Curated OER
Biomass: The Energy of the Future
Students research renewable fuels. In this alternative energy activity, students compile information and create a comparison chart on renewable resources. This activity includes additional suggested readings, vocabulary, and a Biomass...
American Chemical Society
Changing the Density of a Liquid - Heating and Cooling
During a unit on density, pupils ponder whether or not temperature affects this property. By carefully inserting blue cold water and yellow hot water into a room-temperature sample, they will see the answer. Make sure to have done the...
Curated OER
Identifying Food Nutrients
Students pretend they are a food-quality tester. They develop a kit to test food for sugars, starches, proteins and lipids. They answer questions to complete the lesson plan.
Curated OER
Ziplock Chemistry
Students investigate various chemical reactions when creating mixtures in ziplock baggies. In this chemistry lesson, students will recognize various chemical reactions and cite evidence. Safety and assessment strategies are included in...
Curated OER
Breaking It Down
Seventh graders explain the mechanism of digestion. In this biology lesson, 7th graders perform an iodine test to check for the presence of starch. They discuss how energy travels through the food chain.
Curated OER
Stomach Chemistry
Fifth graders compare physical and chemical changes. They perform a simulation experiment/activity that replicates what happens in the stomach as food is digested by stomach acids.
Curated OER
Bounce!
Learners investigate the relationship between potential and kinetic energy. In this energy lesson students investigate the height a ball will bounce when dropped from various heights.
Curated OER
Energy Defined
Fourth graders complete activities to study the sources of energy and forms. In this energy lesson, 4th graders discuss the origin of energy and define it. Students participate in several experiments to further study energy including a...
Curated OER
Does Dye Die...? : Foreign Chemicals In Our Environment
Students work as scientists to simulate testing on soil, plants, and water for foreign chemicals through this series of experiments.
Chymist
Alum from Waste Aluminum Cans
Turn aluminum cans into pickles! An engaging experiment has learners chemically change aluminum into a substance with many purposes including the manufacture of pickles. After performing the chemical conversion, the experimenters verify...
Curated OER
Circle of Life
Learners consider why we eat and where our food obtains its energy. They illustrate food chains that might be found on an open field, dissect owl pellets, identify the remains of animals in the pellets, watch videos and participate in...
Curated OER
Do Plants Eat?
Students explain that photosynthesis is a process that plants use to convert light energy into glucose. They summarize photosynthesis as a chemical process in which the plant uses carbon dioxide and water to form glucose and oxygen.
Curated OER
How Long Will It Last?
Students turn on a flashlight and leave it on until the energy is used up (12-36) hours. They estimate or preduct how long they think the energy in the batteries will last. They then estimate how long a birthday candle will burn, giving...
Curated OER
Cells and Chemical Changes
The billions of cells that make up all living things are the focus of this resource. Understanding the differences between the cells that make up plants and animals is an important distinction; it is covered here quite-well. Some...
Curated OER
Producers and Energy Transfer
Fifth graders discuss the relationship between producers, consumers, and decomposers as they look at the energy pyramid. While working in small groups, they create an ecosystem that includes all or some of the given categories, and they...
Curated OER
The Exceptional Nature of Cellulose
Students observe the affects of a substance's composition and structure have on its solubility. In this cellulose lesson students compare the amount of energy required to dissolve mono-saccharides with that required to dissolve...
Curated OER
Food or Fuel?
Students describe the process of transesterification utilizing chemical formulas. They construct and compare models of chemical structure of the substances involved in biodiesel production such as: alcohols, alkenes, alkanes, alkyls,...
Curated OER
It's Alive! Using Microorganisms in Cooking
Students create a KWL chart about food. In this chemistry lesson, students differentiate physical and chemical changes. They explain how microorganisms are used in food preparation.
Curated OER
Circle of Life
Here is a well-designed science lesson that shows learners that everything that organisms do in ecosystems, including running, breathing, burrowing, growing, requires energy. After a thorough discussion of their own eating and drinking...
LABScI
Atomic Structure and the Periodic Table of Elements: The Secret Agent Lab
Food always gets attention! Model atomic structure using fruit loops to represent the subatomic particles. After building models, scholars create ionic bonds using their models. Finally, they use these concepts to create a periodic table.
Curated OER
Kraut Lab
Students explore the process of fermentation through the process of making Sauerkraut. Students use their observational skills and their five senses to create an articulate description of their lab created sauerkraut. They discuss the...
Curated OER
Enzymes in Action: An Inquiry Approach to the Effects of Enzymes
Students experiment with enzymes as key components of chemical reactions in all living things through this series of lessons.
Curated OER
Does Dye Die? Foreign Chemicals in Our Environment
Students conduct an experiment to observe photolysis in the lab. In this chemistry lesson, students explain the mechanism behind photolysis. They test the impact of a non-toxic marker to plant metabolism.
Curated OER
Biology: Cells and Chemical Changes
Students explore the numerous functions of cells in both plants and animals. Following a pre-assessment, they construct cell models and examine onion cell slides stained with iodine or dye. After participating in experiments on how to...