In this project students research theme park rides and design and build a model of the pirate ship ride, concentrating on how to support the swinging parts.  Another vital component is the support that holds the gondola and the counterweight. ...

In this project, students will build a simple robot, for example using Lego or Meccano, that they can steer with switches. They could then adapt it to perform a ‘useful’ task.

Traditional fizzy drinks were made by fermentation using yeast. In this project, students make some fermented fizzy drinks investigate the effect of using additives and varying...

In this independent research project students research the causes and consequences of diarrhoea and dehydration. They find out about the different treatments available for dehydration and design some experiments to compare commercial and homemade oral rehydration salts.

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How do the lights and sound at a nightclub coordinate together? The lights appear to flash in time to the beat, and change colour with the pattern of the sound. How is the signal from a sound source such as a CD player or DJ deck converted into a pattern of lights? In this project,...

In this project, students will design and build a simple model catamaran. They will then use their model to test the effectiveness of a range of different types of sail.

Students investigate the best material for a pizza box, with possible tests including:

• Thermal conductivity - Design a test to see which materials keep a pizza the hottest.
• ...

Despite the high rate of growth in rainforests the soil in these forests is poor in nutrients. The nutrients have been washed out of the soils by heavy rainfall. In this project, students are going to investigate how different kinds of compost and fertiliser affect the rate of growth of plants.

In this independent research project, students investigate how cooking pasta affects its properties and see if this is linked to how starch in pasta in altered during cooking. They can investigate the effect of...

In this independent research project students investigate the properties of materials, electric circuits and electronic devices in order to design, build and test a device to measure the steadiness of someone’s hand ...

Students investigate how well different sun creams and sun blocks protect against UV radiation from the sun and research:

• Information about the electromagnetic spectrum and radiation from the sun.
• Why UV radiation is damaging to...

For this project, students will use clay as their ceramic. They will design and shape beads and/or pendants to make a necklace or bracelet. They will investigate ways of finishing the clay – in other words, colouring it and protecting it. They will then carry out tests to see how strong their product is. 

In this project, students make their own lipstick or lip gloss and investigate how lipsticks are coloured, carrying out tests to compare their lipstick to a shop-bought one .  They consider the properties they want to test, such as resistance to water and cleaning products, and covering...

In this project students will design the ideal teabag. They will need to think about what thier teabag should be made from, what shape it should be and how much tea it should contain.

Students investigate the effect of industry or agriculture on a water course, by comparing levels of pollution with those in an ‘unspoilt’ body of water. They will need to consider what form any pollution...