Do-It-Yourself Snowflakes
Snow delights most students and frustrates most teachers. Please everyone when you create snowflakes in the comfort of your classroom. Introduction Growing snowflakes in a bottle can be a fun demonstration to show your students, or they can grow their own snowflakes in class or at home. This is accomplished by using household materials and […]
The Anatomy of a Human Leg
Sculpting the musculature of the lower leg Human anatomy is often taught using a systems approach–skeletal system, nervous system, digestive system, muscles, and so forth. In a living organism, all those systems seamlessly interact, but finding student activities that integrate body systems can be a frustrating task. This activity integrates the skeletal system with musculature. […]
Borax Snowflake
This lab activity will guarantee a snow day! Teach solutions and crystallization while making snowflake decorations for your classroom. Looking for an activity to do that will guarantee a snow day? Help your students learn about solutions and crystallization while making snowflake decorations for your classroom. Borax is the common name for sodium tetraborate decahydrate, […]
Autumn Leaves Craft Project
This activity takes a look at autumn leaves as objects of aesthetic beauty and scientific interest. For this activity, each of your students uses colorful autumn leaves they have collected to create a decorative arrangement on a sheet of waxed paper. You then cover each arrangement with another sheet of waxed paper and seal the […]
Holiday Demonstrations and Activities
As the holidays arrive, students tend to become distracted. Performing demonstrations and doing fun class activities can help keep their minds focused on important science concepts. You can create a memorable learning experience out of this festive holiday with a discussion of chemistry topics such as redox reactions, indicators, polymers, properties of matter, and phase […]
How to Make Slime
An Introduction to Polymer Chemistry Whether you want to introduce students to polymers, engage them with a fun science demo, or simply have the most popular station at your school’s science night, making slime is always a great idea. This non-toxic slime is easy to make and keeps the mess to a minimum. Turn the […]
Four Engaging Lab Activities for Spectroscopy
Help your students understand spectroscopy with these hand-on lab activities. Here are 4 engaging hands-on lab activities from Thermo Fisher Scientific that use the Spectronic® 200 Spectrophotometer to help your students understand spectroscopy. Each activity has been fully tested to ensure reliable, accurate results. Extensive background material is provided for each experimental concept, including the […]
Nomenclature and Bonding Basics of Ionic Compounds
How to spot ionic compounds Students often struggle to identify types of compounds and name them appropriately. The first step is to identify if a compound is primarily ionic or covalent. Ionic compounds are often solid with crystalline forms. Covalent compounds on the other hand, can be gases, liquids, or solids and the solid state […]
Bloody Chlorophyll Lab
“Scare” your students by exciting the electrons of chlorophyll molecules with black light, causing the molecules to release their energy in the form of “bloody” red light in a darkened classroom. Sunlight is white light that is actually a mixture of different wavelengths of light from the visible light spectrum. Photosynthetic plants gather energy from […]
Kool-Aid® Chromatography
Chromatography is an important technique in the chemistry lab. This activity uses a popular beverage for a safe, engaging lab experience for students of all ages. Background What makes grape-flavored Kool-Aid® purple? Food dye, of course. Color additives are common in the foods on supermarket shelves. From foods and drinks to cosmetics, pharmaceuticals, and toiletries, […]