Curated OER
Cling On's
Students define the term static electricity and how to it. In this electricity lesson students design and implement an experiment to show how static electricity affects their daily lives.
Curated OER
Forces and Motion-The Downhill Racer
Students calculate a toy car's velocity and acceleration. In this force and motion instructional activity, students build ramps and attach a dropper to a toy car, which is released down the ramp. Students calculate and graph velocity and...
Curated OER
Float Your Boat
Students investigate buoyancy, displacement and density. In this flotation instructional activity students study the Archimedes' Principle, analyze data and draw conclusions.
Curated OER
Observations and Inferences
Young scholars observe how to distinguish observations form inferences. In this examining inferences lesson students list observations relating to the activity and discuss the importance of them.
Curated OER
Specific Gravity-The Relative Density of Liquids
Young scholars explore a hydrometer. In this gravity instructional activity students construct a hydrometer and create a liquid density column.
Curated OER
Watching Crystals Grow
Young scholars observe crystal growth of Epsom salts and the variables that hinder or help their nucleation and growth. They illustrate a series of drawings/pictures as the crystals grow. They look for the different shapes they form as...
Curated OER
Measuring Magnetic Field Strengths Using Ferrofluids
Students explore the field of nanotechnology by examining magnetic field strength in ferrofluids. They use probes attached to a computer program to determine the relationship between magnetic field strength and magnetic field lines.
Curated OER
Condiment Diver: The World's Simplest Cartesian Diver
Students examine buoyancy. In this density lesson students form a hypothesis, collect data and draw a conclusion using the data.
Curated OER
Heat Loss and Gain in Physical Changes and Chemical Reactions
Students measure the heat of physical and chemical changes in reactions. In this chemistry lesson students determine at what extent changes emit or absorb heat.
Curated OER
How Creepy!
Students observe and measure a model of slow down slope movement. In this graphing lesson students collect, record, and organize data that apply to models.
Curated OER
The Glass House - Farnsworth House, Plano, Illinois
Students analyze the architecture of Ludwig van der Rohe's 'The Glass House.' In this architecture analysis lesson, students view the images of the house and read about the home. Students complete two research projects for the lesson.
Curated OER
Analagous Colors
Students encounter how to mix analogous colors and use them in cane patterns. They select two colors that are next to each other on the color wheel. Students then knead the pieces for a couple of minutes and then roll each color into a...
Curated OER
Breaking Beams
Students work together designing and building their own beams. They discover the concepts of stress and strain. They participate in a competition to determine the best beam.
Concord Consortium
Concord Consortium: Stem Resources: Plastic Forces
This simple interactive tool lets students explore what happens to the long molecular chains in a plastic polymer material when forces of varying intensity are exerted on it.
Science Education Resource Center at Carleton College
Serc: Investigating Plastic Polymers: Building a Model
Learners will use their prior knowledge about changes of matter including physical and chemical changes from the Houghton Mifflin science curriculum. Students will create a hypothesis to test the physical properties of materials such as...
TeachEngineering
Teach Engineering: Close Encounters of the Polymer Kind
Students explore the basic characteristics of polymers through the introduction of two polymer categories: thermoplastics and thermosets.
Other
American Chemistry Council: History of Polymers & Plastics for Teachers
This resource presents a teacher guide that offers information on the history, structure, characteristics, forms, and common uses of plastics and polymers.
Practical Action
Practical Action: Plastics Challenge
This is a challenge for students to develop solutions to the problems caused by plastic waste globally. They will learn about how plastic waste impacts people around the world, the different types of plastic, how they are each used, how...
TED Talks
Ted: Ted Ed: From Dna to Silly Putty, the Diverse World of Polymers
Polymers occur both naturally- our DNA is a polymer- and synthetically, like plastic, Silly Putty, and styrofoam. Jan Mattingly explains how polymers have changed our world. [4:59]
Wikimedia
Wikipedia: Plastic
Wikipedia offers all of the basic information one would need about the topic of plastic. Includes hyperlinked table of contents for easy site navigation.
![Maryland Science Center: Milk Plastic [Pdf] Activity](https://d15y2dacu3jp90.cloudfront.net/images/attachment_defaults/resource/large/FPO-knovation.png "Maryland Science Center: Milk Plastic [Pdf] Activity")
Maryland Science Center
Maryland Science Center: Milk Plastic [Pdf]
A simple experiment to create a chemical reaction between milk and vinegar, with the product being a type of plastic.
Science Education Resource Center at Carleton College
Serc: Mn Step: Where in the World Can I Find Plastic Polymers. Why Are They Used?
An investigation of where plastic polymers can be found in everyday life. After identifying them, students test them to learn about their properties, then try some online activities.
Science Education Resource Center at Carleton College
Serc: Polymers & Plastics: Classification & Models
Students will use their prior knowledge about changes of matter including physical and chemical changes to examine and categorize various types of plastics (polymers). They will identify how their chemical properties allow them to have...
Science Buddies
Science Buddies: Turn Milk Into Plastic!
In this hands-on lesson plan, students will conduct a simple milk-transforming experiment to explore how plastics can be derived from a natural resource such as milk.