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Norbert Rillieux, Thermodynamics and Chemical Engineering
The man who invented the earliest examples of chemical engineering was an American-born, French-educated, free man of color before the Civil War, and went on to translate Egyptian hieroglyphics. There is something of...
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Air, It's Really There
Love is in the air? Wrong — nitrogen, oxygen, and carbon dioxide are in the air. The final lesson in the series of five covers the impact of temperature on gases. Scholars view a demonstration of gas as a type of matter before performing...
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The Ups and Downs of Thermometers
What has a thermometer earned that your pupils haven't? A degree! After reviewing the previous lessons about molecules and degrees, scholars observe how thermometers work before building their own. The module includes a activity sheet.
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Molecules in Motion
I heard that oxygen and magnesium were going out and I was like "O Mg." Pupils experiment with adding food coloring to water of various temperatures in order to determine how temperature impacts molecular movement. This is the...
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The Discovery of Fullerenes
Carbon is the most common element on earth, so the innovative discovery of a new type of carbon molecule won the 1996 Nobel Prize. In the ready-to-go lesson, scholars learn about C60 and how it has opened up the entire area of...
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Isolation of Phytochrome
Why do soybean plants that are planted weeks apart in the spring mature simultaneously in the fall? Four independent activities cover the history of phytochrome research, scientist collaboration, the electromagnetic spectrum, and...
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Moving Molecules in a Solid
Who likes magic shows? In the fourth of five lessons, pupils view a scientific magic trick. The ball fits through the ring easily, but then moments later, it won't pass through anymore. What changed? Can we reverse the change? Scholars...
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Molecules Matter
Did you know that jumping spiders sometimes wear water droplets as hats? A seventh grade science lesson introduces the concept of what makes up water: tiny molecules that are attracted to each other. Starting with a...
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Neutralizing Acids and Bases
Now that your science class has experimented with pH indicator and identified acids and bases, they attempt to get the cabbage juice indicator back to its original color. This is done through neutralization of the acids and bases that...
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Exploring Baking Powder
Meant to follow an activity in which young chemists identified an unknown substance by chemical reactions, they now take their data and use it to determine which materials combine to make up baking powder. This lesson is one that can be...
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Crushing Test
Solidify understanding of the properties of crystals by crushing them to compare hardness. After some class discussion, a procedure is planned, and then small groups go about making observations as they crush five different crystal...
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Racing M&M Colors
More than anything, this is great practice in scientific inquiry. After discovering that the color coating of an M&M® dissolves in water during a preceding activity, investigators now question whether or not the color makes a...
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Developing Tests to Distinguish Between Similar-Looking Liquids
Each group talks about how to test unknown liquids based on their findings in the previous experiment. In this second of four activities, they test unknowns on wax paper, newspaper, and construction paper. As a stand-alone, this lesson...
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M&M's in Different Sugar Solutions
To conclude a mini unit on the dissolving of M&Ms® candy coating, this lesson plan investigates whether or not the concentration of sugar in the solvent affects the dissolving rate. Consider having older science learners write their...
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M&M's in Different Temperatures
Help your class come up with a procedure for comparing the dissolving rates of colored candy coating in different temperatures of water. If you are placing importance on controlled variables with your class, make sure that they use equal...
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Investigating the Line
Note that this lesson is best paired with the preceding lesson in the unit. In that lesson, elementary physical scientists observed that the color coating of M&Ms® candies do not mix when dissolved off of the chocolate surface. Now...
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Colors Collide or Combine?
As part of a unit investigating the dissolving of M&Ms® candy coating, this lesson examines whether or not the different colors combine. There are no new concepts revealed in this particular lesson, but learners will see that the...
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Middle School Chemistry: Lesson Plans: A Catalyst and the Rate of Reaction
Young scholars observe and investigate how a catalyst increases the rate of a chemical reaction while not becoming part of the products of the reaction.
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Middle School Chemistry: Lesson Plans: Does Temperature Affect Dissolving?
Students identify and control variables to design an experiment to see whether the temperature of a solvent affects the speed at which a solute dissolves.
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Middle School Chemistry: Lesson Plans: Temperature and Rate of Chemical Reaction
Students experiment to see if the temperature of two clear colorless solutions affects how fast they react.
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Middle School Chemistry: Lesson Plans: Temperature Changes in Dissolving
Media-rich lesson in which students discover that it takes energy to break bonds, and that energy is released when bonds are formed during the process of dissolving. They also determine whether dissolving is either exothermic or...
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Middle School Chemistry: Lesson Plans: Water Is a Polar Molecule
Students develop their own water molecule model to help them understand the idea that water has a slight positive charge at one end of the molecule and a slight negative charge at the other.
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Middle School Chemistry: Air: It's Really There
Investigation shows that gas takes up space and has mass, and that the motion of gas molecules is affected by heating and cooling.
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Middle School Chemistry: Changing State: Freezing
Students investigate how low temperature causes water vapor to condense into a liquid and then freeze to form a solid.