science journal experiments

Arduino Science Journal

Shape your students future: Reason with data, think like a real scientist! A fun science classroom in your pocket.

Simple to use and easy to get started with, the Science Journal App is free and classroom & home-school friendly. Students get to learn about the scientific method, play with data and conduct experiments just like any other scientist from wherever they are!

The app and all learning materials are free , open-source , and available for download for Android and iOS devices .

Motivate students to learn about topics like physics, math, chemistry and biology in a fun, easier to understand and connected to the real world way. With the help of either built-in sensors students can experience and play with their surroundings in a easy and hands-on way. Record properties like light, movement and sound, and experience the world of science at first hand!

Make the most out of your experiments! Unleash your creativity and explore the natural world. Create, arrange and edit assigments in a easy and simple way.

Students can also get inspired by choosing between dozens of hands-on science experiments, designed by education experts. All experiments are free and cover a range of different areas, such as light, sound, motion and electricity , and can be used to enrich the learning experience within a variety of subjects.

The app allows you to record, store, and export data, create graphs, take notes and snap quality photos very easy, helping students document and present their findings like real scientists going straight to the fun part!

Share and compare experiments! Students can add their experiments and results to Google Drive back up/sync, share with others or download them locally to their phones embracing collaboration and creativity.

The Arduino Science Journal app is aligned with Next Generation Science Standard (NGSS) for K-12 in the U.S. and the National Curriculum of England , used in international schools across the world.

The app can be freely tailored by educators to a variety of learning situations in and out of classroom, and is suitable for individual use, collaboration in small groups, remote learning and homeschooling.

The Teacher Plan is a subscription service that can be added over the FREE Arduino Science Journal app, that allows teachers to integrate the Science Journal app with Google Classroom and share this integration with students.

Create experiments and set assignments directly in the app

The new design makes it easier and more fun for students to use

It's more efficient, no more switching between different platforms

On learning in the classroom - enhancing learning outcomes

“How can we make objective observations? Just open the app and we'll quantify some information! What is data? Let's collect some now and talk about it! How can we visualize information with a chart? Here's what we just observed and here's what it looks like as a graph!..Now that's science!”

“I wish I had this for physics!”

“It’s really cool to take measurements from something in your pocket.”

What operating system is required?

The app runs on Android OS 5 or higher, Chrome OS System supporting Android Apps, and iOS 12 or higher.

Which sensors can I use with the app?

The list of available sensors can vary depending on your device. Some of the most commonly available sensors are magnetometer, compass, sound intensity and ambient light.

Additional sensors can be connected via bluetooth. For instance, by connecting an Arduino 33 BLE Sense to the app, you can access accelerometer, gyroscope, magnetometer, light sensor and temperature sensor.

What subjects does the app cover?

The Science Journal can support your students in learning the scientific method, as well as recording data and analysing it for further exploration.

The app can be easily incorporated with subjects like Science, Physics, Chemistry, Biology, Maths (data evaluation, statistical analysis) and Engineering design.

What languages are available?

The app is available in English.

You can contact our support team if you have requests about adding more languages.

Empower students to think and act like real scientists by bringing an inquiry-based, hands-on approach to physics into the classroom.

Learn electronics and get started with programming with this beginner-friendly kit, designed for homeschooling and remote learning.

Learn electronics and get started with programming in your classroom with a set of step-by-step exercises - no previous experience necessary!

Free Printable Science Journal for Kids (25+ Journals for Middle Schoolers)

• August 13, 2021

In this article, I have compiled over 25+ printable science journals that are available for free download. You can make use of them to practice at your home with your kids.

What are Science Journals ?

Science journals are nothing but journals that consist of original research information, tested and untested theories, analysis of various science concepts.

To put it simply, science journals help kids to learn science concepts using inquiry-based observations and investigations.

So, exploring various science journals is vital for kids to better understand various science concepts and theories.

Printable Science Journals For kids

Bug Log 

A journal that reveals the characteristics of bugs like habitat, location, defensive mechanism, eating habits, and living conditions. 

Creature Log

A unique journal that helps students to explore the creatures they see and observe. This journal includes space for every characteristic of that particular creature like texture, color, location, habitat, interesting abilities, and eating habits. 

Dissolving Candy Science Experiment

This is a perfect STEM activity that keeps students engaged for hours and improves their critical thinking skills. And helps them to record their data of investigation on every liquid they use in the experiment. 

Good Food Journal

Most of the kids are fussy type in regards to food and their eating habits. Include this worksheet in their daily activities routine and ask them to color the graph of each food group. Very exciting and interesting food chart!

Moon Journal

Does your child interested in space and does not want to miss out on the changes happening around the Moon ? Here is the best journal that helps children to record their observations and data of Moon phases every day in tabular form. 

My Science Journal

Find out the best chart that records everything about your child’s exploration of different scientific concepts through experiments. 

Seed Observation Journal

The best journal that helps your child to align with the goals of seed germination by recording its data and observations through every phase. Children can note down and even draw their observations in it. 

Recording Temperature

This is a simple tabular chart journal that helps in recording temperature observations in both Centigrade and Fahrenheit degrees. 

Experiment Journal 

Students are curious about performing investigations and experiments learned from their classroom lessons. The experiment journal focuses on the various investigation fields of that particular experiment either performed in the class or at home. 

The 5 Senses Science

The 5 senses science journal aims to support children while exploring their 5 senses like sight, hear, smell, feel, and taste. So, children can practice this journal using their senses and develop good senses practically. 

Scientific Lab Report

Scientific lab reports communicate the analysis and outcome of scientific experimentation! And this includes title, scientific name, and objective of the experimentation, materials used, procedure, and results. 

Science Journal 

Science journals are the best way to describe the hypothesis, procedure, and conclusion of the scientific experiment. Children just need to investigate the experiment and record their observations and goals in this journal. 

Constellation Journal 

A group of visible stars that make different shapes in the celestial sphere is a constellation. And this journal helps students to identify and trace different constellations. 

Identify Animal and Bug Journal 

In this journal, different animals and bug pictures are grouped in a box. Students need to identify what is an animal and which is a bug from the box and need to paste it in their respective columns. 

Matching Baby Animal to Mother

A great journal for engaging young learners who are just introducing to animals. It is so simple to do this journal as it asks for matching baby and mother animals by identifying the pictures. 

Day and Night Pictures Journal 

There are many things in this world but everything is subject to its inhabitation likesome belong to the day while some are determined to the night. Explore this journal to find out things that belong to the day and which belong to the night. 

Differentiate Hot and Cold Items Journal

A simple and easy way to explain to children about hot and cold things. Also, this journal helps in making differences between the hot and cold characteristic properties. 

Living and Non-Living Things Journal

This world is a combination of living and non-living things! What is a better way to learn about the same apart from this journal for young learners! Just cut and paste and learn a lot about living and non-living things.

Magnetic and Non-magnetic Items Journal

We are surrounded by many items in our daily activities and unknowingly we notice some magical magnetic properties by some things. Let your children learn about magnetic and non-magnetic things by exploring different things around them through this journal. 

TreeMap Vocabulary for caring a Plant Journal

The best way to learn about plant science and its vocabulary through simple charts presented in this journal. Make your child a pro in using plant science terminology.

Recycle and Create New Products Journal

A great journal that describes different materials that are recyclable and help in creating new products. Exploring this journal works effectively to introduce children to recycle materials and helps while differentiating trash and re-use materials. 

The Four Season Journal

An easy and classic way to introduce your little ones to four seasons of the year and their impact on the weather! Students get to match the seasons to their respective and related pictures, perfect for kindergarten and elementary students. 

Floating and Sinking Items Journal

Explore this fun journal and introduce your young learners to the basic concepts of floating and sinking items. Your child or student can differentiate between these two items and even make defined predictions. 

States of Matter Journal

Explore different pictures that symbolize different states of matter and are noticeable in everyday life. This journal is super-exiting and hands-on to get kids engaged in physical science. 

My Tree Observation Journal

Learn facts and observations about tree science by growing your tree using scientific methods. This classic journal helps to understand your child’s basic knowledge about growing a tree, perfect for middle school children. 

My Weather Pattern and Predictions Journal

If your child shows interest in predicting weather conditions, this journal helps him/her amazingly! They can create a record sheet and note down their predictions easily and educationally. 

Let us learn the complete list of benefits that science journal offers:

How Science Journals help Children?

Science journals makes it easy for kids to explore and understand science concepts in different fields.   

1) Easy Access to explore Scientific Discoveries

As science journals convey the analysis of scientifically researched information, children get direct and easy access to explore the old and new scientific discoveries.

2) A Support to Classroom Curriculum

Children find answers to their doubts and questions happening around them mostly in the classroom.

In this process of dealing with big questions, science journals help them to brew their feelings, doubts, and various ideas.

Besides, the habit of exploring journals either at the school or from outside resources stands as a supportive pillar to process a child’s classroom learning.

3) Helps to develop Child’s Writing Skills

Children do not show much interest in writing when compared to reading.

To defeat this habit, parents can introduce their children to different and simple science journals based on the child’s age and understanding levels. Because science journals encourage and inspire your child to write as they get control over many science concepts.

Eventually, writing skills help them in developing their vocabulary, building appropriate sentence structures, spelling mistakes, grammar, etc.

4) Develops Communication Skills

Exploring such journals develop kid’s communication skills through oral and written vocabulary.

5) Support Differential Instruction

Every science journal is unique in a way they help kids to analyze various observations, data provided, drawings, illustrations, and pictures like tables, graphs, etc.

So, exploring science journals helps them to support learning differential instructions and general organization of paper information.

Science Journals for Elementary Students

Elementary students can explore the below science journals and let us learn the nature of these journals in short:

Journal of Research in Science Teaching:  This journal helps students of first to third-grade children to understand scientific research through science teaching. So, learning science is easy and effective through conceptual and technical strategies.

Rebecca’s in the Dark:  Here is the great science journal that helps elementary children through inquiry-based learning methods and problem-solving tactics. In addition, this journal engages students in self-directed works like recognizing educational goals and contributing to science debates.  

Moving Beyond the Lone Scientist:  Explore the research work of our great scientists through science stories that build scientific thinking effectively by broadening their views. The main purpose of this journal is to find out the impact of these science stories on the social nature of young learners.

Science Journals for Middle School Students

Middle school students are a little ahead in understanding science concepts in a more clear way. So, they can explore the following journals to continue their further development academically.

Science Scope from NSTA:  National Science Teachers Association has offered this science journal targeting middle school children to connect their learning knowledge to real-time problems.

Cultural Studies of Science Education:  Explore science education clearly in regards to the phenomenon in cross-age, cultural, and cross-disciplinary aspects. Such aspects help students to explore science and literature together and enhance their scientific knowledge.

Scientist-Image Stereotypes:  This piece of information helps to regulate the core indicators among students based on their tendencies, cultures, and grades. Learning about scientists provides new approaches and opportunities to explore more scientific concepts.

Science Journals for Teens

Teens can make informed decisions and can navigate today’s technological world with the scientific knowledge they gained in elementary and middle school. But still, they need to support their scientific knowledge through the below science journals for their further career development.

Journal of Chemical Education:  Enhance your chemistry knowledge with the provided collaborative and interactive platform, forums, and various resources. Readers feel to look into this journal once again to find out upcoming new science content and other related resources.

The Journal of Geo-Science Education:  This journal provides research information on pedagogy and earth-related scientific issues internationally. Also, teen students can get access to participate in the international research forum as part of their extension study on Geosciences.

International Journal for the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning:  Teens opting for higher education must explore this forum journal where challenges related to scholarship are discussed. Because the main focus of this journal is to do aspherical research based on case studies and individual dissemination of distant educators’ attitudes.

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Create a new experiment

You can create experiments with Science Journal from any device. Your Library contains all of your experiments. Each experiment has its own feed that consists of cards. Cards represent text notes, recordings, and photos.

Start a new experiment

Name your experiment

From the experiment.

• Tap  Experiment Title to rename the title of your experiment.

Change the cover photo for your experiment

• Tap the experiment you want to edit.
• Tap Change Photo .
• Choose a photo from your gallery or take a picture from your camera.

Once you’ve set up your experiment, you’re ready to make observations.  Learn more  

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Science Projects for Kids: Notebooks & Journals

By: Author Jacquie Fisher

Posted on Published: February 11, 2015

Categories Kids Activities & Crafts , Science Experiments

Have you ever visited the zoo with the kids — they look at the animals, play around, you talk to them about various things — and then you’re home for a hour or so and the questions begin…

Why do the monkeys comb each other?  

How many stripes does a zebra have?

Did you notice the baby penguin was grey and white?

All those little details that you never realized they saw during their visit. 😉

A science notebook or journal is a great way for kids to record the things they observe and learn.  It’s also a wonderful way to track all those inquisitive questions and ideas that kids have based on their observations and encounters.

This is the first post in a 2-part series on Science Notebooks & Journals.  Today we’ll share some tips and resources to get the kids started on their own science journal!

Starting a Science Journal

Science journals encourage writing, drawing, reading and a way for kids to record all their discoveries and adventures.

There are so many ways to approach journaling — you can journal by topic or keep your journal in date order (more like a diary).  Journals can include written observations, drawings, photos, items that are taped in or a combination of all of these. 

My advice is to go with a structure that fits your child’s age & personality. 

If you have a child that enjoys drawing, encourage them to draw their observations.  If your child is a writer, let them write.  Some kids are all about color — give them colored pencils or crayons for journaling.  Younger children might want it to be a co-journal — one that’s done with a parent or older sibling. 

We’ve had different approaches over the years and have included a few examples along with affiliate links to some of the science/journaling tools we’ve enjoyed using to track our observations. 

They also like the idea of journaling on white boards or chalkboards (we’ve shared some tips on that below).

Organzing Your Notebook

I’m not a stickler for organizing the journals from the get-go.  There are 3 things that I have the kids include on a journal page:

• Observations

For very young kids, this may even be too much detail but I find that it works well for kids ages preschool through middle school.  Teens will probably include more categories as they complete various science courses and experiments — but let me just say that simple is better when it comes to categories.  Too many “things to track” can quickly overwhelm them.

Otherwise, we organize the journal by date.  I find that it’s easier to remember WHEN we did something and then we know about where to look in the journal to find that page or topic.  You could also leave the first page blank and use it as a table of contents too.

When we read the notebook pages, we will talk about or add in science terminology or definitions if they apply to the topic.  For example, for the page above, we talked about the types/names of birds that we saw based on her note of “Brown & Black and White bird, not a robin”. 

Once he has an idea sketched out, he either writes it in a notebook or takes a photo of it with his phone — which is perfect if it’s a project he needs for school or a group project that he needs to share with friends.

I really like this idea for teens because it allows them to ‘carry’ the project with them — which means they can jot down notes when they come to mind or review it with others to get some feedback.

Inspiring Kids to Journal

Try to keep the journal in a high-traffic location in your home — someplace where the kids can easily grab it if they have an idea or observe something in the backyard and want to include it in the journal. 

During the summer, we keep the notebooks in the car since we go on quite a few outings where the kids will encounter some science, nature or other inspiring idea.

I find that the kids are often inspired to include something in their journal when we visit a cool place.  Here are some places to take your journal:

• Local nature centers
• Your own backyard
• To the beach, lake or shoreline
• Special events that relate to science
• An observatory
• Science center
• To a friend’s house or grandma’s house to see what’s in their backyard
• On vacation!

Hands-on Activities to Pair with Journaling

Sometimes “just writing” gets a little tedious for kids.  It’s not very interactive or tactile — they might need to keep their hands busy as they think about what they’d like to record in their journal.

There are a number of ways to make journaling more interactive:

First, let them use a camera.   This has been really popular with our kids.  They’ve love taking photos on our outings.  I think it allows them to observe more and not worry about recording everything they see right away.  Then we just include a photo in the journal when they’re ready to write.

Here’s one example of a photo we took at the zoo during a recent visit.  There were baby penguins and my daughter wanted to journal about them so we snapped a picture.  We had talked at the zoo but I never realized that she noticed the baby’s feathers were the same color as the rock nest the mother penguin built until AFTER she finished her journal page. 

That’s what I referred to earlier in the post — those little details that kids notice that make you go “Wow! That was pretty insightful.”

Tie in toys and books.

I always like to pull out any toys or books that are related to the topic in the journal.  Before our bird watching adventure, we read the book  which gave us a great idea of which birds we might see as we toured a local park. 

Another item we love are the mini figurines from Safari Ltd.  They have these great TOOBS which include a number of animals, nature and history figures (you can see some of the penguins from the Penguins TOOB above).  Another favorite is the Zoo Babies TOOB . These are the perfect addition when kids are journaling about animals.

Let them touch, smell and listen as observation tools.  

If you’re journaling about a plant or leaves, let the kids touch the item.  I know this is harder if it’s something living (like a starfish) but encouraging them to observe with their other senses  — not just sight — to make an observation will allow them to expand on what they record. 

The photo above was from a touch tank on a trip to the aquarium and it made all the difference in what my daughter noticed about sea stars.  And you can see in the above journal page about “Birds” that my daughter recorded ‘sounds like Cirrp’ for the birds we were observing.  Using more of their senses helps kids to create stronger memories of an exprience.

Another great hands-on activity for nature topics is to take rubbings of things like plants, leaves or tree bark and include them in your journal.

And having a journal kit is also a great ways to keep things hands-on! 

Pack a small bag or backpack with your science journal, a pen or pencil, crayons or colored pencils, a Magnifying Glass (kid-sized) , binoculars and anything else that kids might enjoy using with their journal.

Be sure to visit next week for Part 2 — Science Journal Apps & Resources!

Have your kids tried journaling? 

What tips do you have for keeping a science notebook.

We are excited to be part of a SUPER great month-long science series this January!  Each day this month, you can find some new science activities and adventures in the A to Z STEM series!

Today’s letter is J — for journaling.

Be sure to visit the main STEM activites page at Little Bins for Little Hands to see more than 50+ science, tech, engineering and math ideas for kids!

You might also like:

DIY Nature Notebook

Google Science Journal, Explained

Google Science Journal is a platform that provides science resources, tools, and ideas for students and teachers.

What Is Google Science Journal?

by TeachThought Staff

In short, Google Science Journal is a cloud-based platform for K-12 science education.

In Google’s own words, Science Journal ‘transforms your device into a pocket-size science tool that encourages students to explore their world. As they conduct eye-opening experiments, they’ll record observations and make new, exciting discoveries.’

What: Google Science Journal is a platform that provides science resources and ideas for students and teachers. But the best feature is likely its use of native hardware on your phone, like accelerometers, light meters, and more–to help ‘do the science.’ In this way, it combines ideas (e.g., for experiments) and tools (an app that uses your phone’s built-in technology) in an attempt to be a kind of one-stop-shop science platform. 

Further, you can add external sensors your phone may not have for added function and experimentation.

Google explains, “With additional external sensors …your students can conduct even more experiments that include building a weather station or testing body conductivity. Popular sensors include: light, conductivity, temperature, force, gas, heart rate, respiration, radiation, pressure, magnetism–and many more.”

Google Science Journal Experiments

Besides the tech, the ideas to use the tech are also crucial. Google has created a page to collect potential science activities and experiments that are filterable by grade level, expected duration, science experiment features, etc. 

You can browse Google Science Journal Experiments here .

Related TeachThought Resources:

STEM resources

30 Of The Best Google Classroom Tools For Teachers

Google Science Journal Video Overview

You can download the Google Science Journal on Android  and  iOS .

We’ll have more on how to use Google Science Journal in your classroom soon!

TeachThought is an organization dedicated to innovation in education through the growth of outstanding teachers.

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37 Cool Science Experiments for Kids to Do at Home

General Education

Are you looking for cool science experiments for kids at home or for class? We've got you covered! We've compiled a list of 37 of the best science experiments for kids that cover areas of science ranging from outer space to dinosaurs to chemical reactions. By doing these easy science experiments, kids will make their own blubber and see how polar bears stay warm, make a rain cloud in a jar to observe how weather changes, create a potato battery that'll really power a lightbulb, and more.

Below are 37 of the best science projects for kids to try. For each one we include a description of the experiment, which area(s) of science it teaches kids about, how difficult it is (easy/medium/hard), how messy it is (low/medium/high), and the materials you need to do the project. Note that experiments labelled "hard" are definitely still doable; they just require more materials or time than most of these other science experiments for kids.

#1: Insect Hotels

• Teaches Kids About: Zoology
• Difficulty Level: Medium
• Messiness Level: Medium

Insect hotels can be as simple (just a few sticks wrapped in a bundle) or as elaborate as you'd like, and they're a great way for kids to get creative making the hotel and then get rewarded by seeing who has moved into the home they built. After creating a hotel with hiding places for bugs, place it outside (near a garden is often a good spot), wait a few days, then check it to see who has occupied the "rooms." You can also use a bug ID book or app to try and identify the visitors.

• Materials Needed
• Shadow box or other box with multiple compartments
• Hot glue gun with glue
• Sticks, bark, small rocks, dried leaves, bits of yarn/wool, etc.

#2: DIY Lava Lamp

• Teaches Kids About: Chemical reactions
• Difficulty Level: Easy

In this quick and fun science experiment, kids will mix water, oil, food coloring, and antacid tablets to create their own (temporary) lava lamp . Oil and water don't mix easily, and the antacid tablets will cause the oil to form little globules that are dyed by the food coloring. Just add the ingredients together and you'll end up with a homemade lava lamp!

• Vegetable oil
• Food coloring
• Antacid tablets

#3: Magnetic Slime

• Teaches Kids About: Magnets
• Messiness Level: High (The slime is black and will slightly dye your fingers when you play with it, but it washes off easily.)

A step up from silly putty and Play-Doh, magnetic slime is fun to play with but also teaches kids about magnets and how they attract and repel each other. Some of the ingredients you aren't likely to have around the house, but they can all be purchased online. After mixing the ingredients together, you can use the neodymium magnet (regular magnets won't be strong enough) to make the magnetic slime move without touching it!

• Liquid starch
• Adhesive glue
• Iron oxide powder
• Neodymium (rare earth) magnet

#4: Baking Soda Volcanoes

• Teaches Kids About: Chemical reactions, earth science
• Difficulty Level: Easy-medium
• Messiness Level: High

Baking soda volcanoes are one of the classic science projects for kids, and they're also one of the most popular. It's hard to top the excitement of a volcano erupting inside your home. This experiment can also be as simple or in-depth as you like. For the eruption, all you need is baking soda and vinegar (dishwashing detergent adds some extra power to the eruption), but you can make the "volcano" as elaborate and lifelike as you wish.

• Baking soda
• Dishwashing detergent
• Large mason jar or soda bottle
• Playdough or aluminum foil to make the "volcano"
• Additional items to place around the volcano (optional)
• Food coloring (optional)

#5: Tornado in a Jar

• Teaches Kids About: Weather
• Messiness Level: Low

This is one of the quick and easy and science experiments for kids to teach them about weather. It only takes about five minutes and a few materials to set up, but once you have it ready you and your kids can create your own miniature tornado whose vortex you can see and the strength of which you can change depending on how quickly you swirl the jar.

• Glitter (optional)

#6: Colored Celery Experiment

• Teaches Kids About: Plants

This celery science experiment is another classic science experiment that parents and teachers like because it's easy to do and gives kids a great visual understanding of how transpiration works and how plants get water and nutrients. Just place celery stalks in cups of colored water, wait at least a day, and you'll see the celery leaves take on the color of the water. This happens because celery stalks (like other plants) contain small capillaries that they use to transport water and nutrients throughout the plant.

• Celery stalks (can also use white flowers or pale-colored cabbage)

#7: Rain Cloud in a Jar

This experiment teaches kids about weather and lets them learn how clouds form by making their own rain cloud . This is definitely a science project that requires adult supervision since it uses boiling water as one of the ingredients, but once you pour the water into a glass jar, the experiment is fast and easy, and you'll be rewarded with a little cloud forming in the jar due to condensation.

• Glass jar with a lid
• Boiling water
• Aerosol hairspray

#8: Edible Rock Candy

• Teaches Kids About: Crystal formation

It takes about a week for the crystals of this rock candy experiment to form, but once they have you'll be able to eat the results! After creating a sugar solution, you'll fill jars with it and dangle strings in them that'll slowly become covered with the crystals. This experiment involves heating and pouring boiling water, so adult supervision is necessary, once that step is complete, even very young kids will be excited to watch crystals slowly form.

• Large saucepan
• Clothespins
• String or small skewers
• Candy flavoring (optional)

#9: Water Xylophone

• Teaches Kids About: Sound waves

With just some basic materials you can create your own musical instrument to teach kids about sound waves. In this water xylophone experiment , you'll fill glass jars with varying levels of water. Once they're all lined up, kids can hit the sides with wooden sticks and see how the itch differs depending on how much water is in the jar (more water=lower pitch, less water=higher pitch). This is because sound waves travel differently depending on how full the jars are with water.

• Wooden sticks/skewers

#10: Blood Model in a Jar

• Teaches Kids About: Human biology

This blood model experiment is a great way to get kids to visual what their blood looks like and how complicated it really is. Each ingredient represents a different component of blood (plasma, platelets, red blood cells, etc.), so you just add a certain amount of each to the jar, swirl it around a bit, and you have a model of what your blood looks like.

• Empty jar or bottle
• Red cinnamon candies
• Marshmallows or dry white lima beans
• White sprinkles

#11: Potato Battery

• Teaches Kids About: Electricity
• Difficulty Level: Hard

Did you know that a simple potato can produce enough energy to keep a light bulb lit for over a month? You can create a simple potato battery to show kids. There are kits that provide all the necessary materials and how to set it up, but if you don't purchase one of these it can be a bit trickier to gather everything you need and assemble it correctly. Once it's set though, you'll have your own farm grown battery!

• Fresh potato
• Galvanized nail
• Copper coin

#12: Homemade Pulley

• Teaches Kids About: Simple machines

This science activity requires some materials you may not already have, but once you've gotten them, the homemade pulley takes only a few minutes to set up, and you can leave the pulley up for your kids to play with all year round. This pulley is best set up outside, but can also be done indoors.

• Clothesline
• 2 clothesline pulleys

#13: Light Refraction

• Teaches Kids About: Light

This light refraction experiment takes only a few minutes to set up and uses basic materials, but it's a great way to show kids how light travels. You'll draw two arrows on a sticky note, stick it to the wall, then fill a clear water bottle with water. As you move the water bottle in front of the arrows, the arrows will appear to change the direction they're pointing. This is because of the refraction that occurs when light passes through materials like water and plastic.

• Sticky note
• Transparent water bottle

#14: Nature Journaling

• Teaches Kids About: Ecology, scientific observation

A nature journal is a great way to encourage kids to be creative and really pay attention to what's going on around them. All you need is a blank journal (you can buy one or make your own) along with something to write with. Then just go outside and encourage your children to write or draw what they notice. This could include descriptions of animals they see, tracings of leaves, a drawing of a beautiful flower, etc. Encourage your kids to ask questions about what they observe (Why do birds need to build nests? Why is this flower so brightly colored?) and explain to them that scientists collect research by doing exactly what they're doing now.

• Blank journal or notebook
• Pens/pencils/crayons/markers
• Tape or glue for adding items to the journal

#15: DIY Solar Oven

• Teaches Kids About: Solar energy

This homemade solar oven definitely requires some adult help to set up, but after it's ready you'll have your own mini oven that uses energy from the sun to make s'mores or melt cheese on pizza. While the food is cooking, you can explain to kids how the oven uses the sun's rays to heat the food.

• Aluminum foil
• Knife or box cutter
• Permanent marker
• Plastic cling wrap
• Black construction paper

#16: Animal Blubber Simulation

• Teaches Kids About: Ecology, zoology

If your kids are curious about how animals like polar bears and seals stay warm in polar climates, you can go beyond just explaining it to them; you can actually have them make some of their own blubber and test it out. After you've filled up a large bowl with ice water and let it sit for a few minutes to get really cold, have your kids dip a bare hand in and see how many seconds they can last before their hand gets too cold. Next, coat one of their fingers in shortening and repeat the experiment. Your child will notice that, with the shortening acting like a protective layer of blubber, they don't feel the cold water nearly as much.

• Bowl of ice water

#17: Static Electricity Butterfly

This experiment is a great way for young kids to learn about static electricity, and it's more fun and visual than just having them rub balloons against their heads. First you'll create a butterfly, using thick paper (such as cardstock) for the body and tissue paper for the wings. Then, blow up the balloon, have the kids rub it against their head for a few seconds, then move the balloon to just above the butterfly's wings. The wings will move towards the balloon due to static electricity, and it'll look like the butterfly is flying.

• Tissue paper
• Thick paper
• Glue stick/glue

#18: Edible Double Helix

• Teaches Kids About: Genetics

If your kids are learning about genetics, you can do this edible double helix craft to show them how DNA is formed, what its different parts are, and what it looks like. The licorice will form the sides or backbone of the DNA and each color of marshmallow will represent one of the four chemical bases. Kids will be able to see that only certain chemical bases pair with each other.

• 2 pieces of licorice
• 12 toothpicks
• Small marshmallows in 4 colors (9 of each color)
• 5 paperclips

#19: Leak-Proof Bag

• Teaches Kids About: Molecules, plastics

This is an easy experiment that'll appeal to kids of a variety of ages. Just take a zip-lock bag, fill it about ⅔ of the way with water, and close the top. Next, poke a few sharp objects (like bamboo skewers or sharp pencils) through one end and out the other. At this point you may want to dangle the bag above your child's head, but no need to worry about spills because the bag won't leak? Why not? It's because the plastic used to make zip-lock bags is made of polymers, or long chains of molecules that'll quickly join back together when they're forced apart.

• Zip-lock bags
• Objects with sharp ends (pencils, bamboo skewers, etc.)

#20: How Do Leaves Breathe?

• Teaches Kids About: Plant science

It takes a few hours to see the results of this leaf experiment , but it couldn't be easier to set up, and kids will love to see a leaf actually "breathing." Just get a large-ish leaf, place it in a bowl (glass works best so you can see everything) filled with water, place a small rock on the leaf to weigh it down, and leave it somewhere sunny. Come back in a few hours and you'll see little bubbles in the water created when the leaf releases the oxygen it created during photosynthesis.

• Large bowl (preferably glass)
• Magnifying glass (optional)

#21: Popsicle Stick Catapults

Kids will love shooting pom poms out of these homemade popsicle stick catapults . After assembling the catapults out of popsicle sticks, rubber bands, and plastic spoons, they're ready to launch pom poms or other lightweight objects. To teach kids about simple machines, you can ask them about how they think the catapults work, what they should do to make the pom poms go a farther/shorter distance, and how the catapult could be made more powerful.

• Popsicle sticks
• Rubber bands
• Plastic spoons
• Paint (optional)

#22: Elephant Toothpaste

You won't want to do this experiment near anything that's difficult to clean (outside may be best), but kids will love seeing this " elephant toothpaste " crazily overflowing the bottle and oozing everywhere. Pour the hydrogen peroxide, food coloring, and dishwashing soap into the bottle, and in the cup mix the yeast packet with some warm water for about 30 seconds. Then, add the yeast mixture to the bottle, stand back, and watch the solution become a massive foamy mixture that pours out of the bottle! The "toothpaste" is formed when the yeast removed the oxygen bubbles from the hydrogen peroxide which created foam. This is an exothermic reaction, and it creates heat as well as foam (you can have kids notice that the bottle became warm as the reaction occurred).

• Clean 16-oz soda bottle
• 6% solution of hydrogen peroxide
• 1 packet of dry yeast
• Dishwashing soap

#23: How Do Penguins Stay Dry?

Penguins, and many other birds, have special oil-producing glands that coat their feathers with a protective layer that causes water to slide right off them, keeping them warm and dry. You can demonstrate this to kids with this penguin craft by having them color a picture of a penguin with crayons, then spraying the picture with water. The wax from the crayons will have created a protective layer like the oil actual birds coat themselves with, and the paper won't absorb the water.

• Penguin image (included in link)
• Spray bottle
• Blue food coloring (optional)

#24: Rock Weathering Experiment

• Teaches Kids About: Geology

This mechanical weathering experiment teaches kids why and how rocks break down or erode. Take two pieces of clay, form them into balls, and wrap them in plastic wrap. Then, leave one out while placing the other in the freezer overnight. The next day, unwrap and compare them. You can repeat freezing the one piece of clay every night for several days to see how much more cracked and weathered it gets than the piece of clay that wasn't frozen. It may even begin to crumble. This weathering also happens to rocks when they are subjected to extreme temperatures, and it's one of the causes of erosion.

• Plastic wrap

#25: Saltwater Density

• Teaches Kids About: Water density

For this saltwater density experiment , you'll fill four clear glasses with water, then add salt to one glass, sugar to one glass, and baking soda to one glass, leaving one glass with just water. Then, float small plastic pieces or grapes in each of the glasses and observe whether they float or not. Saltwater is denser than freshwater, which means some objects may float in saltwater that would sink in freshwater. You can use this experiment to teach kids about the ocean and other bodies of saltwater, such as the Dead Sea, which is so salty people can easily float on top of it.

• Four clear glasses
• Lightweight plastic objects or small grapes

#26: Starburst Rock Cycle

With just a package of Starbursts and a few other materials, you can create models of each of the three rock types: igneous, sedimentary, and metamorphic. Sedimentary "rocks" will be created by pressing thin layers of Starbursts together, metamorphic by heating and pressing Starbursts, and igneous by applying high levels of heat to the Starbursts. Kids will learn how different types of rocks are forms and how the three rock types look different from each other.

• Toaster oven

#27: Inertia Wagon Experiment

• Teaches Kids About: Inertia

This simple experiment teaches kids about inertia (as well as the importance of seatbelts!). Take a small wagon, fill it with a tall stack of books, then have one of your children pull it around then stop abruptly. They won't be able to suddenly stop the wagon without the stack of books falling. You can have the kids predict which direction they think the books will fall and explain that this happens because of inertia, or Newton's first law.

• Stack of books

#28: Dinosaur Tracks

• Teaches Kids About: Paleontology

How are some dinosaur tracks still visible millions of years later? By mixing together several ingredients, you'll get a claylike mixture you can press your hands/feet or dinosaur models into to make dinosaur track imprints . The mixture will harden and the imprints will remain, showing kids how dinosaur (and early human) tracks can stay in rock for such a long period of time.

• Used coffee grounds
• Wooden spoon
• Rolling pin

#29: Sidewalk Constellations

• Teaches Kids About: Astronomy

If you do this sidewalk constellation craft , you'll be able to see the Big Dipper and Orion's Belt in the daylight. On the sidewalk, have kids draw the lines of constellations (using constellation diagrams for guidance) and place stones where the stars are. You can then look at astronomy charts to see where the constellations they drew will be in the sky.

• Sidewalk chalk
• Small stones
• Diagrams of constellations

#30: Lung Model

By building a lung model , you can teach kids about respiration and how their lungs work. After cutting off the bottom of a plastic bottle, you'll stretch a balloon around the opened end and insert another balloon through the mouth of the bottle. You'll then push a straw through the neck of the bottle and secure it with a rubber band and play dough. By blowing into the straw, the balloons will inflate then deflate, similar to how our lungs work.

• Plastic bottle
• Rubber band

#31: Homemade Dinosaur Bones

By mixing just flour, salt, and water, you'll create a basic salt dough that'll harden when baked. You can use this dough to make homemade dinosaur bones and teach kids about paleontology. You can use books or diagrams to learn how different dinosaur bones were shaped, and you can even bury the bones in a sandpit or something similar and then excavate them the way real paleontologists do.

• Images of dinosaur bones

#32: Clay and Toothpick Molecules

There are many variations on homemade molecule science crafts . This one uses clay and toothpicks, although gumdrops or even small pieces of fruit like grapes can be used in place of clay. Roll the clay into balls and use molecule diagrams to attach the clay to toothpicks in the shape of the molecules. Kids can make numerous types of molecules and learn how atoms bond together to form molecules.

• Clay or gumdrops (in four colors)
• Diagrams of molecules

#33: Articulated Hand Model

By creating an articulated hand model , you can teach kids about bones, joints, and how our hands are able to move in many ways and accomplish so many different tasks. After creating a hand out of thin foam, kids will cut straws to represent the different bones in the hand and glue them to the fingers of the hand models. You'll then thread yarn (which represents tendons) through the straws, stabilize the model with a chopstick or other small stick, and end up with a hand model that moves and bends the way actual human hands do.

• Straws (paper work best)
• Twine or yarn

#34: Solar Energy Experiment

• Teaches Kids About: Solar energy, light rays

This solar energy science experiment will teach kids about solar energy and how different colors absorb different amounts of energy. In a sunny spot outside, place six colored pieces of paper next to each other, and place an ice cube in the middle of each paper. Then, observe how quickly each of the ice cubes melt. The ice cube on the black piece of paper will melt fastest since black absorbs the most light (all the light ray colors), while the ice cube on the white paper will melt slowest since white absorbs the least light (it instead reflects light). You can then explain why certain colors look the way they do. (Colors besides black and white absorb all light except for the one ray color they reflect; this is the color they appear to us.)

• 6 squares of differently colored paper/cardstock (must include black paper and white paper)

#35: How to Make Lightning

• Teaches Kids About: Electricity, weather

You don't need a storm to see lightning; you can actually create your own lightning at home . For younger kids this experiment requires adult help and supervision. You'll stick a thumbtack through the bottom of an aluminum tray, then stick the pencil eraser to the pushpin. You'll then rub the piece of wool over the aluminum tray, and then set the tray on the Styrofoam, where it'll create a small spark/tiny bolt of lightning!

• Pencil with eraser
• Aluminum tray or pie tin
• Styrofoam tray

#36: Tie-Dyed Milk

• Teaches Kids About: Surface tension

For this magic milk experiment , partly fill a shallow dish with milk, then add a one drop of each food coloring color to different parts of the milk. The food coloring will mostly stay where you placed it. Next, carefully add one drop of dish soap to the middle of the milk. It'll cause the food coloring to stream through the milk and away from the dish soap. This is because the dish soap breaks up the surface tension of the milk by dissolving the milk's fat molecules.

• Shallow dish
• Milk (high-fat works best)

#37: How Do Stalactites Form?

Have you ever gone into a cave and seen huge stalactites hanging from the top of the cave? Stalactites are formed by dripping water. The water is filled with particles which slowly accumulate and harden over the years, forming stalactites. You can recreate that process with this stalactite experiment . By mixing a baking soda solution, dipping a piece of wool yarn in the jar and running it to another jar, you'll be able to observe baking soda particles forming and hardening along the yarn, similar to how stalactites grow.

• Safety pins
• 2 glass jars

Summary: Cool Science Experiments for Kids

Any one of these simple science experiments for kids can get children learning and excited about science. You can choose a science experiment based on your child's specific interest or what they're currently learning about, or you can do an experiment on an entirely new topic to expand their learning and teach them about a new area of science. From easy science experiments for kids to the more challenging ones, these will all help kids have fun and learn more about science.

What's Next?

Are you also interested in pipe cleaner crafts for kids? We have a guide to some of the best pipe cleaner crafts to try!

Looking for multiple different slime recipes? We tell you how to make slimes without borax and without glue as well as how to craft the ultimate super slime .

Want to learn more about clouds? Learn how to identify every cloud in the sky with our guide to the 10 types of clouds .

Want to know the fastest and easiest ways to convert between Fahrenheit and Celsius? We've got you covered! Check out our guide to the best ways to convert Celsius to Fahrenheit (or vice versa) .

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Google's new app lets anyone do scientific experiments

Google has launched a new Android app to help people perform scientific experiments that they describe as a digital "lab notebook".

Science Journal measures data using both inbuilt sensors inside phones – such as accelerometers, light sensors and more – and external sensors available to buy on Google's Making & Science website. "You can use the sensors in your phone or connect to external sensors to conduct experiments on the world around you," Google says . You can also organise your experiments into projects, as well as "make predicions, take notes and collect data in multiple trials, then annotate and explore your results."

Projects suggested by Google include measuring running speeds over the course of a week or measuring the movement of homemade wind spinners.

To test out the app, WIRED asked several staff members to scream as loudly as they could inside a cupboard. The 'experiment', which used the app's sound recording ability, was designed to find out who had the loudest scream.

Results ranged from 80 dB to 83 dB per scream, though Google suggests using a number of different volumes – ranging from whispers, whistles and clapping to stomping and screams – to test the app's measurement capabilities. Experiments can be viewed in real time on both meters and graph screens.

Google plans to open source the app by the end of the summer. Results of experiments can also be watched on Making & Science's YouTube channel.

This article was originally published by WIRED UK

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Lesson idea.

A 4-Week Plant and Insect Experiment for a Science Classroom

This activity can be adapted for students in 4th – 9th grade.

Part 1: Students will answer the question “How does light affect germination and growth?”

This part consists of an experiment in which students will keep fava bean plants in two treatments: light and darkness. Students will compare germination and growth between these two treatments over a period of 2 to 3 weeks. 

Part 2: Students will answer the question “How does light affect the nutritious quality of the plants?”

This part is an extension of Part 1. Students will use herbivorous insect pests, aphids , sometimes called green flies, to test how the nutritious level of the plants is affected by the light and darkness treatments. Aphid growth and development are influenced by the quality of their food. So, the aphids feeding on plants previously kept in darkness, which will be less nutritious, will grow and develop at a slower pace.

• Fava bean seeds
• 18 Plant pots and saucer plates (for underneath the pots)
• Compost (sufficient for all the pots)
• Cardboard boxes big enough to put the entire pot inside and leave space for the plant to grow. Keep in mind that plants inside the boxes will grow taller than the plants outside
• Ruler to measure plant height
• Aphids. Ideally, students should use aphids that are big and can feed on fava bean plants. These three aphid species are usually easy to get: pea aphids ( Acyrthosiphon pisum ), potato aphids ( Macrosiphum euphorbiae ) and green peach aphid ( Myzus persicae ).
• If this experiment is carried out in Spring or early Summer, aphids can be collected from outdoors. If this is not possible, companies or research institutions working with aphids could be contacted to supply aphids for the activity
• Paintbrushes to place the aphids carefully on the leaves (it will be explained how to take the aphids so they don´t die while transferring them between plants)

This is a long-term experiment that will take approximately 4 weeks . In the first 2-3 weeks, the students will do Part 1. The teacher should check the plants so they don’t die before Part 2 has started. If the plants are not doing well, Part 2 can be started earlier. The last week the students will do Part 2 which will last approximately 1 week or 10 days, depending on how fast the aphids grow and develop.

Before the experiment starts:  

• The teacher will soak the fava beans overnight before the day the experiment starts.

The first day of the experiment: 

• Fill the pots with compost and put the saucer plate underneath.
• Place one fava bean in each pot. The fava bean will be approximately 1 cm deep in the soil and covered with a bit of compost (do not press the compost).
• Water the pots so the compost is humid.
• Separate the plants in groups (see below).
• Assign which plants in each group will be in darkness and cover these with a cardboard box as seen in the picture.

Continuation of the experiment:

• Remember to water the plants regularly so the compost is moist. It’s OK that during watering, the plants in darkness receives a bit of light. This will not affect the experiment.
• Students will mark the day in which the plants start to germinate.
• Regularly, students will measure how tall plants are and the number of leaves that they have. Although measuring plants every 2-3 days is ideal, the regularity of the measurements will be determined by the teacher according to availability.
• Data will be collected on the data collection sheets provided here.

Transition from Part 1 to Part 2 :

• Remove the boxes that were covering the plants and keep the plants in the same position. All plants are now exposed to light.
• Place a gravid (pregnant) female on each of the plants and leave her overnight to give birth to small aphids or nymphs (see below “How to distinguish a gravid female from a nymph”).
• The next day, the gravid females will be removed and only 2 nymphs will be left on each plant.
• At regular intervals, the students will observe the nymphs on each plant. They do not tend to move so much on the leaf.
• Students will record when these nymphs become gravid females. If one of the nymphs becomes a gravid female and the other one does not, remove the gravid female and leave just the nymph until it becomes a gravid female. When both nymphs living on the same plant have become gravid females the experiment on that plant is finished. This plant can be taken home by the student, planted in a garden, or thrown away.
• Ideally, the experiment should last until all nymphs become gravid females. Alternatively, the experiment could last until all nymphs in the plants previously treated with light become gravid females. If this is not possible, the experiment could finish when exactly half of the nymphs have become gravid females.

The experiment will be organized in blocks or experimental units. Every block will be the same, i.e. will contain the same number of plants and an equal number of plants will receive light or darkness treatment.

Experimental units (aka blocks): 

• There will be 3 blocks. Each block will have an assigned number that will not change through the experiment.
• A block is made of 6 plants: 3 of these plants will be outside the box (light treatment) and 3 of these plants will be inside the box (darkness treatment).
• The figure below is an example of how to design the experimental layout:

• The position of each plant in the block must be randomized. This is important because if different locations have slightly different conditions, this will not affect the results of the experiment.
• The blue surface on the figure could be for instance a bench next to a window in the classroom.
• Each rectangle represents a block or experimental unit. Blocks could be one next to the other as in the figure but if this is not possible they can be placed further apart from each other.
• The circles represent plants.
• The numbers inside the circles represent the treatment that each plant should receive: 1-3 plants will be kept with light and 4-6 plants will be kept in darkness.
• If the teacher or the students want to randomize the position of the plants in the block themselves, here is an easy tutorial .

How to distinguish a gravid female from a nymph ?

In early spring and summer, aphids reproduce asexually (see “Aphid life cycle” below). This means that aphids do not need to mate. Adult females are gravid and give birth to nymphs as seen in these pictures. We can distinguish gravid adult females from nymphs as adults are much bigger than the nymphs. Additionally, If a big aphid (adult gravid female) is found amongst little aphids (nymphs) we can be sure that this is a gravid female. These gravid females will be used to start the experiments in Part 2.

Aphid life cycle

The life cycle of aphids has a sexual and an asexual phase. In the sexual phase, mating between female and male aphids is required to lay eggs. These eggs will be left in protected areas in plants to overwinter. Then, when spring arrives and the weather is suitable for aphid growth, aphids will hatch from the eggs. These aphids will reproduce asexually, meaning that they will all be females who do not need to mate to give birth to new aphids. For more information you can check this video from SciShow:

How to pick the aphids without damaging them?

Aphids are sap-sucking insects and for feeding, they use a mouthpart called a stylet. If aphids are not manipulated with care the stylet can be broken and the aphids die. So, to avoid this we need to first touch a bit the aphids with the paintbrush. When the aphids feel this light touch they stop eating and remove the stylet from the leaf. At this moment is when they can be transferred to the new leaf.

Lesson structure

Start by explaining what photosynthesis is and what is the role of light for the photosynthesis. Explain how plants take carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and with the energy of light transform it into organic compounds releasing oxygen back to the atmosphere. This could have been explained in a previous lesson as well.

Once the students hold the knowledge to understand how important light is for plants, start a discussion asking:

• What do you think would happen if plants did not receive light?
• Plants will not be able to get carbon dioxide from the atmosphere to accumulate as organic compounds. What consequences could this have for growth?
• Do you think plants will grow more or less when they don´t receive light?
• How do you think this can affect herbivorous insects that feed on plants?
• Do you think herbivorous insects will prefer plants that have grown in light or darkness? Or do you think they will not mind?

Data collection

When the experiment is finished, students should pool all the data they collected on a single datasheet . This will enable cooperation between all the students.

From the data, the students can calculate:

• Average time until the fava beans start to germinate (in days).
• Average height of the plants at each of the times this was measured. If plants were measured every 2 days, then we will have an average number for every 2 days.
• Average number of leaves at each of the time points this was measured.
• Average time (in days) for the nymphs to become gravid females.

With these calculations, students will make the following graphs:

• Bar graph with one bar representing the average time until germination for plants kept with light and another bar with plants kept in darkness. A similar graph for the time until aphid nymphs become gravid females. Example of the graph:

• A line graph for the averages obtained from height and number of leaves. Example of graph:

This experiment was designed by biologist Pilar Morera Margarit from Easy Peasy Science .

Reading extension

A great follow up reading assignment is our scientific article about a similar botanical experiment, adapted from the peer-reviewed journal PLOS One .

How do plants keep in touch?

Check out more experimental-based scientific articles and other articles about plants .

Happy science exploration!

• July 14, 2020

Share this Lesson Idea

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Using Science Journaling for Elementary Students to Emphasize the Power of Observation

September 10th, 2018

For centuries, science journals have provided thinkers a place to record their thoughts and ideas, to revise and build on them as they conducted research and created prototypes. Many of the world’s foremost scientists and prolific inventors—including the likes of Galileo Galilei and Leonardo Da Vinci—have used journals.

Inside, they scribbled their notes, sketched their diagrams, and doodled their designs. They made flowcharts and graphs, recorded their ideas, and drew up plans. Galileo filled his journal with notes and drawings depicting observations made with his telescope. Da Vinci recorded his work on topics ranging from anatomy to art and architecture to warfare.  Notable Notebooks: Scientists and Their Writings , by Jessica Fries-Gaither, takes kids inside the science journals of visionaries who have changed the world through their work.

Science journaling is a time-honored method, and it’s not just for grown-ups. Elementary students can use the practice to record their learnings and harness the power of observation.

Why Observation is Important

Observation is a skill that can save lives and help us recognize opportunities. Though we often think of observations as that which we have seen with our eyes, observations may be made with any of the five senses. Experiencing the world through multiple sensory observations increases our learning as it engages multiple learning modalities. Observations may be qualitative (descriptive) or quantitative (involving measurement and numbers).

Helping kids develop their powers of observation is a useful and protective skill we can share. Careful observation can alert us to danger and keep us safe. Failure to notice opportunities can cost us the chance for positive outcomes. We can model the power of observation for kids by pointing out things we perceive with our senses, and we can prompt them to make observations by asking specific questions. Careful observation helps kids learn about their world. Talking and writing about their observations creates neural connections that strengthen understanding.

Getting Started with Science Journaling

Once kids are in tune with their power of observation, helping them start a science journal provides a place to record everything that they are experiencing.  Here are a few considerations:

Type of journal

Help your budding scientist choose a journal: spiral bound, stitched or loose pages; blank, lined or graph paper pages. If they plan to use markers or watercolor paints, a sketchbook with heavier pages is appropriate. Younger kids will benefit from wider lines with blank space in which to sketch. This engages and encourages kids’ emerging language skills; drawings and “invented” spelling should be accepted and celebrated.

Kids can decide whether to divide their journal into sections, each designated for a specific purpose: notes, drawings, etc. or to mix content and organize it sequentially by date. Small sticky tabs could mark each section.

Kids can use a variety of media to record their observations. Colored pencils, markers and paint will allow them to create a colorful journal entry. Erasing is not necessary as changes can be added as new entries. It is easy to dry and press specimens, including leaves, four-leaf clovers and wildflowers between the pages of a journal.

Science journals have gone to space, on safaris and to sea; they can be found in labs, observatories and workshops. Make sure kids have a safe place to store their journal, so it is accessible when they need it for a walk in the woods, a trip to the beach or an adventure at the zoo.

Electronic journals

For kids who prefer to record their observations electronically, Google has a journaling app . Available as a free download for Android or iOS, Science Journal is a digital science notebook that allows users to measure light, sound, acceleration and air pressure by interfacing with their device’s built-in sensors. Users can record text, connect to external sensors via Bluetooth-enabled Arduino devices and use the device’s camera to add photos to their journal. Elementary kids can choose from experiments and activities provided or create their own.

Journals Create a Permanent Record

Creating a special journal helps convey the message that kids’ writings and drawings have value. As they record and date their observations, they are creating a unique artifact to which they can refer back. Besides creating lasting memories, they can track changes in their ideas and changes in their world over time. An example is climate scientist Dr. Lonnie Thompson who demonstrated climate change by recording his observations of glacier retreat over several decades. Inventors, too, can record failed attempts and propose future changes. Thomas Edison standardized his journaling process to keep track of his nearly 1100 patented inventions.

We have learned a great deal about scientists and inventors from the writings and drawings they left in their notebooks. Beatrix Potter recorded very detailed watercolor paintings of plants, animals and mushrooms, and later used them to illustrate children’s books. Her very accurate scientific drawings of fungus have appeared in field guides.

Increasing the Engagement

Kids who enjoy sharing their observations through science journaling would benefit from the empowering experience of an innovation summer camp like Camp Galileo . Each of its exciting hands-on themes will give elementary kids plenty to think and write about as they spend a week in collaborative exploration geared to their age and developmental level.

At Camp Galileo, kids learn to think and act as innovators who can envision and create a better world by building a combination of mindset, process, and knowledge known around camp as the Galileo Innovation Approach  (or the GIA). The GIA encompasses the Innovator’s Mindset, which supports innovative thinking; the Innovator’s Process, which will help kids process and implement their ideas; and the Innovator’s Knowledge. This knowledge will help build background and skills for budding scientists and support their future explorations.

Helping kids develop a habit of documenting their ideas and questions in a science journal is a great way to support kids in becoming more observant and reflective . Journaling doesn’t require a big investment; just a little time and attention.

Kids who record their thoughts and ideas in a science journal are in the company of scientists, innovators and inventors who have changed the world. Emphasizing their power of observation and supporting a habit of journaling helps to prepare kids to follow in their footsteps.

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Related Journals of Experimental Psychology

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• Journal of Experimental Psychology: Animal Learning and Cognition
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The APA Publication Manual (7th ed.) stipulates that “authorship encompasses…not only persons who do the writing but also those who have made substantial scientific contributions to a study.” In the spirit of transparency and openness, the Journal of Experimental Psychology: General has adopted the Contributor Roles Taxonomy (CRediT) to describe each author's individual contributions to the work. CRediT offers authors the opportunity to share an accurate and detailed description of their diverse contributions to a manuscript.

Submitting authors will be asked to identify the contributions of all authors at initial submission according to this taxonomy. If the manuscript is accepted for publication, the CRediT designations will be published as an Author Contributions Statement in the author note of the final article. All authors should have reviewed and agreed to their individual contribution(s) before submission.

CRediT includes 14 contributor roles, as described below:

• Conceptualization: Ideas; formulation or evolution of overarching research goals and aims.
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Authors submitting manuscripts to the Journal of Experimental Psychology: General are required to provide 2–3 (between 120–150 words) brief sentences regarding the public significance of the research described in their paper. This description should be included within the manuscript on the abstract/keywords page. It should be written in language that is easily understood by both professionals and members of the lay public.

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Journal article

McCauley, S. M., & Christiansen, M. H. (2019). Language learning as language use: A cross-linguistic model of child language development. Psychological Review , 126 (1), 1–51. https://doi.org/10.1037/rev0000126

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Brown, L. S. (2018). Feminist therapy (2nd ed.). American Psychological Association. https://doi.org/10.1037/0000092-000

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Balsam, K. F., Martell, C. R., Jones. K. P., & Safren, S. A. (2019). Affirmative cognitive behavior therapy with sexual and gender minority people. In G. Y. Iwamasa & P. A. Hays (Eds.), Culturally responsive cognitive behavior therapy: Practice and supervision (2nd ed., pp. 287–314). American Psychological Association. https://doi.org/10.1037/0000119-012

Data set citation

Alegria, M., Jackson, J. S., Kessler, R. C., & Takeuchi, D. (2016). Collaborative Psychiatric Epidemiology Surveys (CPES), 2001–2003 [Data set]. Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research. https://doi.org/10.3886/ICPSR20240.v8

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Viechtbauer, W. (2010). Conducting meta-analyses in R with the metafor package.  Journal of Statistical Software , 36(3), 1–48. https://www.jstatsoft.org/v36/i03/

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APA endorses the Transparency and Openness Promotion (TOP) Guidelines by a community working group in conjunction with the Center for Open Science ( Nosek et al. 2015 ). Empirical research, including meta-analyses, submitted to the Journal of Experimental Psychology: General must, at a minimum, meet Level 2 (Requirement) for citation standards, data transparency, and code transparency, and Level 1 (Disclosure) for materials transparency, design and analysis transparency, study preregistration, and analysis plan preregistration meet the “requirement” level for citation and data and code transparency as well as the “disclosure” level for materials transparency, design and analysis transparency, and preregistration. Authors should include a subsection in the method section titled “Transparency and openness.” This subsection should detail the efforts the authors have made to follow with the TOP guidelines. For example:

• We report how we determined our sample size, all data exclusions (if any), all manipulations, and all measures in the study, and the study follows JARS (Appelbaum, et al., 2018). All data, analysis code, and research materials are available at [stable link to permanent repository]. Data were analyzed using R, version 4.0.0 (R Core Team, 2020) and the package ggplot, version 3.

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Preregistration of studies and specific hypotheses can be a useful tool for making strong theoretical claims. Likewise, preregistration of analysis plans can be useful for distinguishing confirmatory and exploratory analyses. Investigators are encouraged to preregister their studies and analysis plans prior to conducting the research  via a publicly accessible registry system (e.g., Research Box , OSF , ClinicalTrials.gov, or other trial registries in the WHO Registry Network).

There are many available templates; for example, AsPredicted or the Preregistration Standards for Quantitative Research in Psychology (Bosnjak et al., 2022) created by APA, the British Psychological Society, and the German Psychological Society partnering with the Leibniz Institute for Psychology and Center for Open Science.

Articles must state whether or not any work was preregistered and, if so, how to access the preregistration. If any aspect of the study is preregistered, include the registry link in the method section. Preregistrations may be made available to reviewers; authors may submit a masked copy via stable link or supplemental material. Links in the method section should then be replaced with an identifiable copy on acceptance.

• This study’s design was preregistered prospectively, before data were collected; see [STABLE LINK OR DOI].
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• This study’s analysis plan was preregistered; see [STABLE LINK OR DOI].
• This study was not preregistered.

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Authors should consider the APA Style Journal Article Reporting Standards (JARS) when reporting empirical research. The standards offer ways to improve transparency in reporting to ensure that readers have the information necessary to evaluate the quality of the research and to facilitate collaboration and replication.

• recommend the division of hypotheses, analyses, and conclusions into primary, secondary, and exploratory groupings to allow for a full understanding of quantitative analyses presented in a manuscript and to enhance reproducibility;
• offer modules for authors reporting on replications, clinical trials, longitudinal studies, and observational studies, as well as the analytic methods of structural equation modeling and Bayesian analysis; and
• include guidelines on reporting of study preregistration (including making protocols public); participant characteristics (including demographic characteristics); inclusion and exclusion criteria; psychometric characteristics of outcome measures and other variables; and planned data diagnostics and analytic strategy.

The guidelines focus on transparency in methods reporting, recommending descriptions of how the researcher's own perspective affected the study, as well as the contexts in which the research and analysis took place.

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APA policy prohibits an author from submitting the same manuscript for concurrent consideration by two or more publications.

See also APA Journals ® Internet Posting Guidelines .

APA requires authors to reveal any possible conflict of interest in the conduct and reporting of research (e.g., financial interests in a test or procedure, funding by pharmaceutical companies for drug research).

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In light of changing patterns of scientific knowledge dissemination, APA requires authors to provide information on prior dissemination of the data and narrative interpretations of the data/research appearing in the manuscript (e.g., if some or all were presented at a conference or meeting, posted on a listserv, shared on a website, including academic social networks like ResearchGate, etc.). This information (2–4 sentences) must be provided as part of the author note.

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It is a violation of APA Ethical Principles to publish "as original data, data that have been previously published" (Standard 8.13).

In addition, APA Ethical Principles specify that "after research results are published, psychologists do not withhold the data on which their conclusions are based from other competent professionals who seek to verify the substantive claims through reanalysis and who intend to use such data only for that purpose, provided that the confidentiality of the participants can be protected and unless legal rights concerning proprietary data preclude their release" (Standard 8.14).

APA expects authors to adhere to these standards. Specifically, APA expects authors to have their data available throughout the editorial review process and for at least 5 years after the date of publication.

Authors are required to state in writing that they have complied with APA ethical standards in the treatment of their sample, human or animal, or to describe the details of treatment.

• Download Certification of Compliance With APA Ethical Principles Form (PDF, 26KB)

The APA Ethics Office provides the full Ethical Principles of Psychologists and Code of Conduct electronically on its website in HTML, PDF, and Word format. You may also request a copy by emailing or calling the APA Ethics Office (202-336-5930). You may also read "Ethical Principles," December 1992, American Psychologist , Vol. 47, pp. 1597–1611.

Other information

See APA’s Publishing Policies page for more information on publication policies, including information on author contributorship and responsibilities of authors, author name changes after publication, the use of generative artificial intelligence, funder information and conflict-of-interest disclosures, duplicate publication, data publication and reuse, and preprints.

Visit the Journals Publishing Resource Center for more resources for writing, reviewing, and editing articles for publishing in APA journals.

Nosek, B. A., Alter, G., Banks, G. C., Borsboom, D., Bowman, S. D., Breckler, S. J., Buck, S., Chambers, C. D., Chin, G., Christensen, G., Contestabile, M., Dafoe, A., Eich, E., Freese, J., Glennerster, R., Goroff, D., Green, D. P., Hesse, B., Humphreys, M., Ishiyama, J., Karlan, D., . . . Yarkoni, T. (2016, October 5). Transparency and Openness Promotion (TOP) Guidelines. Science, 348(6242), 1422–1425. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.aab2374

• Research specializations of the editor-in-chief and associate editors (PDF, 3.5KB)

Sarah Brown-Schmidt, PhD Vanderbilt University, United States

Associate editors

Tarek Amer, PhD University of Victoria, Canada

Wilma Bainbridge, PhD University of Chicago, United States

Aysecan Boduroglu, PhD Koc University, Turkey

Eddie Brummelman, PhD University of Amsterdam, Netherlands

Michele Diaz, PhD The Pennsylvania State University, United States

Kimin Eom, PhD Australian National University, Australia

Kimberly Fenn, PhD Michigan State University, United States

Sarah Gaither, PhD Duke University, United States

Rachael Jack, PhD University of Glasgow, United Kingdom

David Kellen, PhD Syracuse University, United States

Agnieszka Konopka, PhD Aberdeen University, United Kingdom

Tamar Kushnir, PhD Duke University, United States

Tara Mandalaywala, PhD University of Massachusetts at Amherst, United States

Ashleigh Maxcey, PhD Vanderbilt University, United States

Jared Medina, PhD Emory University, United States

Milica Mormann, PhD Southern Methodist University, United States

Paul A. O'Keefe, PhD University of Exeter Business School, United Kingdom

Ross Otto, PhD McGill University, Canada

Jessica Payne, PhD University of Notre Dame, United States

Bolivar Reyes-Jaquez, PhD University of New Hampshire, United States

Tanja C. Roembke, PhD RWTH Aachen University, Germany

Musawenkosi Donia Saurombe, PhD The University of Johannesburg, South Africa

Megan Saylor, PhD Vanderbilt University, United States

Joo-Hyun Song, PhD Brown University, United States

Laura Thomas, PhD North Dakota State University, United States

Joseph Toscano, PhD Villanova University, United States

Timothy Vickery, PhD University of Delaware, United States

Rachel Wu, PhD University of California Riverside, United States

Editorial fellows

Ana Gantman, PhD Brooklyn College (City University of New York), United States

Feng Ji, PhD University of Toronto, Canada

Aleksandra Krogulska, PhD Jagiellonian University in Krakow, Poland

Benedek Kurdi, PhD  University of Illinois, United States Joao Guassi Moreira, PhD University of Wisconsin, Madison, United States

Si On Yoon, PhD New York University, United States

Consulting editors

Inci Ayhan Bogazici University, Turkey

Heather Bailey, PhD Kansas State University, United States

Anuenue Baker-Kukona, PhD University of Greenwich, United Kingdom

Marc Brysbaert, PhD Ghent University, Belgium

Valérie Camos, PhD University of Fribourg, Switzerland

Alan D. Castel, PhD University of California, Los Angeles, United States

Chaona Chen, PhD University of Glasgow, United Kingdom

Nadia Chernyak, PhD University of California - Irvine, United States

Jan De Houwer, PhD Ghent University, Belgium

Sophia W. Deng, PhD University of Macau, China

Sara B. Festini, PhD University of Tampa, United States

Klaus Fiedler, PhD Heidelberg University, Germany

Daniel Fiset, PhD Université du Québec en Outaouais, Canada

Larisa Heiphetz, PhD Columbia University, United States

Evan Heit, PhD National Science Foundation, United States

Iva Ivanova, PhD University of Texas at El Paso, United States

Zsuzsa Kaldy University of Massachusetts, Boston, United States

Kristin Laurin, PhD University of British Columbia, Canada

Taraz G. Lee, PhD University of California Berkeley, United States

Emma E. Levine, PhD University of Chicago Booth School of Business, United States

Stella F. Lourenco, PhD Emory University, United States

Karen Mitchell, PhD West Chester University of Pennsylvania, United States

Cathleen M. Moore, PhD University of Iowa, United States

Brian Parkinson, PhD University of Oxford, United Kingdom

Leona Polyanskaya, PhD Universidade de Coimbra, Portugal

Richard W. Prather, PhD University of Maryland, United States

Zhenghan Qi, MD/PhD Northeastern University, United States

Timothy J. Ricker, PhD University of South Dakota, United States

Steven Othello Roberts, PhD Stanford University, United States

Wade C. Rowatt, PhD Baylor University, United States

Kai Ruggeri, PhD Columbia University in the City of New York, United States

Rachel Ryskin, PhD University of California, Merced, United States

Brandon J. Schmeichel, PhD Texas A&M University, United States

Norbert Schwarz, PhD University of Southern California, United States

Amitai Shenhav, PhD Brown University, United States

Andria Shimi, DPhil University of Cyprus, Cyprus

Adam Tierney, PhD Birkbeck University of London, United Kingdom

Nicola J. van Rijsbergen, PhD University of Edge Hill, United Kingdom

Evie Vergauwe, PhD University of Geneva, Switzerland

Michael S. Vitevitch, PhD University of Kansas, United States

Yue Yu, PhD National Institute of Education, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore

Meltem Yucel, PhD Duke University, United States

Xin Zhao, PhD East China Normal University, China

Chenbo Zhong, PhD University of Toronto, Canada

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Transparency and Openness Promotion

APA endorses the Transparency and Openness Promotion (TOP) Guidelines by a community working group in conjunction with the Center for Open Science ( Nosek et al. 2015 ). The TOP Guidelines cover eight fundamental aspects of research planning and reporting that can be followed by journals and authors at three levels of compliance.

• Level 1: Disclosure—The article must disclose whether or not the materials are posted to a trusted repository.
• Level 2: Requirement—The article must share materials via a trusted repository when legally and ethically permitted (or disclose the legal and/or ethical restriction when not permitted).
• Level 3: Verification—A third party must verify that the standard is met.

Empirical research, including meta-analyses, submitted to the Journal of Experimental Psychology: General must, at a minimum, meet Level 2 (Requirement) for citation standards, data transparency, and code transparency, and Level 1 (Disclosure) for materials transparency, design and analysis transparency, study preregistration, and analysis plan preregistration and data and code transparency and 1 (Disclosure) for the remaining 6 aspects of research planning and reporting. Authors should include a subsection in their methods description titled “Transparency and openness.” This subsection should detail the efforts the authors have made to follow with the TOP guidelines.

The list below summarizes the minimal TOP requirements of the journal. Please refer to the Center for Open Science TOP guidelines for details, and contact the editor (Sarah Brown-Schmidt, PhD) with any further questions. APA recommends sharing data, materials, and code via trusted repositories (e.g., Research Box , or APA’s repository on the Open Science Framework; OSF). Trusted repositories adhere to policies that make data discoverable, accessible, usable, and preserved for the long term. Trusted repositories also assign unique and persistent identifiers.

We encourage investigators to preregister their studies and analysis plans prior to conducting the research. There are many available preregistration forms (e.g., AsPredicted , the APA Preregistration for Quantitative Research in Psychology template, ClinicalTrials.gov , or other preregistration templates available via OSF ). Completed preregistration forms should be posted on a publicly accessible registry system (e.g., Research Box , OSF , ClinicalTrials.gov, or other trial registries in the WHO Registry Network).

The following list presents the eight fundamental aspects of research planning and reporting, the TOP level required by the  Journal of Experimental Psychology: General , and a brief description of the journal's policy.

• Citation: Level 2, Requirement—All data, program code, and other methods developed by others must be cited in the text and listed in the references section.
• Data Transparency: Level 2, Requirement—Article states whether the raw and/or processed data on which study conclusions are based are posted to a trusted repository and how to access them. If the data cannot be made available, the article states the legal or ethical reasons why they are not available. If you are unable to share the de-identified data due to legal or ethical reasons, this in and of itself is not a barrier to publication in the journal. In such situations, please mention the concern in the cover letter to the editor. The editorial team will consider exceptions to these requirements on a case-by-case basis.
• Analytic Methods (Code) Transparency: Level 2, Requirement—Article states whether computer code or syntax needed to reproduce analyses in an article is posted to a trusted repository and how to access it. If it cannot be made available, the article states the legal or ethical reasons why it is not available. If you are unable to share the de-identified code due to legal or ethical reasons, this in and of itself is not a barrier to publication in the journal. In such situations, please mention the concern in the cover letter to the editor. The editorial team will consider exceptions to these requirements on a case-by-case basis.
• Research Materials Transparency: Level 1, Disclosure—Article states whether materials described in the method section are posted to a trusted repository and, if so, how to access them.
• Design and Analysis Transparency (Reporting Standards): Level 1, Disclosure—The journal encourages the use of the APA Style Journal Article Reporting Standards (JARS).
• Study Preregistration: Level 1, Disclosure—Article states whether the study design and (if applicable) hypotheses of any of the work reported was preregistered and, if so, how to access it. Authors may submit a masked copy via stable link or supplemental material.
• Analysis Plan Preregistration: Level 1, Disclosure—Article states whether any of the work reported preregistered an analysis plan and, if so, how to access it. Authors may submit a masked copy via stable link or supplemental material.
• Replication: Level 3, Verification—The journal publishes replications and Registered Reports.

Other open science initiatives

• Open Science badges: Not offered
• Public significance statements: Offered
• Author contribution statements using CRediT: Required
• Registered Reports: Published
• Replications: Published

Explore open science at APA .

Journal equity, diversity, and inclusion statement

The Journal of Experimental Psychology: General publishes empirical work in the field of experimental psychology that is broad impact. Yet breadth of impact cannot be achieved without addressing the systematic underrepresentation and exclusion of people in science due to their race, ethnicity, language experience, gender identity, sexual identity, disability status, socio-economic status, and country of origin, among other factors. Science is more impactful when it includes a diverse range of experiences and identities, when it embraces a broad and diverse approach to research questions, and when it supports participation of a representative and diverse group of scholars.

We are undertaking a number of efforts to promote equity, inclusion and diversity at the journal. These efforts are a first step and the editorial leadership at the journal will continue to self-evaluate, revise, and improve these efforts. Our initial efforts include:

• Recruiting six early career psychologists (ECPs) for a paid editorial fellowship program designed “to elevate leadership opportunities for ECPs from historically excluded groups, particularly Black, Indigenous, and other psychologists of color, as well as members from other communities which have been historically excluded from leadership opportunities in research and publishing”.
• Designing special issues to showcase research from a Diversity Science perspective. The forthcoming special issue “ Learning Diversity: How Contexts and Experiences Shape Perceptions Across the Lifespan” , is co-edited by Dr. Rachel Wu and Dr. Sarah Gaither and will “highlight the role that context and other unique experiences play in shaping how it is we see and consider different aspects of diversity across the lifespan (infancy through older adulthood)”. I encourage individuals in our community to propose future special issues to advance and showcase scholarship in the field of experimental psychology through an equity, diversity and inclusion lens.
• In addition to this special issue, the Journal encourages both empirical and commentary submissions from a Diversity Science perspective .
• The journal encourages authors to take advantage of the double-masked review option. This option is designed to attenuate biases in the review process, including biases that may come from author and institution prestige, as well as author race, ethnicity and gender, among other factors.
• Two new article components are aimed to contextualize and communicate the impact of published research. First, we ask authors to include a Constraints on Generality (COG) statement (Simons, Shoda, & Lindsey, 2017). The COG statement will come at the end of each article and is a space for the authors to explain the intended population of interest for the research. Second, we ask authors to include a Public Significance Statement that briefly communicates the importance of the work to the general public.
• For empirical research articles that report data from participant samples, the methods section should report detailed information about the sample, including where and when the data were collected, and relevant demographic information which may include participant age, race, ethnicity, disability status, and gender. Authors should follow APA guidelines for inclusive language, and report how this demographic information was collected.
• The journal is adopting new open science policies from an equity, diversity, and inclusion (EDI) perspective. While the journal now requires authors to share de-identified data and code, it is essential to note that from EDI perspective, some participants may not consent to have their data be shared, and some participants may approve of data sharing but only for certain research questions and not others. Some authors may have barriers to engaging in data sharing, and the burdens of data sharing may not be equally distributed. The journal will actively work to support openness in research, while balancing the real constraints that may prevent data sharing. The journal encourages authors who have concerns about data sharing to include a note in their cover letter to start a dialogue about this new requirement. 

The editorial team at JEP: General is committed to supporting a more equitable, inclusive and diverse science. We are taking these steps now, and will evaluate our progress in enhancing equity, diversity, and inclusion at the Journal. The efforts outlined here are a first and imperfect step towards achieving these goals, and we will continue to evaluate our progress along these lines.

Inclusive reporting standards

• Author contribution roles using CRediT (required)

More information on this journal’s reporting standards is listed under the submission guidelines tab .

References Simons, D. J., Shoda, Y., & Lindsay, D. S. (2017). Constraints on generality (COG): A proposed addition to all empirical papers. Perspectives on Psychological Science , 12 (6), 1123-1128.

Announcements

• Call for editorial fellowships nominations
• Inaugural editorial (PDF, 102KB)
• Experimental psychology generally, and the journal today (PDF, 40KB)

Editor Spotlight

• Read an interview with Editor Sarah Brown-Schmidt, PhD
• Read an interview with Editor Nelson Cowan

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