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  • Experiment Archives

    4-H National Youth Science Day is the premier national rallying event for year-round 4-H Science programming, bringing together youth, volunteers and educators from the nation’s 109 land-grant colleges and universities to simultaneously complete the National Science Experiment.

    Research from the Tufts Institute on Positive Youth Development shows that youth who participate in 4-H are more likely to pursue careers in science, engineering, technology or math. Download resources from previous years' experiments, below, and get started today!

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    2012: 4-H Eco-Bot Challenge

    With the 2012 National Science Experiment, 4-H Eco-Bot Challenge, youth enhance their engineering skills by learning to think like a robotics engineer, assembling their own robots, also known as Eco-bots, and control surfaces in order to manage an environmental clean-up. Youth then test the interaction between the Eco-Bot’s environmental engineering design features and various control surface configurations to determine the most effective environmental clean-up solution for a simulated toxic spill.

     
     wired for wind

    2011: Wired for Wind

    The 2011 National Science Experiment, Wired for Wind, explores how to engineer renewable energy technologies, and the positive impact that they can have in communities across the country and the world. Developed by the University of Nebraska-Lincoln and the University of Nebraska Cooperative Extension program, this experiment engages young people in design, build out and testing of two different wind turbine models.

     
    4-h2o

    2010:  4-H2O

    The 2010 National Science Experiment – 4-H20 – is designed to engage youth around the country in asking the question: Why is water quality important and why is it important to understand it now? In this experiment, youth will participate in a live demonstration of how carbon dioxide builds up in the atmosphere.

     

     
    biofuel blast

    2009:  Biofuel Blast

    Renewable energy sources like biofuels are constantly making headlines in the news today. This experiment explores the production of the biofuel ethanol. It is typically made in the US by converting the starches from corn kernels into the sugars in corn syrup, and then adding yeast to break down the sugars, which releases carbon dioxide and ethanol as byproducts. The ethanol is blended with gasoline and then sold at some gas stations. There you might see a sign at the pump that says “E10,” which means 10 percent ethanol and 90 percent gasoline.

     

     
    helpful hydrogels

    2008:  Helpful Hydrogels

    Water is everywhere - in the sky, in the ground, and in our homes. However, caring for this vital resource is often a challenge for each of us. Conservation means using water wisely. In the 2008 National Science Experiment, youth explore a new superabsorbent polymer - called hydrogels - that can help with water conservation...right in our own backyards.