Seventh graders construct a lunch box that maintains functional temperature zones and does not allow heat transfer between the zones. They examine the transfer of heat, the capacity of certain materials to hold heat, and how the...

Students photograph five objects from a bag and five objects from the outdoors. Students categorize things by living and non-living and by properties such as color, size, structure and needs. Students draw conclusions about the basic...

Fourth graders examine soil to find its contents, and how much water and air they can measure.  In this soil composition lesson, 4th graders perform three experiments and record their results.  In one experiment they examine...

Second graders investigate the physical properties of cantaloupe using their senses. In this life science lesson, 2nd graders estimate the weight of their sample. They get it's actual weight and compare it with their estimate.

Third graders experiment with chemical reactions and examine what happens to the atoms when different reactions occur.  In this matter lesson students divide into groups and complete a lab experiment. 

Young scholars explore visosity of matter. They run tests of various liquid substances to observe and compare rates of flow of different substances. In addition, they relate viscosity to distance travelled by sample substances.

Learners investigate elements by by defining scientific terms.  In this Periodic Table of Elements lesson, students utilize a glass of water, and powdered fruit drink to perform a lab activity demonstrating properties of certain...

Students discover the forms water can take. In this hands-on science lesson, students examine how water can change from a solid to a liquid and then back again.

Young scholars study the process of water filtration in a three-part STEM lesson. After analyzing samples of dirty water, teams design and build their own filtration systems and measure their efficiency.

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...

Generating a system of shapes. Groups work together to create a number system using three different shapes as symbols. The groups should come up with the rules that generate all the possible permutations of the three shapes.

Groups use a marble to determine the viscosity of household fluids. The procedure calls for pupils to measure the amount of time it takes a marble to fall a specified distance in the fluids. Using unit conversions and algebra, the teams...

Note that this lesson is best paired with the preceding lesson in the unit. In that lesson, elementary physical scientists observed that the color coating of M&Ms® candies do not mix when dissolved off of the chocolate surface. Now...

Watch budding chemists interact with the resource on chemical interactions. In the unit, six lessons provide an overview of basic chemistry, from understanding the development of atomic theory to distinguishing between ionic and covalent...

No need to tread lightly on this piece of tire rubber! Polymer science pupils observe the behavior of rubber with an interesting interactive. Users apply three different levels of force to a sample, then watch how they affect the polymer...

What is the difference between chemistry and green chemistry? The first lesson plan of the 24-part green chemistry series introduces scholars to its 12 principles. The tendency is toward nontoxic materials and sustainability.

Plastic is fantastic! But, why does it behave the way it does? Science sleuths investigate the behavior of plastic in response to applied forces using an interactive. The resource allows users to bend a sample of plastic using three...

Keep your class afloat with a hands-on density instructional activity. The challenging instructional activity has learners experiment with different materials to compare their densities. They learn that increasing or decreasing the...

Yellow and blue make green in a colorful lesson on liquid solutions. The seventh installment of a 16-part Inquiry to Action series asks pupils to mix different-colored solutions and record their observations. They then use their...

In this separating solids experiment worksheet, students follow the procedures to find what physical properties could be used to separate a mixture of pepper, salt, sand and iron filings.

In this science worksheet, students read about chemical changes. Students also answer 3 comprehension questions about the reading.

In this chemistry review worksheet, students read about atoms and the periodic table and they complete a chart using the periodic table to find the atomic number, atomic mass and group of given elements. Students answer 5 questions about...

Young scholars study reaction rates, what determines how fast a reaction happens and how the chemical changes occur.  For this reactions lesson students complete a lab where they use Alka-Seltzer to observe reaction rate and create...

Students use funnels to put the five solid materials into clear bottles with caps. They observe how the particulate materials look, sound, and move when they shake and roll the bottle. Finally, students write "sound and touch" poetry.