Encourage your scientifically-minded fifth-graders to center their science fair project on the chemistry of carpet cleaning products. As it is a fifth grade project, the level of scientific discovery should be kept quite basic. Encourage young scientists to consider, for example, the different types of stains that can get on carpets, such as the protein-based ketchup or an organic coffee stain. Furthermore, students can research the different types of carpet compositions commonly used in households and think about how different carpet cleaners could be more effective on different types of carpet.
Fifth grade students who are less engaged by science and perhaps more interested in economics, social sciences or business can approach their science fair project from the perspective of a consumer. Here, a fifth-grader will look at the advertising for various brands of carpet cleaner, including low cost, budget brands and luxury products. Some cleaners, for example, may boast a specific feature on their packaging, such as a guarantee to remove a stain within two minutes of application.
Provide your fifth grade scientist with a role of carpet and assist him in cutting it into identical-sized squares, such as 6-by-6 inches, for example --- make sure your student has plenty of samples. Get him to stain his samples in the same way, using 1 tsp. of two different types of stain, such as ketchup and coffee. Supply your young scientist with four different cleaning products, ensuring that they are chemically different from one another for a science-perspective study, or four different prices for a consumer research project. Fifth-graders should maintain as many constants as possible during their project, making sure they apply carpet cleaners onto stains using identical methods and for the same length of time. Students wanting to observe the chemistry of carpet cleaners may wish to scrutinize their carpet samples using a magnifying glass, for example.
To display results for effectiveness of carpet cleaners, students may wish to devise a zero to 10 scale for assessing cleaning products' performance. For example, if one cleaning product reduced the ketchup stain almost entirely, it would receive a high rating, such as eight out of 10. If another cleaning product failed to even fade a coffee stain, it would receive a low rating, such as zero out of 10. Students can then display their results on a bar chart, with a different color and two bars for each cleaning product based on its performance out of 10 for the ketchup and coffee stain respectively. Fifth-graders looking at the science side of carpet cleaners can take zoom photographs of their carpet cleaners in action to see if they can discern any difference in their performances. Students should post and charts and photographs on their science fair display board, alongside a description of their project in detail.