Crystals are more than meets the eye! Can learners tell them apart simply by observation? As they examine five samples with a magnifier, they find that appearance alone is not enough. This serves as an introduction to a mini unit on...

As a stand-alone or as part of the intended unit, this is a valid investigation of what causes condensation to occur.  By limiting the amount of air around a cold cup of water and comparing it to one out in the open, they find that...

Fifth graders evaluate evidence that indicates a physical change has occurred. In this colonial living lesson, 5th graders explore the science involved in the making of items used in colonial life, such as, bread, butter, soap, candles,...

In this chemical reactions worksheet, students read about the differences between physical and chemical changes in substances. Then students identify situations as either an example of physical or chemical change. Students learn how to...

In this chemical reaction worksheet, students are given the details of an experiment where sodium chloride and silver nitrate are mixed in a chemical reaction. Students answer nine questions about the chemical reaction, they determine...

Students investigate chemical reactions. In this chemistry instructional activity, students burn magnesium and record the mass. Students list five chemical reactions they see everyday.

Students determine the base metals and surface metals in a penny. In this analysis of metals lesson plan, students determine the density of five pennies minted in different years. They use different chemicals such as hydrochloric acid,...

How do Earth's changes affect humans? Pupils learn about physical and chemical changes on Earth and how they lead to erosion, earthquakes, and volcanoes. Using the text, they also explore the concepts of electricity and magnetism by...

Bring A Charlie Brown Christmas to social studies, language arts, math, science, and art class! Learners ponder the meaning of Christmas trees, write about Christmas during the original release of the television special,...

Wow! Colorful and simple, these 160 slides introduce the various forms of energy, along with a relevant image. Some of the images are animations, which help beginning physical scientists to visualize the flow of electrons or energy! This...

In this matter and chemical changes worksheet, learners write symbols and formulas for 2 chemical reactions. They write words for 1 chemical reaction given in symbols and formulas. They draw a diagram representing a chemical reaction and...

Students explore mechanical and chemical weathering at stations. They articulate some mechanisms of chemical and mechanical weathering through exploration in a lab. Students stations describe how chemical weathering differs from...

Physical science scholars discover an array of heat sources. They experiment to connect radiation to heat. They begin to understand thermal equilibrium. Then, they test to see if mass affects the rate of temperature change. Choose a few,...

What's the matter? Gas, solid, liquid, or plasma. The presentation covers how to describe and identify matter, changes in matter, types of matter, measuring matter, particles of matter, Democritus, and John Dalton's Atomic Theory.

Students recognize that some changes to matter are reversible and some are not.  In this matter lesson, students experiment a physical and chemical change. Students record experiment results in their science journals. Students act...

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...

The Law of Conservation of Matter can be complex for young scientists to fully grasp. Use this experiment to help simplify the process as pupils perform two experiments to determine mass: one that melts a substance and the other that...

Excite classes with a STEM project-based learning lesson covering chemical reactions. Groups study the different types through simulations and hands-on activities. They pick one type (synthesis, decomposition, single displacement, double...

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...

Consider our energy sources: wood, coal, oil, uranium. Learners compare the pollution to energy produced for each. They practice fractional distillation of an alcohol/water mixture to simulate the process of refining crude oil....

Do all liquids evaporate at the same rate? Young scientists observe the evaporation rate of three different liquids. They measure the time, the temperature, and the change in energy. After comparing the chemical formulas, scholars...

After challenging themselves to correctly choose the form of erosion and length of time required for a given landform to develop, earth science class members model mechanical and chemical weathering with various lab demonstrations over...

While this resource does not provide problems for chemistry learners to solve, it outlines skills that they should have and concepts that they should grasp. Topics include thermodynamics, periodicity, redox equilibria, transition metals,...

Students identify the physical and chemical properties and explore the differences.  In physical and chemical property instructional activity students test polymers for the differences between the physical and chemical properties,...