Topic selection
Look for topics which can be written up in the format required with a research question and related hypothesis. Topics which require simple planning and which can be done by students without close supervision. It sounds easy but it is not. Unless a student can write a proposal in the specified form there really is not a lot of point in going to a great deal of effort.
First approach ... what can you measure?
Collect enough data to plot graphs with a minimum of six points to answer a research question based on one of the following questions/ideas.
1 When a light bulb is placed in hot water the filament is heated by convection in the argon gas in the bulb. How close is the temperature of the filament to the water temperature? Remember that resistance depends on temperature and that bulbs are cheap - they can be broken. How much argon is in the bulb?
2 What factors affect the life of light bulbs, the rate of cooling of coffee cups etc.
3 How do light levels vary with depth in the Nichida lake?
4 When a bulb is immersed in black water what is the relative importance of radiation and convection on the heating rate of the water?
5 Determine the specific heat of water to within ±1%? Make and test different types of apparatus.
6 Detect and quantify 0.01% by weight of salt in water. Make and test different types of apparatus.
7 How is the internal resistance of various dry cells related to their price, their total life, their operating temperature, their past history etc.
8 How does temperature affect the coefficients of restitution of various balls, the coefficients of friction for various surfaces, the speed of sound in various mediums, the frequency of vibration of various systems?
9 Minimum deviation through a prism depends on refractive index - which depends on temperature. Would it be possible to make a laser-prism-strain gauge device to measure temperature by the change in deviation?
How close are the grooves on a CD? Is the refractive index change greater in alcohol than in water - (the expansion coefficient is greater). Is there a substance (liquid or solid) with a large temperature/refractive index change?
10 We can purchase consumer items. What test could we run on many brands of the same thing?
Second approach ... we have instruments - what could you do with them?
1 We have a sound program [SoundVision] and a microphone on a long tube which can be inserted inside hollow tubes and boxes etc. to map the nodes and antinodes of standing sound waves.
2 We have signal generators that give particular single frequencies.
3 We have strobe lights which flash at a given rate and we have cameras that will take photographs.
4 We have Data Logger programs and a range of sensors for displacement, acceleration, force, pressure, temperature, light, current, voltage, magnetic field strength ... etc.
5 We have digital multimeters to measure AC and DC current and voltage, resistance and capacitance. We have a digital meter that will measure nanocoulombs of charge.
6 We have a range of optical pieces. Lenses of all types, prisms, fish tanks, (rectangular and circular), and video cameras. What can we do with that lot?
7 We have a remote sensing IR thermometer, an anemometer, a high speed video camera (100 f/s), a cumulative UVA/UVB meter, a Geiger counter, UV and other light sources, double beam oscilloscopes, direct vision prisms, and a range of other demonstration and measuring instruments. We have money. We can buy something if you have a use for it.
Third approach ... "Push the envelope"
1 Oscillations of the air in a ball when bounced or excited with an external sound source has been studied Resonance in inflated rubber balls (2000). More could be done.
For instance: why does one ball ring when bounced and another not and why does a ball filled with butane ring much more loudly, for a longer time, with more complex spectrum than one filled with air?
2 Model Rattlebacks have been made. What else could be done with this idea?
3 The thermal depopulation of shallow electron traps Color centers in 'UV beads (2003) has been observed. What else could be done - (we now have a cumulative UVA/B meter).
4 Jacobs (1994) found that the upper levels of the active atoms in a fluorescent plastic used to make novelty items can be depopulated by exposure to red light of too low a photon energy to cause excitation. A study of the temperature dependence of this effect would be interesting.
5 Paul McKeag (2005) made a Vortex cannon. There are many possibilities for studying the vortex produced under a range of controlled conditions.
6 The Time on the floor note for a bouncing ball (2003) has now been done (2005) with a high data rate accelerometer by Paul Kim.
7 Superior mirages have been created in fish tanks. The photographs were disappointing possibly because of a large camera lens. Investigate the effect of the size of the camera lens on the quality of the pictures of simulated mirages in a fish tank.
Fourth approach ... take over and extend a previous project.
1 Read the papers in the IB Labs index and extend the work in some way. Use the original paper as a base and get more data. Use a more accurate method. Use the same method with more examples, or with different materials. Look at the suggestion for further work made by the original author or the editor to get you started. Ask about the availability of new equipment.
2 Read the Notes on the IB Labs index. Take up a suggestion and develop an investigation.
Fifth approach ... read this list and think about it. Discuss your first ideas with a teacher. Something will develop.
If all else fails ...
Read this and have a play. Something will develop in due course.