Physical Science: Forces and Motion Quick and Easy Labs

 One resource I use to supplement Apologia’s Physical Science is McDougal Litell’s Physical Science textbook; here is a sample chapter.  Below the links are loads of activities from one chapter. See why I think you should buy a used copy?  The teacher’s edition will have tips and answers.

Here are some of the activities we do in Physical Science to help kiddos understand force and motion.  They help!

1. Ping Pong ball and Golf Ball Acceleration

2. Marbles, Inertia, and Paper Plates Chalk the marbles.  It’s easier to see the paths.  Below is a similar activity which demonstrates circular motion instead.

3. Ball drop is more of an energy labs.  Kids will not accept that the balls fall at the same rate and persist timing and  dropping every ball in the house.

4. Rocket Ball Launcher or .Rocket Balls is another classic.

5.  Release a balloon or try the inertia experiment.

Take a look at these quick labs.

Stretchy Hair Gel Slime

 I needed hair gel and my Walmart option was a case of hair gel.  A single bottle lasts me a long time.  What am I going to do with a case?  Yeah! Make Stretchy Hair Gel Slime!  Next fall, we’re making slime and other polymers in the Young Explorers Chemistry and Physics class. I checked; slime is NOT part of the Chem and Phys agenda.  Whoops!  However, in my mind polymers mean slime. Problem solved. We make slime. Now I’ll have a much more manageable stash of hair gel.

Let’s talk about Middle School Science classes!

 Middle School science classes are tricky.  Which curricula or textbooks should you use?  Many public and private schools offer a traditional sequence: Earth Science in 6th grade, Life Science in 7th grade, and Physical Science in 8th grade.  Some schools use integrated textbooks, which offer a little life science, earth science, physical science, including chemistry, each year, for grades 6-8.   Some online schools have their own curriculum, textbooks, and materials.  Some families are using Apologia’s Young Explorers series.  

What should you teach?  So much depends on your child.  Our Co-op decided to use Chemistry and Physics for the sixth graders this fall.  The kiddos are a mixed bag of learners.  We’ll offer Apologia’s General Science the following year to help prepare them for Physical Science.  I’m not worried about Life Science because we’ll offer Biology right after Physical Science. Is it nice to offer Life Science?  Yes. We’re using the second edition of General Science as a compromise because it has some anatomy.  I’m more concerned about preparing the class for Physical Science, which can be rigorous.  If your kiddo struggles with math, you may want to wait for ninth grade to teach Physical Science, which is when many, many private, public, and home-school Co-ops offer the course.

Let me share the Middle School programs for several popular online schools.  You’ll see there is no consensus.  Here is my advice.  Is your child bright?  Considers the traditional sequence of Earth, Life, and Physical Sciences in grades 6-8.  Does your kiddo have learning differences?  Use Apologia’s Young Explorers series, especially Human Anatomy, Astronomy, or Chemistry and Physics.  The child can still follow Apologia’s sequence General Science, Physical Science, Biology, and Chemistry during high school.  If your kiddo is somewhere in the middle and likes a varied program, used a combined science. BTW, I have quite a bit of experience teaching middle school classes.  Bright kiddos can be pushed; others just need more time to bloom.  

BJU Science offers the sequence below for grades 6-12. Bright students can begin the sequence in fifth grade; students who struggle can adjust by pushing back the sequence to sixth, seventh, or even eighth grade.

Kolbe Academy offers quite a bit of flexibility.  For example, student can take two years to complete Harcourt Science; here is a description.  Sixth or seventh graders may also elect Earth Science or Life Science.  Eighth graders select either Earth, Life, or Physical Science.  You can see that Kolbe leans toward dedicated subject textbooks in preparation for high school.

Here is a course description for Mother of Divine Grace’s Dialectical Stage, grades 6-9.  Note MODG offers the Building Blocks of Science Program, with Physical Science as an option in eighth grade.  Read more about the program here.  

Here is Seton’s K-8 Science program.  Seton uses material from Seton Press.  The sequence is Earth, Space, Physical Science, and Life Science.  One of my friends uses Seton’s materials for her children and I review the family’s portfolios every year.  Seton’s materials are described as ‘open and go’.  Students get very detailed daily schedules they work through independently.  

What about textbooks?  Many home-school families do not have a science expert.  My advice is to stick to textbooks written for home-schoolers, such as Apologia’s or those published by BJU or Seton.  I like Harcourt, Prentice Hall, and Holt science textbooks for specific subjects, such as Earth, Life, or Physical Science.  They are written for teachers with subject knowledge.  If you had some college level science courses, you’ll be fine.  I do advise buying the teacher’s edition for the textbook.  Understand, these commercial textbooks expect a certain level of science background.

More Instant Lessons: Let’s write reports about inventions!

Let’s go old-school and reinstate reports.  Kiddos used to read an article and handwrite a report. Reports are a great safety net.  Read a book and write a report.  Done.  Reports are perfect assignments for the week of chaos when you had a trip to the ER, the washer broke down, and the dog was sick. 

 Pick any topic.  I teach science and am interested in inventions.  (Don’t you wish you had invented wheels on luggage?)   If you subscribe to the Wall Street Journal, look for Ben Cohen’s Science of Success articles.  (He wrote about white lines on the roads in the July 3rd issue.). Print a few articles to assign during family emergencies. 

Take BYJU’s Quiz, Ten Famous Inventions and Inventors Kids Must Know to get started with a list to research at the library or on Britannica.

ACS Chemical Landmarks: Crest, Scotch Tape (Booklet), Bakelite (Booklet), and  Test Strips (Booklet) are all examples.  Food Dehydration (Booklet) can lead to Snack Engineering.

Smithsonian has Invention Stories, such as epi-pens, George Forman’s grill, brewing coffee, and more about chips.  Invention at Play has a ton of short inventors’ stories, such as Ann Moore’s Snugli.

Lemelson-MIT has an Inventor Archive with Mary Anderson’s Windshield Wipers, Marconi’s telegraph, , and Mars M&Ms.

Invention Projects

 Have your kiddos created inventions?  Did you know they were engineering?  Start with a Book has a DIY Science Camp: Be an Inventor! with project ideas.  Here are more project ideas.

4 Ways to Teach Engineering is a complete unit about the engineering design process.  When kiddos tinker, often they are redesigning an object.  Inventor’s Workshop follows a similar guide; it has links to Young Inventors.  Here are more young inventors.  Bring out the LEGO bin, craft box, or a ream of paper and get started inventing!  

Buy used textbooks!

One of the Co-op moms stopped by to borrow a few textbooks. We always have extra copies because  we keep class sets of textbooks for the classes we teach regularly.  I don’t mind lending them.  The reason I have class sets is to contain costs for families.  We do charge a lab fee for the science classes.  But, we do not charge to borrow the textbook or a graphing calculator; families return both after the class is over.  (Families often give me textbooks they bought when they finish to add to my class sets.)

We’re sticking with the second edition of Apologia’s Chemistry and Physics textbooks.  I use the most recent editions for Biology and Advanced Biology.  However, I bought those used, too!  Moreover, when switched to the third edition of Apologia’s Biology, I donated my set to local Co-op.  

Why buy used textbooks?  I want to save money. I have friends who insist on buying new textbooks to pass down to their younger kiddos.  Hardback textbooks can take a beating.   Most of the time, the content doesn’t change substantially between editions.  I switched to the third edition of Biology because more and more families were switching editions and had already purchased the textbook.  I don’t see anything wrong with the older edition.  Chemistry is different.  Early publications of the third edition of Chemistry were rife with error.  Families would need to buy the new to avoid loads of errors in the third edition.  I’m sticking with the second edition.  (Truthfully, kids who have and use the first edition of Chemistry are usually fine in class.)  I’m sticking to the second edition of General Science because it has anatomy, which families want me to include. Physical Science?  Second edition.  Why? How much do you think the content in Chem or Physics changes?  Exactly.

BTW even the work books or anatomy color books I issue are used.  Is there some writing or high lighting in the book?  Sometimes.  You would be surprised how many are in excellent condition.  Below are current listings.  I have had to pay more for copies of the Young Explorers’ series, Advanced Biology, and 3e Biology textbooks.  Additionally, the student notebooks are always pricy, new or used.  I bought notebooks for the Young Explorers Chemistry and Physics class, but not for the upper classes.  The high school textbooks have study guide questions; the student study guides are generally outlines.  

Show and Tell!

 Often I show kiddos something and ask them to tell me what is happening; ideally, the activity is germane to the lesson.  Right now, this approach is an example of phenomena.  Educational jargon changes.  For awhile, discrepant events were all the rage in science education.  Even earlier, every lesson had to open with a hook.  (Save these ideas and terms for your portfolio.)  These are useful thinkers and add spice to lessons.  

1. Levels of Organization is a good example of ‘show and tell’.  Teens are given a stack of cups and expected to put the cups in order from smallest to largest, cell to the biosphere. After the kids finish stacking cups, we review the layers of organization.  Lesson sorted!

2. Poly Density Bottle is a discrepant event I use to introduce density.  It’s so popular, I had to order another one because mine disappeared.  We’re going to try to make Density Bottles again this fall.  Only one child has success at science camp.  

3. Liter Cube Set is a tool to show my teens just how one cubic centimeter is exactly one milliliter.

4. Disappearing Beaker is really a Physics demo about the index of refraction.  It’s a good thinker.  Why does the beaker disappear?  The beaker and corn oil have the same index of refraction.

5. Ghost Crystals really are another thinker.  Why do the crystals disappear?  The crystals have the same index of refraction as water. (I find tap water is fine.  You might need spring or distilled water.)

6. Lost Volume is another thinker.  The water molecules slip between the alcohol molecules.  The second video explains the concept.

7.  Can Crush is an air pressure demo.  Yes, we do spend most of the class crushing all sizes of aluminum cans.  For this demo, the teens both show and tell.  It’s not that clear to kids initially that the small amount of water in the can becomes steam and drives out the air in the can, which allows air pressure to crush the can as the steam in the can condenses in cold water.  Add ice.  Lots of ice.

8. Sink and Float with cans of Coke uses different temperatures of water.  Cola vs. Diet Cola has two cans with different densities.  (Use ice water!) Both are good demos for density.

9.  Below is a homemade video from two students with a disappearing penny and a dancing penny.  The video was part of an alternative assessment.  Teens demonstrated and explained a discrepant event with a video or photos.  More show and tell.

10.  Here are several discrepant events.  Have your kiddos do a show and tell.  Record it.  What is the trick? Can you reproduce it?  (The balancing hammer is hard.)  Can you explain the underlying science? Just like that, you have another science experiment for your portfolio! 

Want to learn how to code? Try SCRATCH!

Want to learn how to code?  I tried An Hour of Code.  It was okay.  We found MIT’s free programming, SCRATCH to be a winner!  Here are starter projects.  We couldn’t navigate from the MIT site initially.  What worked was a book.  We use Code Your Own Games.  We followed the instructions step by step.  In no time, the kitty could jump! 

Reliable Thrift Store Deals

I like a good thrift store and shop Good Will regularly.  What are some of the best deals?  I’m so glad you asked!

1. LEGOs: Are you planning to try to build elements and molecules with LEGO bricks?  Buy them by the pound.

2.  Prepared Slides do not expire.  I have NOT had much luck buying used microscopes.  In fact, avoid any used electronics.  

3.  All manner of MEL kits.  Below is the MEL Chemistry starter set.  Used kits are missing the VR viewer.  

4.  Snap Circuits sets are another bargain.  These sets work as an introduction to electrical circuits.  Here is the instructional manual for the Home Learning Kit.  The motor may be burned out.  ELENCO sells replacement parts.

5. Graphing calculators can be good deals.  First, make sure the calculator has been tested and powers on.  Buy either TI 83/84 calculators; other models, such as TI 89 can be impossible to operate.  If the screen has streaks or bruising, it means it’s about to die.  My target price is $35 for a TI 84.  I will buy TI 83 models to lend to the teens.  I prefer to buy two or three TI 83s to save shipping; my target for a TI 83 is $15 each.  I bought one used calculator from Amazon and one from eBay; both were duds.  

Metrics and Measures

 Let’s collect several metric measures activities for fall.  The activities are all upper level.  Whenever, Rob and I teach Chem or Physics the teens have an enormously varied background in science.  Some families do not teach any science before high school.  (These kiddos don’t have any bad habits to unlearn.  Generally, the teens catch up quickly.)   Metric measures are reinforced ALL YEAR!  

1.  Start with Sort It Out! This card sort addresses relative size.  We use this type of activity to see what kiddos already know or remember.  (Yes, we will point out that the topic WAS JUST TAUGHT LAST YEAR IN GEOMETRY CLASS!) Note that the answer key is expressed in scientific notation—part of metric measures—at least for our classes!  Additionally, there are metric prefixes.  Start with the relative size card sort and hold on to the other activities until the kiddos get more practice.

2. You need a mnemonic for metric prefixes.  We use Many Kids Have Dropped Over Dead Converting Metrics: Mega, Kilo, Deka, base (meter, gram, liter), deci, centi, milli.  This mneumonic covers metric units more frequently used in high school.  (Sure, there are others for you over achievers.  Try this one.)

3.  Texas Gateway offers Measurement, a complete unit with a video and some basic instructions for measures, such as reading a ruler or thermometer.  

4. Do Measurement Labs: Introduction to Measurement (pennies), Metric Measures Lab, and Metric Measurement Lab.  Yes, chemistry and physics instructors tend to combine lessons about equipment with a review of measures, accuracy, etc.

5. The upper level classes combine a review of metrics with accuracy, measures, scientific notation, conversions, and percent error—even equipment!  How?  I use It’s All About Density.  I use blocks, corks, metal cubes, glass marbles, etc.  (The metal cylinders and cubes are used for Specific Heat Lab, too. I use both metal cylinders or density cubes.  Surprise!  Free of charge is another review of metrics, measures, accuracy, conversions, etc.)  Most kiddos are familiar with density; if not, it’s a quick lesson about Archimedes.

6.  Tutorials: Khan Academy: Unit Conversion and Crash Course Unit Conversion and Sig Figs.

7.  Metric Worksheets for Practice: SI Units, Measurements, and Metric Conversion Worksheet.  TOPS has several metric measures books.

One concept which is hard to understand is that 1 cm3 = 1 mL.  Each cubic centimeter is the same as one milliliter.  Use a base-10 cube with this volume activity.  This explanation may help.  Follow up with the video below.

Starting cutting kits for fall!

 There are several good science kits you can assemble yourself.  However, they usually involve cutting, which can be time consuming if you need several sets for Co-op. Print these now.  When your kiddo complains just how bored she is, enlist her help cutting. I have stacks of diy Instructional Kits for my science classes.  

1. Biology: The Lynx Eats the Hare is described in this blog post.  Copy several sheets for each set.  Cut out the tiny hare and mount the Lynx on to a bigger card.  I stuff sets into smaller envelopes contained in large envelopes, marked in large letters.

2. Biology: DNA Sentences can be cut into strips—which are much less intimidating!  Here is another version of DNA Sentences—with an answer key.  Say it with DNA is very detailed and has several keys.  The goal is to transcript and translate DNA into proteins.  

3. Biology: Create concept maps.  Here are the ecology terms used to create the concept map below.  Yes!  Writing the same terms over and over is a big pain!  Same money and cut the index cards in half.  Below is random card stock I had on hand and cut into squares.

4. Biology: Food webs!  Use pix (the one below is from the biology group on social media) to create food webs.  HHMI’s Bioactive Creating Chains and Webs has pix (and a strong political bias).  No, I do not laminate cards or pix in my kits.  

5.  Chemistry: Putting Ions in Their Hands is the best means I have found to teach ionic formulas.  I printed the ions on red and blue card stock (just like red and blue litmus paper).  Cut away! 

6. Chemistry: It’s in the Cards!  I print the cards on card stock because I reuse these sets for Co-op classes.

7.  Chemistry: Concept Maps!  Here is the Properties of Matter vocabulary list.

8. Chemistry Card Sorts:  Sort it Out!, Isotopes, Physical and Chemical Change, Types of Reactions, and Balancing Equations.