Curated OER
Make Your Own Temperature Scale
Differentiate between temperature and thermal energy. Your class will build a thermometer using simple materials and develop their own scale for measuring temperature. Discuss with your class and consider why engineers need to understand...
American Chemical Society
Temperature Affects Dissolving
Stir chocolate drink mix into hot and cold water to see if there is a difference in how quickly it dissolves. Number three in a six-lesson unit on dissolving, this installment investigates the effect of temperature. If you consult the...
Santa Monica College
Introducing Measurements in the Laboratory
We use basic units of measurement to break down things and communicate clearly. The first lesson in an 11-part series teaches the proper way to measure various items. It starts simply with measuring the dimensions and areas of geometric...
NEED Project
Calibrating Thermometers
Engage young scientists in the upper-elementary and middle school grades with this collection of simple experiments. Whether you're teaching about heat transfer, density, or potential energy this resource has a lab for you.
American Chemical Society
Change in Temperature - Endothermic Reaction
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,...
Curated OER
Measuring Solar Energy
Students study solar energy and how to measure it. In this energy sources lesson students complete a lab, obtain data and use that to convert surface temperature to energy.
Curated OER
The "Clock Reaction" Kinetics Lab
Students investigate the effects of temperature and concentration on the rate of reactions. In this "clock reaction" kinetics lesson plan, students change the concentration of one reactant and keep the second constant. An indicator is...
Curated OER
#24 How Much Air Is In Foamed Polystyrene Products?
Students are challenged to come up with a good estimate of the amount of air in foamed polystyrene products. They use this gas evolution experiment and as such have students measure the gas generated when foamed polystyrene is degassed...
Nuffield Foundation
Measuring the Rate of Metabolism
Plant respiration can be a difficult concept for young biologists to grasp; with a hands-on lab, learners can collect and graph data, then calculate the metabolism rate for the plants they studied. If you do not have a respirometer,...
Curated OER
Hypothermia: Temperature Changes Under Varying Conditions
Students conduct an experiment to determine what type of clothing would be most suitable for outdoor activities. They determine the temperature changes of the skin under various wet clothing materials and graph the temperature changes. ...
Curated OER
Measuring Humidity
Learners measure humidity in the classroom. In this weather lesson, students use a psychrometer to measure the humidity in the classroom. Learners complete a lab packet.
Curated OER
Food Safety Lab
Students use the scientific method to investigate the role of temperature in microbial growth. In this food preservation lesson, students set up an experiment with fruit in room temperature and in a refrigerator. They record the...
Curated OER
Enzyme Labs Using Jello
High schoolers test for the presence of enzymes in fruit and the specificity of those enzymes, as well as to identify and show the susceptibility of enzymes to certain environmental factors (temperature and pH) originating in the...
NOAA
Ocean Layers I
How is it possible for ocean water to have layers? The sixth installment of a 23-part NOAA Enrichment in Marine sciences and Oceanography (NEMO) program investigates factors that cause different water densities to occur. Experiments...
Beyond Benign
The Heat Is On
Explore an exothermic reaction with a quick lab investigation. The activity builds on the previous lessons by examining an ingredient in many shampoos. Scholars record temperature data as sodium hydroxide and water interact.
Curated OER
More on Conduction and Convection
Why do some items feel colder when they are the same temperature? How should you keep your soda cold? What makes the wind blow? These are just some of the things middle schoolers discover when completing a lesson plan on conduction and...
Curated OER
Measuring the Effect of Adrenaline on the Heart Rate of Zebra Fish
Students investigate the heart beat of zebra fish in timed intervals. They record the heart beats and average three counts to display in their data tables. They repeat these steps increasing the adrenaline solution.
Space Awareness
Oceans as a Heat Reservoir
Oceans absorb half of the carbon dioxide and 80 percent of the greenhouse gases released into the atmosphere. Scholars learn how and why the oceans store heat more effectively than land and how they help mitigate global warming. Pupils...
Curated OER
Water in the Geosphere
Through a PowerPoint presentation and the embedded animation and video, earth science enthusiasts find out about the moisture in the soil beneath our feet. In the animation, follow a water molecule on its path through the water cycle. As...
Curated OER
Water Density and Salinity
Middle schoolers observe how different water densities control the depth at which different water masses occur. They explain one fact that they comprehend about salt water. Students comprehend that temperature and salinity affect the...
Curated OER
Molecular Movement in Water Part 1- Diffusion
Learners obseve and compare molecular movement within water at various temperatures and of varying salinity. They discuss the movement of water on a larger scale which can affect the movement and concentrations of microbial populations...
Curated OER
Graphing Toad/ Frog Respiration
Young scholars measure respiratory rates on live toads, and the effect water temperature has on their findings. For this scientific method lesson, students record their findings and present them in a graph, comparing the results.
Curated OER
Diving, Flying, & Climbing
Young scholars explore Boyle's Law. In this Boyle's Law lesson, students complete problems involving Boyle's Law. They examine the effects of Boyle's Law upon the human body. Young scholars use the Internet to complete a lab activity.
Curated OER
Glacier Dynamics
Young scholars create flubber glaciers. In this glacier dynamics activity, students experiment factors that may affect glacier speed. Factors include slope, ice temperature, and basal conditions. Young scholars develop hypothesis,...