Purpose:  For students to practice using the metric system to measure the lengths of various objects.

Purpose:  To determine which object has more mass... a cylinder of water plus dry salt or a cylinder of water plus dissolved salt?

Purpose:  To determine the volume and porosity of sand vs. gravel.  Which particle take up more space?

Purpose:  For students to deterime which can is more dense... a can of Diet Coke vs. a can of regular Coke.  When placed in a tub of water, one can will sink and one will float.

Designed especially for middle school students by the Natural History Museum.  Learn how and why we experience different seasonal patterns all over the world.

It can be difficult to imagine what causes the moon to look different each night.  With this activity using a styrofoam ball and a hanging lightbulb, students are able to physically move the moon around the Earth (their head) and see how the Earth's shadow is what is actually causing the moon to look dark.

The Earth's crust is solid and rigid but due to stretching, compressing, or shearing the crust can change shape.  In this activity, students will first color and identify 3 layers of the crust and then will glue the colored model onto a piece of card stock.  Next, students will cut and construct a 3-dimensional box which simulates a section of the Earth's crust.  Lastly, by moving the model pieces up, down, or across the students will begin to notice how the land will change based on the force that is being applied to the crust.

Purpose:  For students to observe the different types of volcanoes and to recognize the differences between each one.

Activity:  Students will use "plaster of Paris" mixed with varying sizes of particles and will observe how each one flows and could potentially explode.  Some volcanoes have large particles and will flow slowly, while others will flow faster because they have smaller particles.  Also, a quickly flowing volcanoe will have a smaller explosion, while a slowly flowing volcanoe will build up pressure and could have a large explosion.

Purpose:  For students to understand the design process of building a rocket and the benefits that rocket science can have on society.

 Activity:  First students must choose their rocket from a catalogue based on a difficulty level they are comfortable with.  A higher level means that more time, effort, and materials are required in the construction process.  The simplest rocket can take up to an hour to build while a high level rocket could take several hours or days to construct.  After construction, students will then lauch their rockets one at a time with their class and record theri results.  How high the rocket travels depends on height, weight, fuel amount, and aerodynamic design.  Additional data can be collected on the actual trajectory that the rocket traveled based on parabola calculations.