Polymers are an important part of our day-to-day lives, but how much do your pupils know about them? Learn the basics and beyond in a series of activities designed to build skills in observation, planning, organic chemistry, and bonding.

After reading about polymer materials, engineer trainees examine how plastics have been integrated into everyday products. In groups, they compile a list of products made entirely without plastics and then, as a closing activity, try to...

Students create a polymer out of glue, water, and borax. They discuss the resulting substance and perform several experiments with it.

From the start of the Industrial Revolution, it only took 147 years for someone to invent plastic. This may seem like a long time, but in the history of inventing or discovering new materials, this is incredibly fast. An informative and...

From molecules to nanotubes, an engaging unit explores the world of tiny science. Fifteen hands-on experiments and lessons engage young scientists as they learn chemistry. Discussions, worksheets, and data analysis reinforce the concepts...

Students are able to give specific examples of what to do and what not to do during given safety situations, and classify materials as metals, polymers, ceramics/glass, or composites. They are able to distinguish between chemical and...

Students are able to identify start and stop sequences in DNA. They are able to model using restriction enzyme and ligase to remove sections of DNA and reattach them. Students are introduced to the process of recombinat DNA through the...

The Great Pacific Garbage Patch is one of several garbage patches around the world where garbage accumulates naturally. As part of a GIS unit that combines oceanography, environmental science, and life science, class members investigate...

Sometimes it's okay to eat your science experiment. A hands-on activity has pupils create models for algae to learn about its cellular structure. The best part of the experiment? The resulting juice-filled gels are edible—yum!

How do green plastics reduce waste and environmental pollution? Budding scientists create and test a variety of compounds used in green plastics during an insightful experiment. Beginning with startling statistics and ending with...

Stephen Perry invented and patented the modern rubber band in 1845. Young scientists put his discovery to work as they use rubber bands to observe entropy and enthalpy. They determine the change in free energy to figure out if it...

Students identify and use the elements of the scientific inquiry to solve problems. They explain concepts about the structure and properties of matter. Pupils write an explanation of polymers and how the characteristic of polymers...

Students investigate the development of plastics in the twentieth century. In this plastics activity, students complete image based discussion activities for the pictures and methods of polymers. Students create an object timeline...

Learners build anatomically correct dragonflies of polymer clay, use vocabulary for body parts, and define the function of the body parts as adaptations for survival.

Cookies are definitely important for scientific learning. To study aerogels, future engineers use chocolate chip cookie dough to make models. Their task is to design a process that removes the chocolate chips from the cookie dough,...

We have all heard that we are what you eat, but what are we eating? An informative lesson opens with a discussion of the foods pupils have recently eaten. Then, young scientists perform four experiments on seven...

Carbon, the base for all organic compounds, exists in nature in its purest form as graphite or diamonds. The 25th lesson in a series of 36 teaches pupils the nomenclature of organic compounds. Learners read about how to use the IUPAC...

Mold your learners into materials engineers. Using glue, Borax, and water, scholars create a viscoelastic material. But your class might know it by another name—Silly Putty.

Young scholars explain the basic concepts of polymerization. Students participate in a lab to create a crude preparation of carboxyl esterase and test its effectiveness in reducing the residual monomer in an emulsion such as paint.

Students examine the law of conservation of momentum. In this physics lesson plan, students play marbles in order to compare the mass of the marble and velocities effects. Students receive directions of the marbles game and collect data...

Students study life forms in coral reefs. In this ocean life activity, students study life in coral reefs as they create a coral reef sculpture.