Curated OER
Farming Fantastic Friends
Seventh graders demonstrate scientific inquiry to design and perform an experiment involving Grow Creatures. They participate in a class discussion, and in small groups design an experiment that determines how to change the materials to...
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.
Curated OER
Paper Mache Egyptian Hippos
Students learn the history behind hippos in Egyptian culture and create their own paper mache hippos.
Curated OER
Causal Patterns in Air Pressure Phenomena
Students examine why air pressure is hard to notice. They observe the height of a liquid in a tube over time and lift a table with balloons.
Science Education Resource Center at Carleton College
Serc: Investigating Plastic Polymers: Building a Model
Young scholars 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...
Science Education Resource Center at Carleton College
Serc: Investigating Polymers: Comparing Two Liquid Glue Based Polymers
In this experiment, students will work in small groups to create two different polymers, similar to Flubber and Silly Putty, using Elmer's glue, liquid laundry starch, and Borax. They will then compare the properties of the two polymers....
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...
TeachEngineering
Teach Engineering: Everyday Polymers
Students explore the chemical identities of polymeric materials frequently used in their everyday lives. They learn how chemical composition affects the physical properties of the materials that they encounter and use frequently, as well...
Science Education Resource Center at Carleton College
Serc: Plastic Polymers: Investigating Their Flexibility
Students will use their prior knowledge about changes of matter to develop a hypothesis to test the physical properties of materials such as plastic (polymers) and how its chemical properties allow it to have unique physical properties.
Science and Mathematics Initiative for Learning Enhancement (SMILE)
Smile: Polymers: The Discovery
A simple lab activity which introduces the field of polymer chemistry. Includes the use of polystyrene in a neat reaction.
TeachEngineering
Teach Engineering: Flocculants: The First Step to Cleaner Water!
Students experience firsthand one of the most common water treatment types in the industry today, flocculants. They learn how the amount of suspended solids in water is measured using the basic properties of matter and light. In...
TeachEngineering
Teach Engineering: Surfactants: Helping Molecules Get Along
Students learn about the basics of molecules and how they interact with each other. They learn about the idea of polar and non-polar molecules and how they act with other fluids and surfaces. Students acquire a conceptual understanding...
TeachEngineering
Teach Engineering: Fun Look at Material Science
Students are introduced to the multidisciplinary field of material science. Through a class demo and PowerPoint presentation, they learn the basic classes of materials (metals, ceramics, polymers, composites) and how they differ from one...