by Michelle French

Since the public reviews of the Next Generation Science Standards have come to a close, like many primary teachers, I’ve been wondering what science will look like in kindergarten, first, and second grade classrooms.  (more…)

by Lisa Hegdahl

Recently, I was setting up a series of labs for Open House.  I became aware of how many labs have evolved over the years and how I’ve made changes to better suit my teaching situation. For example, I never prepared the Destroying Water Lab because I had only seen it using a huge battery, large beakers, and wires.  After attending a workshop at the California Science Teachers Conference, though, I started preparing the Destroying Water Lab using a small 9V battery, metal thumb tacks, 2 test tubes, and a 3 ounce condiment cup.  This lab has amazed my students every year since. Below, I offer some other lab variations for you to try.  I am sure there are countless other lab material options out there – you can add your favorites to the comment section below this article. (more…)

by Jeff Orlinsky

In September’s e-CCS, I introduced a lab about salinization and seed germination and one of the concepts illustrated was osmosis.  This month’s lab focuses on osmosis and soft drinks. (more…)

by Lisa Hegdahl

Even though I received this lab from my Master Teacher 22 years ago, I’ve never seen it presented at any conference or seminar I’ve attended.  The lab itself is a little long for a full write up here, but with the basics, you can develop an activity to suit your needs. This lab uses the skill that we all learned as kids: picking up liquids with a straw.  However, in this activity students pick up two different liquids to check relative density.  In a nutshell:

• Prepare four solutions of different densities with varying amounts of saturated saltwater and tap water.  One container has only saturated saltwater, one container has only water, one container has half of each, and the last container has ¼ saltwater and ¾ tap water.
• Color the liquids so they can be identified easily.  (TIP: If you use yellow and blue as two of your colors, don’t use green.  I use red, blue, yellow, and I leave one clear.)

(more…)

by Judith Aguilar

My favorite aspect of attending the CSTA Conference is getting new ideas from practicing teachers. My all-time favorite lesson that I picked up as a new teacher was for Kitchen Chemistry.  (more…)

by Sean Timmons

Summary:
Activities involving dry ice and root beer help students understand the chemical and physical changes that occur in matter. Students will investigate evidence (more…)

by Jeff Orlinsky

It is the start of a new year and you are looking for new way to start your class.  How about introducing the scientific method with this simple (more…)

by Valerie Joyner

What better way to start the school year than with a science investigation?  It’s a great tool to set the tone for a year full of science and at the same time help students get to know each other.  One of my favorite first day of school science (more…)

by Amanda L. Smith

Gardener’s: Linguistic; Visual-Spatial; Bodily-Kinesthetic; Interpersonal; Logical-Mathematical
Bloom’s: Knowledge; Comprehension; Application

CA State Standards:
Investigation and Experimentation (Middle School grades 6-8)

Anticipatory Set/Objective:

• Students will be able to: State the values of and abbreviations for each of the prefixes used in the metric system.
• Students will be able to: Convert from one subunit to another subunit within a given unit of the metric system.

(more…)

CDE’s Brokers of Expertise site includes lesson and Web activities, videos, and other resources for use in the classroom.  (more…)

by Laura Henriques and Katie Beck

CSTs and AP exams are over.  Students and teachers can all breathe a sigh of relief. (more…)

Courtesy of the California Academy of Sciences

Through this lesson, students will learn what organisms are affected by ocean acidification by taking on the role of one of the stakeholders affected by ocean acidification and creating poster(s) to address their issue(s). (more…)

by Rick Pomeroy

Non-Verbal Communications, Aka The Waggle Dance

Overview (more…)

by Heather A. Wygant

Here is a virtual lab I found to use in my AP Environmental Class this year.  (more…)

by Camilla Barry

Major Science Concept: Successful pollination results in seed production.

Subject: Botany (more…)

Looking for lesson plan ideas to help explain weather phenomenon to your students? The Weather Channel offers free lesson plans to teachers registered with their site. (more…)

by Lisa Hegdahl

When I was in grade school, I helped my older brother with a homework assignment.  Inside a shoebox were a variety of objects he told me to sort into two piles.  (more…)

Courtesy of the California Academy of Sciences

Grades: 2nd – 7th Grade
Subject: Earth Science
Topics: Geologic Processes, Natural Resources
Duration: 20 minutes prep + 45 minutes activity (more…)

by Robert Victor

The current school year will be exceptionally rich for sky watching. October is a good time to get your students started! (more…)

by Lisa Hegdahl

California Science Content Standard 1c for 8^th Grade states: “Students know how to solve problems involving distance, time, and average speed.” (more…)

by Heather Marshall

It is the start of a new school year.  Already?  I typically begin the new school year by reviewing some science basics. I go over lab safety, measurement and dimensional analysis regardless of the course I am teaching. Another aspect I review is graphing. It always surprises me how many upperclassmen in high school still do not know which type of graph to use for different data. So I do a graphing scientific data notes and lab activity within the first week of school. It can be used anytime to review the basics of graphing, and can be used for middle or high school students. (more…)

Courtesy of the California Academy of Sciences

(more…)

by Rick Pomeroy

This column will appear regularly with a selection of some of my favorite science activity ideas gleaned from over 35 years of classroom teaching and classroom observations. I take no credit for the creation of most of these activities. (more…)

by Jeff Bradbury

Question: As an item of food is eaten, does this change its mass, volume, or density? (more…)

by Peggy G. Lemaux and Barbara Alonso

The creation of this 4-H/afterschool curriculum, “DNA for Dinner”, was sparked by development of the national 4-H Science, Engineering and (more…)

by Heather A. Marshall

We have all heard by now about the recent 9.0 earthquake off the coast of Japan and the resulting tsunami. (more…)

by Heather Marshall

I feel that all students should be required to take an earth sciences course as a high school graduation requirement. (more…)

by Jeff  Bradbury and Patricia Buchanan

Name ____________________

Date _____________________

Partner’s Name ____________

Question: The work of a crime scene investigator (CSI) is to identify certain found liquids or solids in an investigation, how could we find out the identity of an unknown substance?

Purpose: To learn how to classify matter and its changes.

Part 1 Introduction:

Background Information:

1) A pure substance is a sample of matter that has a definite, fixed composition, and the same properties throughout the sample.  Each pure substance has its own set of characteristic properties. (more…)

Courtesy of the California Academy of Sciences

Abstract

In this activity, students will learn that carbon is an extremely common element on the earth which can be found in many forms, in both living and non-living things.

Objectives

In this activity, students will:

1. learn that carbon is an extremely common element on the earth.
2. learn that carbon can be found in many forms, in both living and non-living things. (more…)

In the last issue of CCS, I talked in a general way about family science nights as a way to get families involved in doing hands-on science together.  In the next few issues I will go into more detail about a few types of family science nights. (more…)