• Question: what was your first ever science project

    Asked by dust520rhos on 20 Jan 2025.
    • Photo: Eleftheria Stavridou

      Eleftheria Stavridou answered on 20 Jan 2025:

      My first ever science project was during my university degree. I investigate if the climate in north-east Greece is suitable to grow Miscanthus to produce biofuel. But unfortunately, it wasn’t the best environment

    • Photo: Carly Bingham

      Carly Bingham answered on 20 Jan 2025:

      I remember one in primary school where we grew cress seeds on paper towels soaked in different liquids – I did normal water and washing up liquid – to see if there were changes in growth. I don’t think anyone will be surprised to learn that cress doesn’t grow well in washing up liquid!
      The first experiment that I planned and carried out all on my own was in Year 13 for an extended project qualification – I investigated the best paper aeroplane model by changing paper type, paper size and folding patterns, I then booked the school hall and measured how far they flew, how straight they flew and how long they were in the air to decide which was best.

    • Photo: Hannah Blyth

      Hannah Blyth answered on 24 Jan 2025:

      The first one I remember was for my Astronomy GCSE. I drew a map of the moon from observations (no photos). This sounds easy, but I was doing it in pencil from a notoriously lousy spot weather-wise (South Wales), and different moon phases make different sections and craters easier to see compared to during the full moon! My friend took some long exposure photos, measured the star trails and worked out an estimate for the speed of Earth’s rotation, very cool!

Comments

  • Photo: melissau

    melissau commented on :

    The first one I remember was when I was working part time on a diary farm to get work experience in preparation for applying for vet school – yes, this meant getting up at 4.30am to help with morning milking every day! The farm kept records of the volume of milk which each cow produced each day so I used the data to assess to what extent the volume of milk she produced was related to the cow’s age, the number of calves she had had and the number of days since she last gave birth to a calf. The report I wrote was my A level Biology project and I gave a copy to the farm too so that they could compare my findings to what they had observed themselves.