Reading Comprehension Topics for Science Fair Projects

Reading comprehension science fair projects focus on font size and student age...

Age

As you get older your cognitive skills and needs change. This is because you perfect your abilities to acquire and interpret information.

Objectives/Goals

My project was to determine how font size affected reading comprehension by fifth, sixth, seventh, and eighth grade readers.

Methods/Materials

1. Use Times New Roman font in Microsoft word.
2. Choose 16 point font size.
3. Type 3 fourth grade level stories.
4. Print out copies for classes.
5. Repeat steps 3 and 4 using 14 and 12 point font sizes.
6. Divide one class into three sections.
7. Have each section read a story in a different font size.
8. After five minutes, have them take a story-based quiz.
9. Record results.
10. Repeat steps 6-9 for each class.
11. Analyze results and draw conclusion.
12. Record all results on the display board.

1-Computer
1-HP Printer
3-Fourth grade level stories
1-Comprehension test for each story
Enough for stories and tests for each classroom

Results

Overall, the font size that is best for readability is 12 point type size. I believe this is because when you read 12 point font size, you do not have to read as many lines. The lowest score was 14 point type size.

Conclusions/Discussion

I believed that 14 point type size would have the best affect on reading comprehension. The experimental data did not support my hypothesis. 12 point type size produced the highest test scores. I believe that it is because there are more words in one line so that less lines need to be read. 3rd party contributor