This fun — but gooey — experiment with cornstarch has students in grades 3-8 creating, then testing, a batch of cornstarch ooze. They learn about the unusual properties of this and other non-Newtonian fluids.

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Filed under: Class Activities, Grades 6-8, Grades K-5 | 1 Comment »

Tags: Chemistry, Class Activities, Grades 3-8, Polymers, Slime

Students in grades 5-12 try to build the tallest structure they can using only two sheets of newspaper. As they do so, they learn about building design.

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Filed under: Class Activities, Grades 6-8, Grades 9-12, Grades K-5 | 1 Comment »

Tags: Architecture, Building Design, Class Activities, Grades 5-12

In this Techbridge lesson, students in grades 5-12 collaborate to solve a fun engineering challenge: to create a device capable of transferring a set of “radioactive” golf balls from one bag to another – with no human contact. Which team can complete the task in the shortest amount of time possible?

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Filed under: Class Activities, Grades 6-8, Grades 9-12 | 7 Comments »

Tags: Collaborative Activity, Mechanical engineering, Team-building skills

Students in grades 5-8 learn the basic principle of buoyancy and how submarines use it to dive and ascend in water through creating their own submarine out of a soda bottle, pennies, and other household items. Activity courtesy of the National Museum of the U.S. Navy.

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Filed under: Class Activities, Grades 6-8, Grades 9-12, Grades K-5, K-12 Outreach Programs, Lesson Plans | 3 Comments »

Tags: buoyancy, Class Activities, Engineering Design Process, Nautical Engineering, Ocean, Ocean science, submarine, U.S. Navy

Would you believe that slime is a member of the Space Shuttle team? As an advanced viscoelastic material, slime is an amazingly lead-proof hydraulic fluid used in all critical positioning systems in space. Check out these slime recipes from the Inamori School of Engineering, Alfred University.

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Tags: Chemistry, Class Activities, Physical Science, Physics

In this activity for grades 6-8, students learn about the dynamics of hot air balloons. Working in groups, they construct a working model, then use a hair dryer as the heat source to demonstrate the principle that hot air rises. Activity courtesy of the Federal Aviation Administration.

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Filed under: Class Activities, Grades 6-8 | Comments Off on Activity: Float a Hot Air Balloon

Tags: Class Activities, Physical Science, Physics

For this activity, which can be done with a partner school, student teams design a package for a single Pringles potato chip that allow it to be sent through the mail and arrive intact.

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Filed under: Class Activities, Grades 6-8, Grades 9-12, Grades K-5 | 3 Comments »

Tags: Class Activities, Corporations, Packaging Engineering

Visit the chemistry activity page from CSIRO — The Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation, Australia’s national science agency — to find simple, fun chemistry and physics projects for students. Other sections of this science Website offer information, videos, links, the Double Helix Science Club, and local resources for Australia teachers.

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Tags: Chemistry, Experiments, Physics

Students grades 4-12 conduct a simple experiment that demonstrates how a familiar chemical — liquid soap — can be used to break the surface tension of water and propel a toy boat. Older students move into further inquiry of chemical dispersants and their use in combating oil spills.

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Filed under: Class Activities, Grades 6-8, Grades 9-12, Grades K-5 | 1 Comment »

Tags: Chemistry, Grades 4-12, Lesson Plan