Physical Science

Introduce matter with seven hands-on science activities. Kids develop a conceptual model of physical properties and investigate changes in phases, or states. Projects emphasize particles that are too small to be seen that have space between them and attract one another. Review and an assessment are also included.

Analyze mystery powders to explore matter. Kids investigate properties of four substances: color and texture, as well as reaction to water, vinegar, and iodine.

Then the teacher reveals information about each.

Finally, students match the characteristics to identify the matching powder.

Kids explore properties of water through a series of hands-on science experiments: evaporation, cohesion, adhesion, solvency, and capillary action. The simple (and fun) activities engage fourth, fifth, and sixth grade students like never before - and allow them to achieve deeper conceptualization.

Astonish your students with physical and chemical changes in matter! First, kids perform simple labs in which no new substance is formed. Then the teacher demonstrates experiments that provide evidence of change: bubbles, color, heat, odor, and light. It’s engaging, surprising, and fun!

Explore the law of conservation of mass with six hands-on activities. Physical change labs include manipulation, solutions, and changes in states (phases) of matter. Chemical change experiments ask kids to measure, compare, and graph reactions in open and closed containers.

Kids investigate five patterns in motion: straight line, curved line, circle, back and forth, and spinning. Then they predict future motion. Enrichment activities ask them to apply what they’ve learned with a second set of objects. 

Kids explore balanced and unbalanced forces with hands-on labs. Third or fourth grade students draw conclusions about the effects on stationary and moving objects. Then they practice with real-world scenarios. An assessment wraps up the unit.

What affects motion of different forms of transportation? Students draw arrows to show four forces (e.g., thrust, drag, lift, gravity) acting on a specific form. They identify sources of friction and consider design changes that improve motion.

Instructional materials and fourteen activity sheets are included.

Explore simple machines with age-appropriate stations or labs – and everyday items found in your classroom! As third or fourth grade students investigate inclined plane, levers, pulleys, wedges, screws, wheels and axles, they observe how the force is spread over a greater distance and/or changes direction.

Through a variety of activities, students define gravity. They experiment with hands-on labs and analyze a discrepant event. As a culmination, they write scientific arguments with evidence that gravitational force is directed down.

Get their hands on light energy! Start with five science stations or labs:

• How does light travel?

• Which materials are transparent, translucent, opaque?

• Which materials reflect light?

• What is refraction?

• What is color?

Then add extension activities and an experiment to investigate even more. The unit also includes review and assessment.

Energize your sound energy unit with six hands-on labs or stations:

• What is sound?

• How does sound travel?

• What is amplitude?

• What is pitch?

• Which materials conduct and insulate sound?

• Does sound travel better through solids, liquids, or gases?

A STEM challenge, review, and assessment are also included.

Heat up science with eight hands-on thermal energy activities:

• What is heat?

• How does heat travel?

• What is conduction?

• What is convection?

• What is radiation?

• Which materials insulate and conduct heat?

• How does heat change matter?

• How do we measure heat?

 A heat transfer lab, video links, flash cards, review sheet, and assessment reinforce key concepts.

Teach current electricity with hands-on activities! In addition to building simple, series, and parallel circuits, students explore electrical insulators, conductors, and resistors. This science unit includes lesson plans, lab sheets, review, assessment, extensions, and video links.

Have some fun with eight hands-on static electricity activities, two reading passages, and a full-blown experiment! Your third, fourth, or fifth grade students will love the easy-to-plan science stations and lab.

Explore magnets with five labs or stations. 

• What materials do magnets attract?

• Do opposites really attract?

• Does distance affect magnetism?

• What is a temporary magnet?

• Can magnets attract through objects?

Reading, review, and assessment are also included.

Fun magic show activities challenge kids to design tricks with magnets. Kids learn to define engineering problems with needs or wants, criteria, and constraints. Then they create six science-based illusions.

Through hands-on activities, students construct explanations relating the speed of an object to energy of that object. Six labs may be completed in stations or as stand-alone experiments. Directions, review, and assessment are also included.

Have some fun with roller coasters! Students design, test, and refine a device that converts potential to kinetic energy (and vice versa). Physics activities focus on transfer, or transformation, from one form of energy to another.

Materials include plastic tubing and BBs.

Students build their own mini pool tables and experiment with collisions. Additional templates allow you – and your students – to create your own questions related to changes in form, direction, and speed when objects collide. An additional section asks students to use protractors to measure angles for bank shots. It's a fun way to address your geometry standard.

Looking for a fun Halloween science experiment? Grab some candy corn and get ready for some collisions! In this set of physics labs, kids plan and carry out investigations, explore changes in energy, and observe cause and effect relationships.

After learning about motion in the ocean, fourth and fifth grade students use the engineering design process to build their own simulators. This STEM challenge focuses on transverse waves.

Students explore Morse and binary codes. Then they use critical thinking to evaluate the most effective ways to transfer information, brainstorm how people use patterns in everyday life, and develop solutions.