American Chemical Society
Exploring Baking Powder
Birthday cake wouldn't be light and fluffy without the chemical reactions between ingredients. Young scientists explore some chemical reactions in the 11th installment of a 16 lesson Inquiry in Action series. They determine the...
American Chemical Society
Heating Can Make a Change That Cannot Go Back Again
Heat is a gateway to change. While exploring the properties of baking powder, pupils learn that some heat-related changes are permanent. Using an animation, the lesson uses chocolate chip cookies as an example.
Curated OER
Density Studies of the Earth
Density comes to life as investigators place soda cans into containers of various liquids to find if they sink or float. They layer different density liquids, compare densities of different gases, and more. A total of six different...
Earth Day Network
Staying Green While Being Clean
Clean up the environment with a lesson that focuses on replacing hazardous cleaning supplies with green, environmentally-friendly products. Using a dirty patch of surface as a control area, kids clean other parts of various surfaces...
Bowland
Soft Drinks
"Statistics are no substitute for judgment" - Henry Clay. Young mathematicians use provided statistics from a soda taste test to explain why conclusions are faulty. They devise a new test that would be more appropriate than the one given.
Curated OER
Nutrients Nutrients We Need
Second graders examine the six nutrients humans need to maintain good heath. In this ecosystem lesson, 2nd graders learn about how plants grow and compare how humans need nutrients from plants to how plants need nutrients from the soil....
Texas State Energy Conservation Office
Investigation: Insulation
Youngsters compare the heat-holding abilities of three different cans by insulating two with different materials and measuring the temperature change of hot water over a 20-minute period.Â
Curated OER
Indoor Gardening by Building a Simple Hydroponics
Students investigate the use of hydroponic gardening on the world food supply. In this hydroponic gardening lesson, students make a garden out of a soda bottle, grow a cilantro plant, and compare hydroponics with regular gardening using...
Curated OER
Volcanoes: Second Grade Lesson Plans and Activities
Young geologists explore volcanoes with a series of engaging geology activities. First, they learn the difference between magma and lava before coloring and labeling the parts of a volcano. During the lab, individuals watch a...
Curated OER
Colorful Indicators
Young chemists learns about acids and bases by coming up with a solution that will test for each. They also access the Internet to perform research. They are encouraged to contact students in other schools by conducting the experiment at...
Curated OER
The Outsiders
Are you working on an Outsiders unit? Use this list of activities to deepen your middle schoolers' understanding of the novel. After reading S.E. Hinton's novel, young readers work on three required activities, including participating in...
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 conduction and...
Virginia Department of Education
Arc Length and Area of a Sector
What do skateboarding and baked goods have in common with math? You can use them to connect half-pipe ramps and cakes to arcs and sectors. Pupils compare the lengths of three different ramp options of a skate park. They calculate the...
American Chemical Society
The Energy Efficiency of Heating Water
Can a small change in laboratory procedures save energy? Scholars test three different methods for heating water in a science lab. Then, they calculate the energy efficiency for each and compare them to determine which uses the least...
DiscoverE
Make Your Own Glue
You won't regret being stuck with this activity. By mixing a variety of household items, pupils create their own glue. They test the tensile strength of their glue and compare it to that of other adhesives.
Discovery Education
By All Indications
How do people determine if something is acidic or basic? Learners make their own acid-base indicators using red cabbage and then determine the acidity and alkalinity of different substances. First, they test substances of known pH and...
Curated OER
Comparing Solids, Liquids, and Gases
For this solids, liquids and gases worksheet, students observe a teacher demonstration about gases and they experiment with liquids to show diffusion, shape and volume. They answer nine questions about the experiments related to solids,...
Curated OER
Insulation: Keeping Heat In or Out
Learners compare different materials on their ability to insulate. They identify the best materials for keeping heat in and keeping heat out. They also examine the importance of insulating homes.
Curated OER
Why did the can crush?
Young scholars watch a demonstration to ascertain why a soda can crushed. They make observations and hypothesize about why a soda can crushed and relate the difference in pressure to its affect on objects around us (soda can)....
Curated OER
Taste Test - Combining Sentences
Students combine sentences to create compound sentences. They write about creating their own soda, then make their own soda, comparing and contrasting it with a national brand. They write a paragraph containing compound sentences.
Curated OER
CO2 and Air Pollution
Seventh graders observe and test for the presence of carbon dioxide gas. They compare concentrations of carbon dioxide gas and conclude high concentrations of carbon dioxide gas are unhealthy for human beings.
Curated OER
The Great Kapok Tree..
Young scholars predict what each animal in the story read says and then compare them. They pretend that a tree was cut down and write a new ending for the story. Students explain why the story is not true and create a Venn Diagram...
Curated OER
New Angle on Forest Ecology
Students measure and calculate the angle of the sun. They compare the leaf types on the north and south to compare the effects of the sun on the type of vegetation. They complete the activities inside the classroom or on a trip to a...