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Exploring Air Resistance Investigate the relationship between velocity and air resistance. View »
Modeling the Coriolis Effect The Coriolis effect can be a tough concept to explain, but it's fairly easy to model. Try this simple and inexpensive balloon activity. 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 »
Air Pollution: Tropospheric Ozone, Particulates, and Indoor Carbon Dioxide "Bad" ozone, dangerous particulates, and significant CO2 buildup—in and around your school! Access a series of field tests students can use to measure your school’s tropospheric ozone levels and the number of deposited particulates in different locations, and to study how carbon dioxide concentrations indoors vary throughout the school day. View »
Imploding Soda Cans: An Inquiry Approach Your students have probably seen someone crush an empty beverage can with their bare hands, or have even crushed one themselves. But have they ever seen an open can seemingly crush itself, like magic, without the presence of a visible, physical force? 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 »
Experiencing Air Pollution Through Inquiry Inquiring minds want to know: how does air pollution effect plants? With this activity your students can learn about the acute effects caused by common urban pollutants. View »
One in a Million: Using Serial Dilutions to Understand Concentration In this activity, students will learn about concentration while performing a serial dilution. 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 »
Making a Scientific Claim: Ocean Acidification Students can use this graphic organizer to write an argument for decreasing atmospheric CO2. View »
The Ups and Downs of Weather Use this demonstration to show how temperature, pressure, and the Coriolis effect drive weather. 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 »
Elephant Toothpaste This demonstration showing the decomposition of hydrogen peroxide, catalyzed by iodide ions, provides students with visual evidence of a chemical reaction. View »