Effects of Sound on Plants

• Students can test the idea that talking to plants helps them grow. Prepare a series of tomato plants; five plants for each group is ideal. Use the same planting techniques, the same-sized cups and the same amount of food and water. Place both groups of plants in areas of your classroom where they will receive the same amount of sunlight. Place a small radio with one group and turn it on, continuously playing music for this group. Make sure that your second group is away from any sound, such as an unused school closet. Keep all other elements, such as food, water and sunlight, identical, and compare the difference in growth from week to week and see if the sound spurred plant growth.
  
  

Things Affecting Hair Strength

• Many people believe that the chemicals you use on your hair can damage it. Students can test these effects by collecting hair from a few different people, taking careful note of each subject's age, gender, shampoo, conditioner and use of hair dye. If you have a trichometer available, use it to test the tensile strength of each hair strand. Otherwise, you can tie each hair, one at a time, to a pot with a central handle. Lift the pot slowly to avoid snapping the hair as you lift it. Place pennies in the pot until the hair snaps and then place the pot, with the pennies it took to break the hair, on a scale to determine the weight required to break each hair. You can expect heavily treated hair, and hair from older subjects, to break from a lower weight.
  
  

Connection Between Exercise and Learning

• Physical exercise is beneficial to your body, but your students can test its effects on an individual's mind. Prepare Sudoku puzzles, enough for each test subject. Ask 10 students to work on your puzzles one morning as they walk into class, giving them 15 minutes to see how far they can get. On another day, but at the same time in the morning, ask those same 10 students to join you outside for a brisk morning walk or morning calisthenics. Ask them to work on another puzzle, again for 15 minutes. Grade each test by the number of correct squares they fill in. You can expect to see student performance to increase after physical exercise, as they are more alert and filled with adrenaline.
  
  

Effects of Compounds on Plants

• You can test the effects of common household compounds on plant growth. Prepare three or four tomato plants for each substance you intend to test, such as different types of tea, coffee, soda and water as your control. Place the plants in an area of your classroom that receives light during the day and mark each cup by the liquid you intend to test. Give each plant its assigned liquid each day and compare each plant group's growth from week to week. Make sure to use the same amount of liquid for each plant, and feed them at the same time each day. You can expect the plants with water to grow the healthiest.