Curated OER
Periodic Behavior of Oxides
Students investigate the properties of oxides and observe their periodic trends. In this behavior of oxides lesson plan, students experiment with metallic oxides and non-metallic oxides to determine if they are acid, basic or amphoteric...
Curated OER
Fun With Chemical Changes
Looking for a terrific chemistry lesson for your 5th graders? This one could be for you! After a teacher-led demonstration, learners are broken up into groups and perform an experiment using cabbage juice, water, window cleaner, and...
Curated OER
Project Geode
Young geologists attempt to predict the appearnace of a geode's internal structure based on how it looks from the outside, its mass, and its physical characteristics. For this geologly lesson, learners use scientific equipment to collect...
Curated OER
A New Phase In Town
Middle schoolers explore heat energy and how it is used to change the phase of matter, and discover that temperature does not increase or decrease until the phase change is complete. This extremely well-written plan is packed with great...
Curated OER
Make Your Own Temperature Scale
Differentiate between temperature and thermal energy. Your class will build a thermometer using simple materials and develop their own scale for measuring temperature. Discuss with your class and consider why engineers need to understand...
Curated OER
Grow an Alum Crystal
What an exciting lab experiment to conduct with your high school chemistry class! Crystals are formed naturally in the environment. However, allow your blossoming chemists to create their own unique crystals using alum and...
LABScI
Freezing Point Depression: Why Don’t Oceans Freeze?
Can you go ice fishing in the ocean? Learners examine the freezing point of different saltwater solutions. Each solution has a different concentration of salt. By comparing the freezing points graphically, they make conclusions...
Curated OER
More on Conduction and Convection
Why do some items feel colder when they are the same temperature? How should you keep your soda cold? What makes the wind blow? These are just some of the things middle schoolers discover when completing a lesson on...
LABScI
Surface Tension: Liquids Stick Together
Use science to help you walk on water! Young scientists explore the properties of liquids including cohesion, adhesion, and surface tension. They use graphs to compare different liquids and make predictions about their molecular attraction.
Curated OER
Properties of Matter
High schoolers describe four states of matter and their characteristics, explain thermal expansion of matter, interpret state changes in terms of kinetic theory of matter, explain relationship between temperature and volume of a gas,...
Curated OER
Demonstration of Ideal Gas Law
You know that liquid nitrogen turns into a gas at room temperature. Place some in a two-liter bottle for a physics demonstration of the ideal gas law. Beware, however; this is a dangerous demonstration! Not to mention that you may not...
Serendip
Is Yeast Alive?
Through two investigations, life science learners determine whether or not yeast is alive. They perform tests for metabolism by providing sugar and observing if gas is produced as a byproduct. They incubate some of the sample for at...
Curated OER
Oobleck
Here is a good instructional activity which aptly describes how to do the classic "Oobleck" lab with your young scientists. Unfortunately, the "Oobleck Investigation Sheet" in the plan doesn't open. However, this is a very clear...
Curated OER
Slime and Intermolecular Attractions
Students explore the strength of intermolecular attractions. They make slime and compare the difference in the physical properties of sheet and powdered polyvinyl alcohol with polyvinyl acetate.
Teach Engineering
Battle of the Beams
Make the strongest beam possible using taffy? Groups mold a taffy-water mixture into a beam and a reinforcing material of their choice. To finish the final installment of a two-part series, participants test its strength by adding...
Beyond Benign
Green"er" Precipitation Reaction
All sodium carbonate may not have the same amount of carbonate, but it should have the same percent. Learners write and balance an equation to predict the chemical reaction between sodium carbonate and zinc acetate. Through the lab...
Curated OER
Making Oxygen
Use demonstrations to enlighten learners on oxygen's role in combustion. Use potatoes and hydrogen peroxide to increase oxygen concentration in a jar, then stick a glowing splint and a burning wad of steel wool into the newly formed...
It's About Time
Solutions, Suspensions, and Colloids
Chemists are frequently in suspension, but not because they misbehave! Scholars mix various items with water to create solutions, suspensions, and colloids. They test each one to determine their differences and properties. The resource...
Curated OER
Air Pressure
Learners participate in a series of demonstrations about Bernoulli's principle. They explain how air pressure varies with air speed. They write a detailed lab report about the activity. This is a great way to explore this concept.
Curated OER
Attractive Alloys
Include a lab about alloys and magnets in your fourth grade science lesson. Young scientists read the necessary background knowledge about alloys, then choose which objects (a screw, a bell, scissors, or coins) will be attracted to...
Curated OER
Is Dilution the Solution to Pollution?
Students explore the different types of pollution. they conduct experiments using dye mixed with tap water to measure the levels of dilution. They discuss at what point the dye (pollution) would be diluted enough to be safe to drink.
Curated OER
Explor-A-Pond: 5th Grade Soil Erosion
Fifth graders compare and contrast the rate of soil erosion along water and along a vegetation area. They observe the differences and record their information and write a hypothesis of what they think happen if the erosion continues.
Curated OER
Calibrating a Thermometer
Students calibrate an alcohol thermometer using the boiling and freezing point of water. In this physical science activity, students explain what happens to boiling point of water as altitude increases. They calculate their experimental...
Curated OER
What Can We Do To Change These Materials
First graders perform experiments to investigate property changes that occur in materials or matter. In the science lab, they use heat to explore changes in rice, sand, gelatin, baking soda and more. Learners observe and record the...