I wish that science education, especially at the middle school level, focused on stuff like this. As it is, science education isn't for the most part about learning to do science, as it is about learning about a bunch of theories that were derived via science. Having kids do actual experiments on themselves would be great, both because it would help them understand the utility of science and because it would actually teach them to do science.
(It seems like most "experiments" we did in my grade school science classes weren't actually scientific; they were really just hands-on activities. Even if they were scientific, we rarely had to do the experimental design.)