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Household Waste (Down the Drain)
Students brainstorm in small groups about the various ways water comes into their house. They list ways wastewater is produced in and around the home. They do an at-home inventory of all water drains and report their findings to the class.
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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.
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Fresh or Salty?
Students explore water bodies on the planet Earth and their various uses and qualities. They examine several ways that engineers are working to maintain and conserve water sources and think about their role in water conservation....
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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.
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Underwater Picture of the Hudson River Estuary
Students identify important aspects of water quality such as slainity and turbidity. They test two of the water quality parameters and determine the quality of the water. In addition, they construct two sets of graphs based on data...
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Air is something
Students recognize that air has the properties of mass and volume. They predict, observe, and evaluate the effect of the air on various objects, using bubbles and bubble wands.
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Oobleck
Second graders observe the properties of Oobleck. In this science and observation instructional activity, 2nd graders examine Oobleck and make a list of 10 properties that they notice. They explain their observations.
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Colored Drops
Students examine the properties of a liquid that contains water and food coloring and a liquid that contains water, food coloring and a liquid detergent. They interpret their data, describe properties, and make reasonable explanations...
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Melt the Ice
Students examine and discuss how water changes from a liquid to a solid to a gas. They explore this concept by having an ice cube race, competing to see which group can change the solid water back into liquid water first.
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Energy/Light/Heat/Sound
Fourth graders study the properties of heat in this series of lessons. They discuss sources of heat and experiment to determine its properties. They identify insulators and conductors by measuring temperatures, and graphing their data....
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Matter
Third graders are introduced to the topic of matter. As a class, they brainstorm what they already know about matter and its properties. After completing a worksheet, they participate in an experiment in which they observe matter in...
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Matter and Change
In this matter and change activity, learners answer 24 questions on topics such as elements, compounds, mixtures and chemical reactions. Students answer questions about the properties of matter such as their physical state and shape. In...
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The"Dirt" on Soil
Students examine the three different types of soil and their physical properties. In this soil lesson students design and implement a model of a water treatment plant.
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Ice Cream Blizzards
Fourth graders explore whether the making of homemade ice cream is a physical change or a chemical change in a lab experiment. Students identify states of matter, describe the physical properties of states, and collect temperature data...
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Shake, Rattle and Roll
Students compare the weathering of materials. in this weathering lesson, students experiment with the chemical and physical weathering of different materials. Students use salt and water as an example of how weathering occurs.
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Adventures With Super-Absorbers and Substance Solubility
Students understand the concepts of absorption, swellability and solubility and recognize that science is all around us in our everyday lives and is fun to explore.
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Mystery Paint
Students use the scientific method to determine the properties of various kinds of paints, use collected data to identify paint samples that are not properly labeled and use proper science safety techniques while working with chemical...
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Teaching Matter with The Wild Christmas Reindeer
Second graders learn the proper way to take measurements, explore the properties of objects and expand their vocabulary.
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Biocomplexity Lab Activity: Creating Salt Water
The lesson seeks to intorduce to students the properties of salt water and how to create salt water. Teacher gives backgound information about salt water to students. From that point, students dscuss what elements are in salt water....
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Density: Float or Sink
Middle schoolers discover density. In this density instructional activity, students discover the properties of objects that allow them to float or sink in water.
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Permafrost: Permanently Frozen Ground
Students explore permafrost. In this 3 states of matter lesson, students identify characteristics of solids and liquids. Students observe water and soil melting and freezing at various temperatures. Students make predictions about a...
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Floating Pencil
Students discover how salt water makes a pencil float better than freshwater by measuring and comparing the lengths of the portion of the pencil that floats above the water surface. They then determine if an unknown water sample is...
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Paper Chromatography
Pupils use this design the illustrate how ink can be separated into its component chemicals using paper chromatography. They use five unknown samples of ink on pre-labeled chromatography strips are provided to students. Pupils use...
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Introduce Solids
Young scholars identify and interpret a variety of solid materials - cloth, wood, metal, plastic, paper, and rubber. After a period of free exploration, they then describe the properties of the objects and develop vocabulary in order to...