Read Works
Read Works: Mix the Old With the New
[Free Registration/Login Required] An informational text about how cooking causes changes in matter. A question sheet is available to help students build skills in reading comprehension.
Utah Education Network
Uen: Science Detectives
Students are given a scenario for this lesson where they must use investigative skills like a detective would to decide whether changes that happen to objects in the story are physical or chemical. They then conduct an experiment with...
TeachEngineering
Teach Engineering: Mixtures and Solutions
This unit covers introductory concepts of mixtures and solutions. Students think about how mixtures and solutions, and atoms and molecules can influence new technologies developed by engineers. The first lesson explores the fundamentals...
PBS
Pbs: The Science of Fire
A virtual experiment bringing you to the center of combustion! Understand how fire ignites, what makes a flame, and how molecules rearrange themselves in chemical reactions. This interactive activity gives students four different...
Science and Mathematics Initiative for Learning Enhancement (SMILE)
Smile: Somethin' Sweet
This site provides a lesson plan using candy making to demonstrate physical and chemical changes in matter. Includes directions to make caramel and rock candy.
Other
Western Reserve Public Media: Math & Science Gumbo: Bake Shop
In these two lessons, students use pretzels and balloons to learn about reversible and non-reversible physical and chemical changes.
Science and Mathematics Initiative for Learning Enhancement (SMILE)
Smile: States of Matter
A comprehensive lesson plan site that contains a number of activities to aid in teaching about the states and properties of matter and the difference between a physical and chemical change.
Science Education Resource Center at Carleton College
Serc: Mn Step: States of Matter
In this activity, students investigate physical and chemical changes in the states of matter for water. They collect data and record their observations.
Science Education Resource Center at Carleton College
Serc: Does Salt & Vinegar Have an Effect on Pennies?
During this lab students will experiment to see whether a salt and vinegar solution can clean a tarnished penny. Included on site is lesson plan and student worksheet.
Concord Consortium
Concord Consortium: Stem Resources: Melting Ice
Using temperature probes, students will monitor the temperature of melting ice cubes in different situations. This lab activity, allows students to view the procedure and answer questions online that can be saved and evaluated by the...
Scholastic
Scholastic: Dirtmeister's Science Lab: Matter
Step into Dirtmeister's Science Lab as he explores the challenge question: "How can you force a physical change in matter?" Learn about matter, make your predictions and then do the experiment.
Science Education Resource Center at Carleton College
Serc: Mn Step: Shrinky Dink Chemistry
In this lesson, students first learn about thermoplastics, and about polystyrene in particular, which is a #6 plastic. They will then heat different #6 plastics to create shrinky dinks. As they are heated, they shrink, which is a...
Utah Education Network
Uen: Diaper Inquiry
Students investigate the technology of a diaper. They consider various physical traits of a diaper and then come up with an investigation to test some of these traits.
Other
Educational Innovations: Diaper Polymer Activities [Pdf]
What can you do with diaper polymer? Check out these six quick student experiments involving the chemical used in diapers.
TeachEngineering
Teach Engineering: Package Those Foods!
This activity provides students with the opportunity to create a food package for a specific food. The students have three components to focus on in the design of their food package. The package will have to keep the food clean, protect...
Other
Homewood City Schools: Classification of Matter
This Homewood City Schools site has an outline form and contains lots of information about the classification and composition of matter. Some of the topics covered are matter and temperature, changes in state, composition of matter, and...
Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator Facility
Jefferson Lab: Reading Passage: Properties and Changes
Read and fill in the blanks of this passage properties and changes. Each blank has a dropdown menu with choices. When you finish, click CHECK MY ANSWERS. If you pick a wrong answer, the right answer will be displayed along with your choice.
Upper Canada District School Board
Tom Stretton's Advanced Placement Chemistry: Liquids and Solids
Take on this self-guided advanced level e-text, and learn about the chemical and physical structure of liquids and solids.
Other
The Science House: Combustion
In this experiment, students will observe that the weight of the product of combustion is greater than that of the starting material. Teacher's notes address the key concepts of this experiment.
Center of Science and Industry
Cosi Columbus: A Swell Activity With Beans [Pdf]
Learn about absorption in this hands-on science experiment. Includes full list of materials, procedures, and scientific explanation of what happens to different types of beans as they soak in water in a test vial.
Science Education Resource Center at Carleton College
Serc: Investigating Plastic Polymers: Building a Model
Young scholars will use their prior knowledge about changes of matter including physical and chemical changes from the Houghton Mifflin science curriculum. Students will create a hypothesis to test the physical properties of materials...
Texas Education Agency
Texas Gateway: Diggin' Into Digestion
In this lesson, students learn about physical and chemical changes during digestion through a variety of activities.
TeachEngineering
Teach Engineering: All Fat Is Not Created Equally!
Students learn that fats found in the foods we eat are not all the same; they discover that physical properties of materials are related to their chemical structures. Provided with several samples of commonly used fats with different...
Science Buddies
Science Buddies: Build a 'Breath Spray Bomb' to Study Small Explosion
Hold onto your hats. In this science fair project, you will make a device that sends a film canister across the room with a small chemical explosion. The energy for the explosion is derived from the combustion of ethanol. You will...