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Understanding the Periodic Table Looking for inexpensive ways to help students understand and appreciate how much information the periodic table provides? In these 2 activities, students discover for themselves several trends associated with the elements on the periodic table. View »
Periodic Table Mystery P is less dense than S. S is an alkali metal. E is a noble gas. In this activity, students generate a periodic table from clues and predict the missing properties of several elements based on the elements’ locations in the table. View »
Petri Dish Electrolysis Activity Introduce your students to reduction-oxidation reactions and some of the basic terms of electrochemistry (such as electrode potential, anode, and cathode) with this activity—creating electrolysis in a petri dish. View »
Plate Tectonics Activity Here is a fascinating activity that will help you give your students a better understanding of Earth's structure and how it creates tectonic plate movement. View »
Create Silver-Mirrored Christmas Ornaments with a Redox Reaction In this activity, you plate silver onto the interior surface of a glass vial via a redox reaction. View »
Single-replacement Silver Decorations For this single-replacement reaction, you immerse copper wire in silver nitrate. Crystals of silver metal form as the solution turns blue. View »
Chemoween and Other Spooky Science Treat your students to some spirited demos and hands-on activities, and celebrate Halloween as the finale to your October science explorations. View »
Volcano in the Classroom Here’s a safe, easy, and vivid interpretation of a classic activity that won’t break the budget. All you’ll need are a few common items—a beaker, sand, water, a candle, and a hot plate. View »
More Paper Clip Chemistry Who knew the common paper clip could be such a versatile teaching assistant? This activity uses several paper clip styles to help students understand empirical formulas and relative masses. View »
Molecular Geometry with Balloons For some students, molecular geometry can be tricky to understand, but with this hands-on, engaging activity, it doesn’t have to be. View »
The Lava Lamp Lab: A Guided-Inquiry Approach to Intermolecular Forces Remember that lava lamp you had? You and your students can use this lab to explore the fascinating world of intermolecular forces firsthand. View »
Teaching Chemistry with Manipulatives Manipulatives can help students (especially visual and tactile learners) understand abstract concepts by allowing them to “see” a chemical structure or process. We offer 2 ideas for creating manipulatives and how to use them. View »
Traffic Light Reaction This demonstration is a twist on the classic blue bottle reaction, and you use it to review reaction rates. View »
The Dogfish Shark—Structure and FUNction! Use this simple guide to connect form and function during your next dogfish dissection activity. View »
Eggsploring Enzymes Activity “Why do we need to learn this?” Answering this often-asked student question is easy when it comes to enzymes. Enzymes keep all living organisms alive! Use this enzymes activity to aid your study of digestion. View »
A New Approach to Teaching Atomic Theory For chemistry teacher Siobhan Julian, teaching the history of atomic theory by lecture “was dry and tedious and boring for everyone involved.” Then she took a fresh approach—one that focuses on doing science to learn science history. View »
Evaluating a Scientific Claim: Evaluating Lemonade as a Buffer Students can use this graphic organizer to evaluate a scientific claim about adding buffers to medicines. View »
Human Body: Digestive System Review Identify the locations, enzymes, and functions of organs in the digestive system with this graphic organizer. View »
Digestion Activity: Pathway and Enzymes Explore the intricacies of digestion and the roles of enzymes with this fill-in-the-blank activity. Includes an answer key. View »
Thermochemistry: An Endothermic Reaction In this thermochemistry demonstration, students observe an extreme, spontaneous endothermic reaction between 2 solid compounds, measure changes in temperature, and make observations. View »
Carbon Snake In this teacher-directed demonstration of an exothermic reaction, students observe the dehydration of a carbohydrate using concentrated sulfuric acid. View »
A Visual Introduction to Ionic and Net Ionic Equations With this activity students explore the phenomenon of chemical precipitation and construct an atomic level model of precipitation using ionic and net ionic equations. View »
Human Body: Integumentary System Review Review the structure and function of the integumentary system with this graphic organizer. View »
Cutaneous 2-Point Discrimination Explore the density of receptors in the skin on the hand with this activity. View »
Elephant Toothpaste This demonstration showing the decomposition of hydrogen peroxide, catalyzed by iodide ions, provides students with visual evidence of a chemical reaction. View »