If you have taught the first lesson in this mini unit, learners already know that cabbage juice and vinegar cause chemical changes in some materials. Now, they get a chance to use them to compare the liquids' reactions to five known and...

Looking for a terrific chemistry activity for your 5th graders? This one could be for you! After a teacher-led demonstration, learners are broken up into groups and perform an experiment using cabbage juice, water, window cleaner, and...

Want to add a wow factor to your current chemical changes lesson plan? Try a microscale experiment with colorful precipitates! Partnered learners conduct 10 single displacement reactions and record their observations.

Scientists can't observe bonds breaking or forming, so how do they distinguish between exothermic and endothermic reactions? Young scholars complete two experiments to do just that. They monitor temperature change and calculate the...

Super scientists visit ten stations to predict, observe, and draw conclusions about the physical and chemical changes that occur when different states of matter—liquid, solid, and gas—are placed under a variety of conditions. To...

Whoa! What just happened? That's right, change is everywhere. But what exactly is changing? Middle school science sleuths get to the bottom of the changes matter can experience. Through simple demonstrations, engaging videos, and an...

Alone, or as part of the intended unit on chemical reactions, this activity allows learners to experience an exothermic reaction. Here, learners add calcium chloride to a baking soda solution and watch the temperature rise! They will...

Now that learners have been exposed to chemical changes, they learn that some take in heat and therefore, decrease in temperature. The same reaction that they have been investigating between baking soda and vinegar is revisited,...

Though the publisher designated this unit for use with third through eighth grades, this particular lesson would be best used with middle schoolers due to the specific measurement skills required. Basically, they set up the reaction...

The more things change, the more they stay the same. This unit includes seven lessons starting with physical change and moving through to chemical change. Conservation of matter is explained clearly with multiple hands-on activities and...

By both demonstration and hands-on investigation, physical science fanatics come to know that some materials react when they come together. Adding vinegar to both baking soda and to baking powder, the difference between the two is clear....

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...

A demonstration of elephant toothpaste hooks pupils' interest as they complete multiple experiments with colors, smells, bubbles, and more. By the end, they understand the differences between physical and chemical changes in the world...

What better way is there to introduce conservation of mass than a few simple experiments? Young chemists conduct two chemical reactions, take the masses of reactants and products, then compare their results to determine...

Is there more to evaporation than just less liquid? Show young scientists the energy transformation that occurs during a phase change through a series of simple experiments. Lab partners place drops of water, ethanol, and ethoxyethane on...

The heat of solution measures how much thermal energy a dissolving substance consumes or gives off. The experiment demonstrates both endothermic and exothermic reactions. Scholars dissolve several substances, measure the temperature...

Conclude this chemical change unit by having your class combine two liquids that result in formation of a precipitate. The learners discover that chemical reactions result in new materials. Make sure to consider all of the preceding...

Henri-Louis Le Chatelier wrote many papers throughout his 85-year life, but he is remembered for one of his earliest discoveries, now known as Le Chatelier's Principle. The final lesson in an 11-part series encourages young chemists to...

Chemical and physical properties give compounds an identity. Learners use the identity of a compound to predict what it is. By performing different tests like solubility, flame, heat, and reactions, individuals attempt to identify an...

Designing the right package — it's more than a pretty picture. Challenge small groups to design a food package. They must consider the type of food they are packaging and the package's ability to control the physical and...

My room isn't messy — it's a scientific experiment in entropy! Scholars investigate entropy, enthalpy, and spontaneity through a guided procedure and set of questions. The lesson connects the Second Law of Thermodynamics, energy...

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...

Getting back to the beginning of the unit, learners use reactions with red cabbage juice to determine if solutions are acidic, neutral, or basic. This is a straightforward and classic investigation, but what you will appreciate is the...

Did you know strong bases can feel slippery and slimy? Lesson allows scholars to practice using the pH scale to identify acids and bases and their strengths. By changing the concentration of an acid and a base, they create the entire...