Differentiate between physical changes and chemical changes.
| Name |
Description |
| Bubbles and Colors and Smells...Oh My! | In this lesson, students will conduct observational and experimental investigations to differentiate between physical changes and chemical change. Students will make and record observations as well as identify experimental variables. Students will conduct several investigations to help them to understand the differences between chemical and physical changes. Students will record investigative observations and use their observations to provide evidence that a physical or a chemical change has occurred. |
| Chemical and Physical Changes in the City | This is a lesson about chemical and physical changes encountered on a daily basis. |
| What's Your Change? | Students will identify the best material to use for playground equipment by analyzing the physical changes that happens to each type. Model Eliciting Activities, MEAs, are open-ended, interdisciplinary problem-solving activities that are meant to reveal students’ thinking about the concepts embedded in realistic situations. Click here to learn more about MEAs and how they can transform your classroom. |
| Physical and Chemical Changes Introductory Lesson | In this POE lesson, students will explore different visual and verbal representations of physical and chemical changes to predict the definition and indicators of the types of changes, observe the different changes, and explain how their definition compared to that of the class. |
| Chemical and Physical Change | This yummy lesson on physical and chemical changes will require students to apply their scientific knowledge to a backyard treat. |
| Let's Make a Change!!! | This lesson has students conduct 11 different experiments, make observations of changes, and determine whether a physical or chemical change has occurred. The experiments allow students to observe different kinds of physical changes (changing state, dissolving, change size) and chemical changes (color change, new substances formed). |
| Matter Changes but Mass is Saved! | The focus of this lesson is for students to gain an understanding of how to identify if changes in matter are a physical or chemical change. Also, students will see that the mass before and after a physical and chemical changes will be the same which supports the Law of Conservation of Mass. The lesson consists of teacher demonstrations, student lab activities. a writing activity to support student findings and the creation of presentations for students to share their results and applications of concepts to the real world. |
| Ch-Ch-Changes! | This lesson is is used to introduce students to the concepts of physical and chemical changes in substances. The lesson instructs students how to identify which type of change has taken place. The lesson also contains an opportunity for students to produce a substance change and identify this as being a chemical or physical change. |
| Change or Not - Same Mass | The students make observations and take the mass of various structures constructed by the teacher. They rearrange the structures and measure the mass again. During the whole class discussion the students come to understand that during a chemical or physical change the mass is conserved. |
| Chemical and Physical Changes Lesson 2 of 4 | At the end of this lesson, students will be able to list the signs of a physical or chemical change and have a high degree of confidence in their ability to recognize them and differentiate between them in daily life. |
| “It's Time for a Change” | Physical changes do not change what things are made of, but chemical changes do change what things are made of. |
| Chemical and Physical Changes Lesson 1 of 4 | Used to assess prior knowledge of chemical change and physical change.
** THIS IS LESSON 1 IN A SERIES OF 4 LESSONS. ** |
| Chemical and Physical Changes Lesson 3 of 4 | During a physical change, particles at the microscopic level, re-arrange themselves, but no new substance is formed. During a chemical change, particles are broken apart and the atoms are re-arranged into new particles, thereby forming a new substance. |
| Lord of Fries Conservation MEA | This is an 8th grade MEA. This MEA will ask students to investigate different types of hamburger patties and choose the one that is best for the restaurant. Some of the areas that students will examine is how the hamburger patties undergo a chemical change, but mass is not lost only changed into different substances. They will also investigate how the hamburger patties are chemically changed due to a change in temperature. Students will also be exposed to how the Law of Conservation of Mass is used in our daily lives. For example, cooking a hamburger patty, the mass is not lost but sometimes the juices are separated from the meat. Also, in French fries, matter is not created but cooking oil is absorbed by the fries. Model Eliciting Activities, MEAs, are open-ended, interdisciplinary problem-solving activities that are meant to reveal students’ thinking about the concepts embedded in realistic situations. Click here to learn more about MEAs and how they can transform your classroom. |
| Time to Change the Baby!?!?!? | In this open inquiry activity, students will explore what it is that keeps a diaper-wearer "dry" and whether it is chemical change or physical change. |
| Name |
Description |
| Chemical Change Investigations | Inquiry in Action | In this series of 10 investigations, students gain experience with the evidence of chemical change - production of a gas, change in temperature, color change, and formation of a precipitate. Students begin by observing that similar-looking powders can be differentiated by the way they react chemically with certain test liquids. Students then use their chemical tests and observations to identify an unknown powder and, in a follow-up activity, to identify the active ingredients in baking powder. Students continue to explore chemical change by using a thermometer to observe that temperature either increases or decreases during chemical reactions. Then they control these reactions by adjusting the amount of reactants. In another set of activities, students use the color changes of red cabbage indicator to classify substances as acids or bases, neutralize solutions, and compare the relative acidity of two different solutions. Students conclude the investigation by comparing a precipitate to one of the reactants that formed it. Students see that a new substance was created during the chemical reaction. Information and questions about photosynthesis and cellular respiration
are included as examples of chemical changes on pages 316-318 of this
resource. |
| Middle School Chemistry Unit | Chapter 6 | Chemical Change | Students explore the concept that chemical reactions involve the breaking of certain bonds between atoms in the reactants, and the rearrangement and rebonding of these atoms to make the products. Students also design tests to investigate how the amount of products and the rate of the reaction can be changed. Students will also explore endothermic and exothermic reactions. |
