothesis, and test it by doing an experiment or collecting data. For example, you might test how light affects plant growth or which materials hold heat for a longer time.

You record your results, look at what the data shows, and write a short explanation of what you found. The goal is to understand how to ask a question, collect information, and find an answer based on evidence.

Why should I do a project in middle school?

Doing a science project in middle school helps you practice research and problem-solving early. You learn how to plan your work, organize your data, and explain what your results mean. It also helps you prepare for bigger research opportunities or science fairs when you reach high school.

It also gives you time to work on something that can grow. A project you begin now can evolve over the years into a more advanced study or even a competition entry. Starting early helps you understand how research works before things become more demanding in high school.

To help you get started, here’s a list of 15 science projects for middle school students.

15 Science Projects for Middle School Students 

1. Cabbage pH Indicator for Household Substances

You can prepare a pH indicator from red cabbage to test the acidity or alkalinity of everyday liquids such as vinegar, soda, or soap water. The liquid changes color depending on each substance’s pH level. You can record these colors and compare them with a standard pH chart to learn how indicators work and how accurate your results are.

Materials Required: red cabbage, blender, coffee filter or paper towel, clear cups, household liquids

Suitable for: Beginners to intermediate

2. Build a Solar Oven to Test Cooking Efficiency

This project is about designing a solar oven using foil, cardboard, and a plastic or glass cover, then testing how well it cooks food under different setups. You can experiment with insulation materials, oven angle, and sunlight exposure to find the most efficient configuration. This project helps you explore renewable energy and basic thermodynamics.

Materials Required: cardboard boxes, aluminum foil, plastic wrap or glass sheet, black paper, thermometer, food items (like marshmallows or chocolate)

Suitable for: Intermediate, ideal if you’re familiar with heat transfer or experimental design

3. Water Bottle Rocket: Effect of Water Level or Air Pressure

In this science project, you’ll create a water rocket using a plastic bottle and air pressure, then test how the amount of water or pressure affects its flight. By measuring distance or height, you can calculate optimal launch conditions. This is a fun introduction to physics and motion experiments.

Materials Required: 1 or 2 L plastic bottles, water, bike pump with pressure gauge, fins, tape

Suitable for: Intermediate to advanced

4. DIY Lung Model: Investigating Breathing Mechanics

You can build a working lung model with balloons and bottles to see how breathing really works. By adjusting the tube width or adding weights, you can explore how resistance affects airflow and lung capacity. It’s a simple yet effective way to visualize human physiology.

Materials Required: plastic bottles, balloons, straws or tubing, rubber bands

Suitable for: Beginner to intermediate, great for biology and anatomy exploration

5. Exploring the Impact of Acid Rain on Plant Growth

You can simulate acid rain by watering plants with solutions of different pH and observing how they grow over time. By comparing leaf color, height, and health, you’ll learn how pollution affects ecosystems. This project builds both environmental awareness and analytical observation skills.

Materials Required: Plants, soil, pH test kit or vinegar/baking soda, water, light source

Suitable for: Intermediate 

6. Crushed Can Experiment

This is an atmospheric pressure experiment where you’ll heat a small can, then rapidly cool it in water to see how pressure differences can crush it. This effect helps you visualize air pressure in action and understand gas laws. You can experiment with variables like heating time or water temperature.

Materials Required: empty soda can, heat source, water bowl

Suitable for: Beginner

7. Floating Egg Experiment

You can explore density and buoyancy by testing how salt concentration affects an egg’s ability to float. By adjusting the salt levels in water, you’ll see how density changes the floating height and learn why oceans make swimming easier.

Materials Required: Eggs, salt, water, clear containers

Suitable for: Beginners

8. Flying Tea Bag Experiment

You can turn an empty tea bag into a small hot air balloon to observe how warm air moves. Cut and empty the tea bag, shape it into a cylinder, and light it from the top. As the air inside heats up, the lightweight ash lifts off the surface, showing how convection works. You can test different bag shapes or sizes to compare how high or fast they rise.

Materials Required: tea bag, scissors, lighter or matchstick, non-flammable surface

Suitable for: Beginners

9. Robotic Gripper - Build a Helping Hand

You can make a simple robotic hand using cardboard, strings, and straws to understand how joints and tendons work together. When you pull the strings, the fingers bend, just like a real hand. You can adjust materials or tension to test grip strength and flexibility, helping you see how design affects movement.

Materials Required: cardboard, string, straws, tape, scissors

Suitable for: Beginners to intermediate

10. Using Charcoal to Purify Water

You can test how activated charcoal helps clean water by filtering different samples and comparing their clarity before and after. The charcoal absorbs impurities and improves the water’s appearance and smell. You can record your results and compare them with standard filtration methods to understand how natural filters work.

Materials Required: activated charcoal, jars, filter paper, water samples

Suitable for: Beginner to intermediate

11. Test How Color Affects Memory

You can study how color influences memory by showing participants words or images on different colored cards. After a short time, ask them to recall what they saw and record their results. Comparing recall rates for each color will help you understand how visual cues might affect learning and attention.

Materials Required: index cards, colored pens or paper, participants

Suitable for: Beginners

12. Experiment with Crystal Growth

You can grow crystals at home using salt, sugar, or borax to see how different conditions affect their shape and size. Dissolve the material in hot water, hang a string in the solution, and let it sit as crystals start forming over time. You can change the temperature or concentration to compare how quickly or clearly the crystals grow.

Materials Required: salt, sugar, or borax; water; jars; string

Suitable for: Intermediate

13. Investigating the Effect of Sugary Drinks on Teeth

For this project, use eggshells as a substitute for tooth enamel to see how drinks like soda or juice affect dental health. All you have to do is soak the eggs for several days, measure changes in color, weight, and/or surface texture to understand the impact of sugar and acid.

Materials Required: Eggs, cups, sugary beverages, scale

Suitable for: Beginner to intermediate

14. Make a Hanging Compass

You can magnetize a sewing needle and suspend it from a string to see how Earth’s magnetic field points it north-south. Once it settles, bring metal objects or electronic devices nearby to see how they affect its direction. This helps you understand how magnetic fields interact with one another.

Materials Required: magnet, sewing needle, string, jar or stand

Suitable for: Beginner

15. Electroplating Experiment with Copper-Plated Coins

In this experiment, you will explore electroplating by depositing a thin layer of metal onto a coin using an electric current. You’ll learn how electricity causes metal ions in a solution to move and form a solid coating on the coin’s surface. By varying voltage or duration, you’ll analyze how these factors change coating quality. This introduces you to real-world chemistry used in manufacturing and jewelry-making.

Materials Required: Pennies, copper sulfate solution, power supply, copper electrodes

Suitable for: Intermediate, good opportunity for chemistry and electrical engineering enthusiasts. 

One more option—The Lumiere Junior Explorer Program

The Lumiere Junior Explorer Program is a program for middle school students to work one-on-one with a mentor to explore their academic interests and build a project they are passionate about. Our mentors are scholars from top research universities such as Harvard, MIT, Stanford, Yale, Duke, and LSE.

The program was founded by a Harvard & Oxford PhD who met as undergraduates at Harvard. The program is rigorous and fully virtual. We offer need-based financial aid for students who qualify. You can find the application in the brochure! To learn more, you can reach out to our Director, Dhruva, at dhruva.bhat@lumiere.education, or go to our website.

Multiple rolling deadlines for JEP cohorts across the year, you can apply using this application link! If you'd like to take a look at the upcoming cohorts + deadlines, you can refer to this page!

Stephen is one of the founders of Lumiere and a Harvard College graduate. He founded Lumiere as a Ph.D. student at Harvard Business School. Lumiere is a selective research program where students work 1-1 with a research mentor to develop an independent research paper.

Stephen is one of the founders of Lumiere and a Harvard College graduate. He founded Lumiere as a Ph.D. student at Harvard Business School. Lumiere is a selective research program where students work 1-1 with a research mentor to develop an independent research paper.

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