One experiment I did once receiving high marks was the effects of the pH of water (changed with lemon juice) on the health of a common plant (like an indoor fern). You’ll need to get your hands on a few cheap planter decorations, pH test strips (or chemicals if you know where to find them), and lemon juice. At least, lemon juice is the easiest to do.

Paint the inside of the box flat white…

Create a piece of wood that is larger than the hole in the top….

Mount on the piece of wood a white porcelain light bulb fixture….

Screw in an incandescent light (of X watts) and have the LUX meter measure the light coming through the small side hole…

Now buy an LED light that says it has X watt equivalent and check to see if it does….

I just purchased a 60 watt LED replacement from Lowe’s…

Part number:
SYLV 800LM SERIES 1PK LED A-19
Item#:221498 | Model#:78675
http://www.lowes.com/ProductDisplay?langId=-1&storeId=10151&catalogId=10051&fromStore=true&partNumber=221498-3-78675

I wonder if it does….

Try other LED replacement lights – GE has some….

Just remember that with electromagnets that the number of windings of wire around the iron based rod (nail, iron bar, steel bar, etc) has more effect than the gauge of the wire. Your copper wire needs to be insulated so the electricity does not pass from one winding to the adjacent winding. A good example of electromagnets in use are guitar pickups.

Test out some kind of water filtration system to see if people can even tell a difference.

Basically the idea is to take some kind of “Filtered” water, (such as water that has been run through one of those Brita filters,) and regular non-filtered tap water. Number them so that to an average person they look no different, cup a/cup b kind of thing. Have people test taste each one and mark on a piece of paper labeling what they think each one is. Do this to at least 20-30 people. And of course do the whole “Question, Hypothesis, Experiment, Observation, Conclusion” thing. I just always thought that was a fun Biology one.

Make sure you’ve thought of all the little details before you go ahead and buy them. You need to make sure that the experiment won’t hurt them – in this case, I think the main concern would be the volume of the music. Make sure that you have their habitat and food all set up, too. You’d also have to be prepared to care for them (or find someone else who wants them as pets) for a few years after the experiment. These are mice bred to be pets, so if you can’t care for them, you should try to find someone to adopt them after the experiment.

this one does not lend itself to getting good data
and it is not reasonable that mice care about music

the most important thing concerns animal cruelty. Can you really care properly for the lab mice?
what wil you do with them afterward?

there are many existing experiments and results that you could research and make a presentation. you do not have to do and actual original experiment unless you are in an advanced biology class

Famous story: research on frog jumping:

“jump frog jump” measured distance
cut off one leg. “jump frog jump” shorthop
cut off second leg “jump frog jump” barely moved
cut off all legs “jump frog jump” just lay there
published results and conclusion
cutting off a frogs legs makes it deaf