Try creating a maze for a glass marble to travel through. This experiment provides the opportunity to observe how speed, slope, friction and distance affect the
movement of the marble. This is a great complement to a physics unit. You can get creative with your maze-building by adding tubes, ramps and other unusual physical features. Have human subjects attempt to move the marble through and count the number of attempts each one needs to be successful. See if you can detect a correlation between your results and the age or sex of the human subjects.
For a large-scale maze-making project, create a maze large enough for a human to travel through, either standing up or crawling. Blindfold your human subjects and time their attempt to make it through the maze, using only their sense of touch. Large cardboard boxes are an invaluable resource when building a maze of this scale.
An ever-popular option for a maze-making experiment is making a maze for a small rodent to travel through, such as a rat, mouse, gerbil or hamster. A number of different hypotheses can be tested, including those involving memory, sleep deprivation, diet and environment. Rodent mazes are easy to build and fun to implement.
Test the effectiveness of contemplative labyrinths by constructing one at your school, a local park or at home. Ask human subjects to think of a problem or dilemma before entering the labyrinth, and after they've traveled all the way through, survey them to see if they've gained any clarity on the matter in question. If possible, ask your school or town if your labyrinth can become a permanent feature of the public grounds-it's a great way to contribute to the beauty of your local area after your experiment is complete.