Graphing: Candy Data

This is a pretty classic activity for students learning to graph (but older students who are reviewing graphing enjoy it too)...

Each student needs a snack-size pack of candy that comes in multiple colors: M&Ms, Skittles, Smarties, etc.

Sort the candy by color, then graph - bar graph, pictograph, pie chart or all of the above.

Website: Middle School Science Yahoo Group

Consider joining the Middle School Science Yahoo Group.  It's a very active discussion group founded by Liz LaRosa of middleschoolscience.com.  From the group description:

Need a place to bounce ideas around or have questions that need to be answered? This is the place where science teachers can communicate with each other and exchange ideas or give that much needed support. If you are a 6th, 7th, or 8th grade science teacher, this is the place for you. Join our new community where people will understand you when you start talking about Newton's Laws, atomic mass, or golgi apparatus!

It's really an enjoyable group to follow.  You can read the messages on the website, get daily emails containing the whole day's messages sent to you, or get the individual messages sent to your email.  In order to reply to messages or ask questions of your own, you'll need to have a Yahoo id/email.  If you just want to read the messages on the site, you don't need to - it's a public group. 

Technically, I've been a member of this group for a long time, but admittedly, for most of that time I never even opened the emails, they just accumulated in my inbox.  Recently I've become a regular reader of the email digests and have already scored several great ideas.  So, I'm kicking myself for everything I've missed out on because it sat in my email forever until it was deleted because my inbox was too full.  Oh well... I can always search the archives. 

There are also Yahoo groups for high school science, elementary school science (FYI: the Science Matters group was not founded by myself, nor do I have anything to do with running or moderating it), and lots of homeschooling topics.

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Momentum in a Collision

Students use simple materials - rulers and marbles - to explore the conservation of momentum. 

Each pair of students will need 2 rulers - make sure the rulers are of the variety that have a groove down the middle.

Students set up a simple ramp by placing one end of one ruler on a textbook.  The second ruler is placed at the end of the ramp ruler, taking care to line up the center grooves.  You can use a small piece of tape to keep the rulers in place.

A marble is placed where the two rulers meet.  A second marble, the same size as the first, is held near the top of the ramp.  The marble on the ramp is released and students observe what happens to both the first marble and the second marble.

Students record how far each marble traveled after the collision (this may necessitate some additional rulers or meter sticks). 

This first round may require several trials, to find the optimum spot for releasing the marble.  After that spot is determined, the marble should always be released from that same spot. 

After getting a feel for what happens with 2 marbles of the same size, the experimentation begins.

If you have larger and smaller marbles available, students can try various combinations of the marbles:

--a regular marble hitting a large marble

--a large marble hitting a regular marble

--a small marble hitting a regular marble

--a regular marble hitting a small marble

--a large marble hitting a small marble

--a small marble hitting a large marble

If all your marbles are of the same size, use multiple marbles:

--one marble hitting two marbles

--two marbles hitting one marble

Microscopes: Onion Skin Lab

One variety of plant cells…

Cut some onion into small pieces and separate each layer. Each layer of the onion contains a thin layer of cells that can easily (usually!) be peeled off the rest of the onion. Place the layer of cells onto a clean slide, make sure not to fold the onion skin over on itself. Place a drop of iodine on top of the onion skin and then a cover slip. View under the microscope. You will note regular, rectangular shape of the plant cells, the cell wall and the nucleus.

One question to ask your students…. They are plant cells, why are there no chloroplasts? [Think about where onions grow…]

Layers of the Earth: Another Model

This model of the Layers of the Earth comes from M. Poarch of science-class.net.  I've tried and tried to link to the original instructions, but am getting error messages, so I will recreate the instructions for you.  If I later find the link to be working, I'll edit this to add that information.

You'll need blue, brown, yellow and black construction paper, as well as scissors, rulers and glue.  If you have compasses (the kind for drawing circles), and your students are suitably able to use them, they would make everything a bit easier.

Cut out a blue 22 cm circle, labeled "6 - 40 miles" to represent the crust.

Cut out a brown 18 cm circle, labeled "1800 miles" to represent the mantle.

Cut out a yellow 15 cm circle, labeled "1375 miles" to represent the outer core.

Cut out a black 7 cm circle, labeled "1750 miles" to represent the inner core.

These numbers are what was included in the original instructions.  As you work on it, you will notice a glaring problem with the numbers...

You can work to fix the numbers, or you can wait to see if your students notice the problem - it's a good launching point for a variety of discussions. 

I like to have the students evaluate the pros and cons of this type of model, as well as compare it to the pros and cons of the Layers of the Earth bookmarks made previously.

Does Clay Float?

Ask your students if they think clay will float or sink in water. 

Take a lump of clay and drop it into a beaker of water.  It sinks.

Give each student a similarly sized lump of clay and challenge the students to come up with a shape that will allow the clay to float.

Balancing Equations: Class Survey

Make a classroom set of Balanced/Unbalanced placards - the word "Balanced" on one side and "Unbalanced" on the other side.  I printed the words in two different colors (you could print them in black on different colored paper) and slid the papers into plastic page protectors. 

Each student gets a placard.  You write a chemical equation on the board (or project it) and students need to determine if the equation is balanced or not.  On the count of 3, students hold up the appropriate side of their placard. 

By using two different colors, you can quickly survey the results.  A few rounds of this game and can tell you who understands what a balanced equation looks like and who's struggling.