Physical Science Lessons NEW! Atomic Model-Change Over Time Bring history alive with a fascinating look at how the model of the atom has changed over the past 100 years. Scientists like Dalton, Thomson, Rutherford, and Bohr make huge discoveries that force these changes. Download Lesson Circuit Boards Perhaps the cheapest and most effective way to teach series and parallel circuits. Students build a series and parallel circuit from cardboard, aluminum foil, paper fasteners, and recycled lights. Download Lesson Interactive Question Asker Looking for a cool way to review a chapter and touch back on how circuits work? This lesson does double duty. All you need is file folder, some foil, a battery, light, and some wire. Download Lesson Build A Simple Electric Motor It's true-when you build something yourself you understand it much better because you've seen the parts come together and you see how they interact. As this lesson shows, electric motors are not hard to build or understand. Pick up a couple of rolls of magnetic wire (18-22 gauge) beforehand and have students cut their own 105 cm-long piece before assembling. Download Lesson Energy Consumption See how well students can classify the power consumption of 21 common household items with this handout. Download Lesson Newton's Laws and Rocketball In this lesson students won't have a chance to get scared of Newton's 3 laws. First, they will write a definition of each law in their own words. Then they'll get to observe Newton's 3 Laws of motion cause a ping pong ball to become like a rocket. Download Lesson Method Of Heat Transfer Quiz Is it conduction, convection, or radiation? This 10 question quiz (which doesn't have to be used as a quiz) gives straightforward examples and illustrations that you can also review and teach with. Download Lesson Magnetism-Decode Encrypted Statements Give students this puzzle without any help whatsoever and 2 things will happen- 1. students will learn 5 important things about magnetism, and 2. you will learn which students can rise to a challenge and find a way to get it done and which complain about why it can't be done. Download Lesson Forces- Drop Test Send this handout home with students for them to find out for themselves which drops faster- a heavy or lightweight object. Almost all will be surprised with the results. Download Lesson States of Matter Lessons don't come much easier than this- students observe a burning candle and write observations. Then let their own comments and observations lead them into what a solid and liquid is, and how they might change from one into the other. Download Lesson Electricity-Watts, Wire, and What it Costs In this activity students will compare the Wattages of different devices, learn how to wire a home (on paper, at least), and then calculate the annual cost of several devices around their home. Download Lesson Electromagnets-6 Mini Investigations In this lesson students discover 6 amazing properties of electromagnets with their own hands. They will assemble, disassemble, and make changes to a working electromagnet. Download Lesson Interactive Notes-Electricity In this set of interactive notes students will: 1.move a ping pong ball in an unusual way, 2.light up a fluorescent tube, 3.observe ice on conductors and non-conductors, and 4.light a Christmas tree light bulb. Download Lesson Interactive Notes-Magnetism In this set of interactive notes students observe: 1.a paper clip quietly defying gravity, 2.some things can and cannot be magnetized, 3.a room full of bar magnets just "happen" to all turn exactly the same way, and 4.iron filings reveal invisible magnetic lines of force.Download Lesson What are Interactive Notes? Solids Liquids, & Gases-Build, See, & Compare Trying to teach the states of matter without anything to aid the imagination doesn't do enough to help students fully understanding how the atoms behave in each state. In this lesson, test tubes and split peas will make it feel like a mini-lab instead of another boring reading day. Download Lesson Interactive Notes-States Of Matter In this set of interactive notes students will: 1.produce a gas by combining a solid and liquid, 2.observe a flapping penny powered by hot water, 3.use an ice cube to create cloud 9, and 4.discover Brownian motion using water and food coloring. Download Lesson Candlelight Journey Though The 3 States Of Matter Teaching the states of matter doesn’t have to be difficult. It can indeed be easy and even pleasant, as this activity demonstrates. Download Lesson Energetic Atoms-Heat 'Em & Speed 'Em Being told a 50 foot-long trash bag will float if it is filled air and heated by the sun is not that exciting. But take students outside and let them see this for themselves, and you’ve got an amazing lesson! Download Lesson Dunking Duckies-Endless Expansion And Contraction Days like today will remind students why they like science. And for good reason- the dunking duck is fascinating to watch and simple to understand. Download Lesson Interactive Notes-Forces In this set of interactive notes students observe: 1.a ping pong ball become a rocket, 2.a strong-willed penny does something we've never noticed before, 3.a marble is faced with the choice of a lifetime, and 4."flippy boards" help us understand roller coasters better. Download Lesson   Interactive Notes-Heat Transfer In this set of interactive notes: 1.an ice cube helps us understand why cold things are cold and hot things are hot, 2.the hottest and coldest things in the room demonstrate conduction, 3.a swirling purple stream shows convection, and 4.radiation explains a puzzling question. Download Lesson Interactive Notes-Why Is The Sky Blue? In this special set of interactive notes: students create a progressively thickening "atmosphere". At first it's so thin that's it's nearly non-existent (like the moon's). As it becomes thicker, all light is choked and has no direct path through (just like Venus). Download Lesson Interactive Notes-Light And Water In this set of interactive notes students observe that: 1.money disappears, but then 2. it comes back doubled, 3.a pencil loses control of its lower half, and 4.a top-secret message can only be decoded with your students help! Download Lesson Interactive Notes-Sound In this set of interactive notes students observe that: 1.a child's toy illustrates what sound waves look and act like, 2.a piece of foam gives a coat hanger its voice, 3.a vacuum stifles the ring of a bell, and 4.the term "pitch" and "frequency" are explained using tuning forks. Download Lesson