Many fifth-grade children love keeping mice or rats as pets, but parents often oppose the idea. Students may have a stronger case for persuading adults to allow rodents in the home as part of a science fair project. Under parental supervision, children should build three different mazes using plywood remnants and wood glue. Release a mouse or rat in the mazes and record the time it takes the rodent to complete each path. Allow the rodent to run the paths repeatedly until its time no longer drops. Repeat the experiment with a different mouse or rat and play classical music while it runs the courses. Try heavy metal music with a third rodent and draw conclusions as to whether mice or rats learn better in a quiet environment or with a certain type of music.
Fifth-grade students with an interest in crater formation will learn about the effects of space debris on the celestial bodies they collide with in an inexpensive and fast science fair project. Mix plaster of paris with water and fill a large aluminum roasting pan about halfway full of the wet mixture. Create two sets of plaster blobs, with diameters increasing at intervals of 2 inches. Drop the first blob set into the roasting pan while standing on the ground and release the second set while standing on the third step of a ladder to determine how the variables of size and speed impact the diameter and depth of crater formation.
Most fifth-graders are familiar with how water boils at 212 degrees Fahrenheit and freezes at 32 degrees. Students, however, may not be aware that other substances are capable of changing those temperatures when added to water. Fifth-graders should perform an experiment to evaluate whether adding sugar or salt to ice will affect the temperature of the water when it begins to melt. In addition, students should prepare two identical pots of water on the stove top before adding sugar to one and salt to the other and recording the boiling point to determine whether the substance alters the temperature at which water transitions from liquid to gas.
A simple experiment to determine the ability of fruits and vegetables to conduct electric charge is a safe electricity-based science fair project for fifth-grade students to perform. In addition to assorted produce from around the kitchen or grocery store, students will need a multimeter to measure the number of amps produced by each test subject. The primary variable is the type of produce selected, but students should also attempt the experiment placing the multimeter probes near each other and far apart in the body of the fruits and vegetables.