Labs and demos

For the teacher:

Of the 6 objects, at least 2 must have the same mass with different volumes and 2 must have the same volume but different masses. 

By asking the students to "rank the objects from biggest to smallest" the students will need to define what is meant by "big" and "small" at some point. This can be done before or after the class has had a chance to manipulate the objects and notice that some objects that look the same don't feel the same...

You may want to prepare some graphic organizers - including tables to be filled in - to help focus the students on the important information they should be gathering.

Although calculating density is not in the cycle 1 curriculum, you could have the students predict which object will float and which will sink before having them investigate what mass and volume may have to do with floating.

Have students use a Frayer Model to define terms such as mass and volume.

Use this PhET sim to have students reflect on mass, volume and density

The learning goals:

• Students will practice massing objects

• Students will practice calculating volumes (LxWxH) or finding them using the water displacement method

• Students will define the concepts of mass and volume

For the teacher:

Have students use what they learned in the temperature demos to help explain what is happening in this lab. You can also pair this lab with the PhET sim on states of matter (click here).

When doing this lab, give students an empty graph with time on the x-axis and temperature on the y-axis and have them predict and sketch what they think the graph will look like. Then have them explain what they're thinking.

Help students by preparing a partially completed table for students to fill in the missing information - namely the temp at 30 second intervals.

Here are some questions to get your students thinking after the graphs are drawn:

• Where was the water solid, liquid or gas?

• why are there "plateaus" in the graph?

This lab can be challenging for students who haven't mastered reading and interpreting data in graphical form. You may need to practice reading data from a graph with you class before launching into this lab. The Gapminder website has some nice tools to practice just that.

Another challenging aspect of this lab is that collecting this data may feel like watching paint dry... If you have access to a raspberry Pi (or some Micro:Bits) and sensors, you may be able to reclaim the class by having the machine do the boring parts - you may even do the previous demos while waiting for the computers to collect and graph the data for you. Click here to see how you might set up this lab to do itself.

The learning goals:

• Students will recognize the and name the phase changes of matter

• Students will interpret the phase change diagram for water

For the teacher:

This lab reinvests the concept of states of matter as well as homogeneous and heterogeneous mixtures.

Have students sketch and explain the steps to separate the salt from the salt rock in the correct order.

Consider using the image below to contextualize this lab (click here for more). 

The learning goals:

• Students will associate separation techniques with types of mixtures

• Students will separate mixtures requiring multiple steps

For the teacher:

This is another separation technique. This one happens to fit in well with the sample lesson plan in the second unit of the Sec 1 Curriculum map on changes in matter (click here to see). 

Can this lab be connected to gel electrophoresis and DNA matching technology? Students can be asked wich 2 inks are the "parents" of a third ink by looking for ingredients separated from their mixtures. Have students predict which colours are the "parents" for a third colour made from their mixing.

The learning goals:

• Students will be able to associate a separation technique with a type of mixture

• Students will be able to describe the steps involved to separate a complex mixture

For the teacher:

In this activity, students will play a game where they pretend to be a population of crabs with different claw shapes and sizes. They need to collect as much food as possible with these claws.

This activity does a good job of showing how some adaptations are better suited for certain tasks but doesn't explain how better adapted genes are transmitted into the future. This can be a conversation before or after the activity.

Another way of demonstrating natural selection is with this PhET simulation (click here).

The learning goals:

• Students will describe the adaptation that enable animals to improve their chances of survival

• Students will be able to explain the natural selection process

For the teacher:

This activity is especially good for having students practice using the microscope.

Note: while it's nice to know the names of the parts of the microscope, this doesn't constitute "doing science"...

The learning goals:

• Define the cell as a structural unit of life.  

• Name vital functions carried out by cells. 

• Distinguish between animal and plant cells (similarities and differences). 

• Understand how the size and shape of a cell are related to its function. 

• Identify the main cellular components visible under a microscope (cell membrane, cytoplasm, nucleus, cell wall). 

• Describe the role of the main cellular components visible under the microscope. 

• Use observational instruments appropriately.  

For the teacher:

It can be difficult for students to relate this demo to both the movement of magma and air as these two fluids do not resemble each other. Help students understand that both of these are fluids and therefore are capable of convection currents.

Have students predict the movement of the blue and red food colourings.

The learning goals:

• Describe the main elements of the theory of tectonic plates (e.g. plates, subduction zone, mid-ocean ridge)

• Names the main factors responsible for wind (e.g. convection movements, movement of air masses)

For the teacher:

The purpose of the demonstration is to give students a sense of what matter is made of and how these "building blocks" connect to form new substances. This is done using Bolts washers and nuts, but can also be done using LEGO blocks. The analogy is good to make atoms more tangible but fails to take into account the atomic or molecular motion and also not all atoms can "connect" to any other. Have students try to explain how this analogy is good but also where it fails.

If you use LEGOS, colour coding them will make seeing the differences between atoms, molecules, pure substances and mixtures easier. You could potentially (without immediately telling the students) build colourful models of substances students know (like water). This makes differentiating between atoms, molecules, pure substances and mixtures more concrete. Perhaps, students can be asked to predict what the contents of the plastic tray (the collection) will look like before assembling and collecting the parts.

A good visualization of the periodic table, the atoms within and the subatomic particles that, in turn, make them can be found on PhET:

• Atom builder

• Molecule builder

The learning goals:

• Student will define an element as a pure substance made from a single type of atom

• Describe molecules using Dalton's atomic model

• Represent the formation of a molecule using Dalton's atomic model

• Describe the properties of a mixture

The learning goals:

• Define a characteristic property as a property that aids in the identification of a substance or group of substances

• Identify groups of substances based on their common characteristic properties