Beyond Benign
Flame Tests and Emission Spectra
Identify elements based on the color that they burn! Learners observe flames of various elements. Using diffraction film or a spectroscope, they assign a name to each.
Beyond Benign
Acids, Bases and pH
Color can tell a lot about a substance. Scholars test several solutions to determine pH. Once the results are complete, they then use the pH tests to classify substances as acids and bases.
Beyond Benign
Exothermic and Endothermic Reactions
How can you tell the difference between endothermic and exothermic reactions? Chemistry scholars perform and observe two chemical reactions, measure the temperature throughout, then draw conclusions about changes in energy from their...
Beyond Benign
Solubility
Enhance your class' ability to understand solubility. Science scholars examine how temperature and concentration affect solubility using an interesting lab experiment. The introduction and procedure also discuss the relationship between...
Beyond Benign
Chemical or Physical Reaction?
Ready to take your chemistry class on its first big lab adventure? Dive in to differentiation between chemical and physical changes with a thoughtfully designed set of experiments! Partners conduct a series of reactions, describe their...
Beyond Benign
Evaluating Sustainability and Lifecycle
What makes one product greener than another? Ecology scholars analyze sustainability and lifecycle through a thought-provoking activity. Individuals pick a product, then examine its components to determine its overall impact on the world...
Beyond Benign
Mole of Rice Activity
Learning about the mole using rice is pretty nice! Help your chemistry scholars visualize the concept of a mole of substance with an easy-to-perform lab. Partnered pupils find the mass of a single grain of rice and relate this...
California Department of Education
Waves and Music
Strike the right chord with a musical activity! Instructors provide a lecture on the mechanics of a pan flute. Pupils build their own pan flutes by using straws and calculating the lengths to create a scale. After cutting the straws to...
California Department of Education
Slap Tubes, Flutes, and Xylophones: The Physics of Pipe-Based Instruments
It's the encore to a wave unit. Individuals build either a slap tube, flute, or xylophone as a culminating activity for a physics unit on waves. Scholars calculate the lengths of pipes needed to produce the specific notes for their...
California Department of Education
Sound Waves
Resonate with the class. By watching a couple of videos, pupils realize that sound waves require a medium to travel and can break glass. They then listen to a lecture on resonance and work through a lab to calculate the speed of sound...
California Department of Education
What Is a "Wave"?
Take a stretch, but don't wave goodbye. An interesting resource provides everything needed to present an introductory lesson plan on waves. Teachers present a PowerPoint defining the types of waves and their characteristics. Pupils use a...
NASA
How Rockets Work
Now, that's some fire power! A five-page handout provides a description of the basics of how rockets work. The reading explains Newton's Laws of Motion by beginning with defining some of the important terms. The article finishes by...
NASA
What Comes Next
Where is NASA going next with their rockets? A reading provides an overview of the next generation of rockets for space exploration. A full-page diagram gives the reader a scaled perspective of what this rocket may look like, for both...
NASA
A Pictorial History of Rockets
3, 2, 1: Blast off! Take a look at the history of rockets through a camera lens. A set of 41 cards displays more than 2,000 years of rockets, from their use as toys to space flight.Â
NASA
Rocket Races
And they are off! Using Styrofoam meat trays and balloons, individuals build racers that demonstrate Newton's Third Law of Motion. Pupils run their racers three times and make improvements between each trial. To conclude the activity,...
NASA
Water Rocket Construction
What are the basics for building a rocket out of a two-liter bottle? The procedures outline the basics to create an air- and water-powered bottle rocket. Prior to launching the rockets, teams perform safety checks to ensure their designs...
K20 LEARN
Periodic Shuffle: Introduction to Periodicity and Electron Configuration
No matter how you shuffle the elements, their electron configurations keep them in the same order. How can that be? Introduce the concept of periodicity through a instructional activity that combines inquiry, discussion, and comparison....
K20 LEARN
Microbes and Manure = Biofuel
Waste not, want not! Science scholars explore manure as an alternative energy source through reading and experimentation. Groups construct their own biofuel digesters and observe the process of methane production. The teacher's guide...
K20 LEARN
The Attraction is REAL
How attractive is your intermolecular forces lesson plan? Draw your class in with an activity that includes research, presentation, and demonstrations. Chemistry scholars work together to create claims about the each intermolecular...
K20 LEARN
It's Alive! Or, Is It?
Seems like a fairly simple question—until you begin asking your class! Get pupils acquainted with the characteristics of life through pairs classification, discussion, and scientific reading. The lesson plan, part of the K20 series, also...
American Institute of Physics
The Physicist's War: Dr. Herman Branson and the Scientific Training of African Americans during World War II
The mobilization of soldiers for World War II resulted in a worker shortage in the defense industries, especially in the fields of physics and other sciences. The Engineering, Science, and Management War Training program (ESMWT) was...
American Institute of Physics
African American Physicists in the 1960s
Physicists Herman Branson and Tannie Stovall provide young scholars with two very different perceptions of the status of African American physicists in the 1960s. After reading and comparing the bios of these two men, class members read...
American Institute of Physics
The Physical Sciences at Women's Colleges
After a brief introduction to the history of women's colleges in the United States and a discussion of the resistance such institutions faced, young scientists investigate seven traditionally women's colleges and their physics programs....
American Institute of Physics
Eunice Foote: Scientist and Suffragette
The greenhouse effect and climate change are hot topics in today's news. Young scientists may be surprised to learn that the concept is not a new one. In fact, Eunice Newton Foote, scientist, inventor, and suffragette, discovered the...