Students will practice their measurement skills using a graduated cylinder to determine volume and a triple beam balance to determine mass.
Students will determine the density of water by completing 10 trails and finding an average.
I use this lab to tie their measuring skills together and introduce the concept of density. We then do further explorations of density and practice using the formula.
This lab is a modified version of the lab posted at Middle School Chemistry – for further details about the lesson, please click on this link.
My 6th graders completed their Adopt-a-City unit and wrote their weather reports comparing the weather in Morristown, NJ to their adopted cities. Students transferred their data to the following Google Sheet Template and then analyzed their data to write their weather reports using Google Docs.
Overall this was a successful unit. The students enjoyed having an independent study based classroom experience and working at their own pace. They worked cooperatively with their peers and were able to explore each topic in depth with the provided resources. They also learned so many valuable skills and had a real understanding of weather. Below are some sample graphs for different cities:
Morristown, NJ and Butte, MTMorristown, NJ and Baton Rouge, LAMorristown, NJ and Miami, FLMorristown, NJ and Seattle, WAMorristown, NJ and Las Vegas, NVMorristown, NJ and Baltimore, MD
Pacing for Adopt-a-City Unit – students collected data and created Mini-Maps at the start of each class, and they updated their weather data over the weekends. I checked mini-maps and gave a daily grade of 5 pts per map completed and graded completed tasks as they handed them in. I also graded weather data for completion to be sure their data was up to date. Having a shared spreadsheet, with tabs for each student in the class, made it easy to quickly check each student’s data. I also added quizzes to check for understanding along the way. Their weather report was weighted as a test grade.
Day 1: Tasks 1-2
Day 2: Tasks 2-3, HW Task 2 completed
Day 3: Tasks 3-4-5, HW Tasks 3 & 4 to be completed
Day 4: Tasks 4-5-6, HW Task 5 to be completed
Day 5: Tasks 6-7, HW Task 6 to be completed
Day 6: Tasks 7-8
Day 7: Tasks 7-8, HW Task 7 part 1 to be completed
Day 8: Tasks 7-8, HW Task 7 – complete Part 2
Day 9: Tasks 7-8-9, HW Task 8 to be completed
Day 10: Tasks 8-9-10
Day 11: Tasks 9-10-11, HW complete Task 9
Day 12: Tasks 10-11
Day 13: Tasks 10-11-12, HW complete Task 10
Day 14: Tasks 11-12-13
Day 15: Tasks 11-12-13, HW complete Task 11
Day 16: Tasks 12-13
Day 17: Tasks 12-13-14, HW complete task 12
Day 18: Tasks 13-14
Day 19: Tasks 13-14-15, HW complete task 13
Day 20: Tasks 14-15 or begin Weather Report, HW complete task 14
Day 21: Task 15 or begin Weather Report, HW complete task 15
This lesson can be used as part of your unit on reproduction, a stand alone lesson to practice collecting and analyzing data, or as part of a math lesson on statistics. This lesson can be extended in several different ways: you can add graphing, plotting data using a stem and leaf (link) for the dates, finding min, max, mode, averages, etc…
The students enjoy this lesson because it is a fun way to analyze their birthdays and many students didn’t know what day of the week they were born on.
Middle School Science Blog 