In this activity, students explore the effect of chemical erosion on statues and monuments. They use chalk to see what happens when limestone is placed in liquids with different pH values. They also learn several things that engineers are doing to reduce the effects of acid rain.

Students experiment with a new material—aerogel. Aerogel is a synthetic (human-made) porous ultra-light (low-density) material, in which the liquid component of a gel is replaced with a gas. In this activity, student pairs use aerogel to simulate the environmental engineering application of cleaning up oil spills. In a simple and fun way, this activity incorporates density calculations, the material effects of surface area, and hydrophobic and hydrophilic properties.

This is a series of activities demonstrating that air has mass, takes up space, and can exert a force on objects enough to lift them.

This is a series of investigations about air and its properties. How air exists all around us, and things it is capable of doing.

This is an inquiry activity that relies of pervious understanding of balancing and weighing to introduce a properties of air.

Students are introduced to the concept of engineering biological organisms and studying their growth to be able to identify periods of fast and slow growth. They learn that bacteria are found everywhere, including on the surfaces of our hands. Student groups study three different conditions under which bacteria are found and compare the growth of the individual bacteria from each source. In addition to monitoring the quantity of bacteria from differ conditions, they record the growth of bacteria over time, which is an excellent tool to study binary fission and the reproduction of unicellular organisms.

This activity is a scientific investigation focusing on inquiry after using the Foss Water Kit. The students will pose a question, create a procedure and produce a poster showing their findings.

This activity is a lab project where students observe what happens when you try to mix oil and water. It can also be used to work with density.

Students learn about atoms and their structure (protons, electrons, neutrons) — the building blocks of matter. They see how scientific discoveries about atoms and molecules influence new technologies developed by engineers.

Working in teams of three, students perform quantitative observational experiments on the motion of LEGO MINDSTORMS(TM) NXT robotic vehicles powered by the stored potential energy of rubber bands. They experiment with different vehicle modifications (such as wheel type, payload, rubber band type and lubrication) and monitor the effects on vehicle performance. The main point of the activity, however, is for students to understand that through the manipulation of mechanics, a rubber band can be used in a rather non-traditional configuration to power a vehicle. In addition, this activity reinforces the idea that elastic energy can be stored as potential energy.

This investigation will have students testing how heating and cooling can change the state of matter. They will test a variety of materials determine whether a change takes place through heating/cooling.

This activity provides students with the opportunity to gather data from a controlled experiment setting, interpret their findings and use the data to draw conclusions to solve a mystery.

Students will compare ingredients in two different pancake recipes, then taste the difference. We will talk about the chemical reaction that happened when the recipes are mixed and why there are bubbles in the pancakes.

Students are introduced to chemical engineering and learn about its many different applications. They are provided with a basic introduction to matter and its different properties and states. An associated hands-on activity gives students a chance to test their knowledge of the states of matter and how to make observations using their five senses: touch, smell, sound, sight and taste.

This activity is a classroom lab where students observe and classify chemical and physical changes using the five characteristics of a chemical change, interpret their findings, and use evidence to support their findings.

This activity provides a demonstration and lab exploration of one of the main "building blocks" of the periodic table of elements: chlorine. During the lab, students compare physical and chemical properties of chlorine compounds.

This lesson has students solving the mystery of a note by conducting chromatography. They will test different washable markers and see that different marker colors are made up of various pigments. They will compare and contrast the note chromatography with other chromatography results from a variety of markers.

This is a laboratory investigation where students will use the scientific method to solve a new, experimental question in chromatography.

An elementary review activity for chemistry vocabulary, tools, and concepts used with the classroom science curriculum.