Curated OER
Water Cycle
Young scientists explore Earth elements by conducting an experiment. They define water vocabulary terms such as condensation and precipitation. In addition, they conduct a water experiment in which they build a terrarium, so they can...
Curated OER
Temperature Changes Everything
Middle school chemists visit interactive websites in order to discover what happens to molecular motion when heat is added to matter. They conduct an experiment that demonstrates the expansion of matter with the addition of heat. A lab...
Curated OER
Volume of Rectangular Prisms
Introduce the procedure needed to find the volume of a rectangular prism. Learners rank various prisms such as cereal boxes and tissue boxes from smallest to largest volume. They use an applet to find the volume and surface area of each...
Shodor Education Foundation
Volume of Prisms
Explore the concept of volume of prisms using an applet to perform the calculations. The link to the interactive applet is embedded into the lesson plan as well as a link to associated data sheets. Get your math class to the computer lab...
Curated OER
Liquid Logic: Experiments in Viscosity
Young scholars examine specific characteristics of liquids through a hands-on lab activity. An experiment with teacher prepared viscosity tubes is conducted in which liquid identities are predicted based on data. A hypothesis is written...
Curated OER
Water & Ice
Students investigate the properties of water. In this states of water lesson, students explore how water goes from liquid to solid and back to liquid again. Students use measurement, observation, and communication to describe the change.
Curated OER
What is Water?
Students examine water's properties. They participate in hands-on activities to show the properties of water.
Cornell University
Glued into Science—Classifying Polymers
Explore the unique characteristics of polymers. A complete lesson begins with a presentation introducing polymers. Following the presentation, young scientists develop a laboratory plan for creating substances using polymers. They...
University of Colorado
Happy Landings: A Splash or a Splat?
Huygens spacecraft landed on Saturn's moon Titan in 2005, making it the farthest landing from Earth ever made by a spacecraft. In this hands-on activity, the 12th installment of 22, groups explore how density affects speed. To do this,...
Curated OER
"I'm Melting!"
Third and fourth graders engage with a worksheet designed to help them differentiate between melting and dissolving. After reading an informative paragraph about the two actions, they consider four scenarios, and choose whether they...
Messenger Education
Cooling with Sunshades
Messenger's sun shade measures 8 ft x 6 ft and will have temperatures reaching 700 degree Fahrenheit on the outside while maintaining a cool 70 degrees underneath. In the third activity of four, groups discuss the basic properties of...
Curated OER
Name That Gas!
Young scientists discover that air is a mixture of different gases - mainly nitrogen and oxygen. The properties of some of the other gases found in oxygen are listed in a table, then learners must decide which one of those gases is...
Curated OER
Temperature
Several slides compare different temperature scales. Thermal expansion, heat transfer, and Maxwell speed distribution are also explored. The last two slides seem unrelated to the topic of heat, but are easily left out of this otherwise...
Curated OER
Changes In Matter, "The Big Chill"
Third graders investigate why ice cream does not go through any chemical changes when it is exposed to physical changes. They describe the three states of matter in either written or verbal form. Then students experiment with ice cream...
Curated OER
Oobleck
Second graders observe the properties of Oobleck. In this science and observation lesson, 2nd graders examine Oobleck and make a list of 10 properties that they notice. They explain their observations.
Curated OER
Density: Float or Sink
Young scholars discover density. For this density lesson, students discover the properties of objects that allow them to float or sink in water.
Curated OER
Phases of Matter
Students describe the motion of solids, liquids and gases. In this chemistry lesson, students describe how temperature affect motion of the particles. They determine the physical properties of each phase.
Curated OER
Fundamentals of Matter
Seventh graders explore the the constituents and properties of matter. They use the scientific process while exploring solids, liquids, gases, the mass, volume and density of matter. Students plan and conduct an investigation to measure...
Curated OER
What State Are You?
Students identify three states of matter and recognize plasma as fourth state. They provide examples of matter that are classified in particular state and identify properties of each state of matter.
Curated OER
Classifying Matter
Second graders conduct investigations to explore matter. In this states of matter lesson, 2nd graders complete four activities to analyze the three states of matter. Students analyze the properties of solids, liquids, and gases. Students...
Curated OER
Oobleck
First graders explore Oobleck. They manipulate and observe the properties of Oobleck. Students discuss the differences between solids and liquids. They investigate Oobleck. Students write a sentence describing what they observed about...
Curated OER
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.
Curated OER
Matter
In this matter activity, students are given 10 sentences with italicized terms that are wrong. Students correct the terms to appropriately fit the sentences. Topics are related to matter such as physical and chemical properties, solids,...
Curated OER
As a Matter of Fact
Young scholars rotate through various hands-on experiment stations to explore the concept and properties of different types of matter. They compare some properties of solids, liquids and gases and describe how matter changes from one...