Current Materials
Click the links below to access the current manuals, lesson plans, and handouts VSVS is using for this year’s classroom program!
Strategies Manual
Teaching Strategies
Lessons
Lesson Abstracts
Goal: To provide information on all of the following lessons.
Abstracts
Acids and Bases
Goal: To introduce students to acids, bases, and the pH scale.
Lesson – Word Document
Training – PowerPoint
Lesson Demonstration – YouTube
Acids and Bases (Mini-lesson)
Goal: To introduce students to acids and bases.
Lesson – Word Document
Training – PowerPoint
Lesson Demonstration – YouTube
Alternative Energy Sources
Goal: To help students understand solar, wind, and electrical energy as alternative sources of energy to help reduce the use of fossil fuels.
Lesson – Word Document
Beanie Baby Mystery
Goal: To introduce students to the use of microscopes.
Lesson – Word Document
Training – PowerPoint
Bed of Nails
Goal: To demonstrate the physics of pressure and the difference between pressure and force.
Lesson – Word Document
Training – PowerPoint
Blood Typing Game
Goal: To show students which blood types can be used in transfusions.
Lesson – Word Document
Bottle Rockets
Goal: To study Newton’s 3rd Law with bottle Rockets.
Lesson – Word Document
Training – PDF
Bottled Water vs Filtered Water
Goal: To have students investigate the quality of their drinking water. To test water from home for pH, chlorine, hardness, copper and iron, and compare it to other sources of potable water.
Lesson – Word Document
Bubbles
Goal: To introduce students to the structure of bubbles.
Buoyancy (Submarine)
Goal: To explain the properties of density and buoyancy.
Lesson – Word Document
Training – PowerPoint
Cartesian Diver
Goal: To use a pipette bulb as a ‘submarine’ to explain the properties of density and buoyancy.
Training – PowerPoint
Lesson – Word Document
Catching Counterfeiters
Goal: To demonstrate how some scientific techniques re used in finding counterfeit money and fraudulent checks.
Lesson – Word Document
Training – PowerPoint
Cells (Shrinky Dink)
Goal: To help students understand the structure and physiology of cells by making a “shrinky dink” cell.
Training – PowerPoint
Lesson – Word Document
Changes in States of Matter Using Dry Ice
Goal: To demonstrate changes of state to students using CO2. To illustrate that changes in state of matter are physical changes.
Lesson – Word Document
Training – PowerPoint
Chemical Energy Conversions
Goal: To help students understand the energy conversions from chemical to electrical, light, and thermal energy.
Lesson – Word Document
Training – PowerPoint
Lesson Demonstration – Youtube
Chemistry in a Ziploc Bag (5th Grade Mini-Lesson)
Goal: To give a short hands-on activity in chemicstry that illustrates the importance of recording observations.
Lesson – Word Document
Training – PowerPoint
Lesson Demonstration – Youtube
Chemistry in a Ziploc Bag (7th Grade Mini-Lesson)
Goal: To use the scientific method to explain observations made when calcium chloride, sodium bicarbonate, water and phenol red are mixed.
Lesson – Word Document
Training – PowerPoint
Chromatography
Goal: To use chromatography – a technique or process for separating mixtures that is used by biologists, chemists, clinical scientists, and forensics scientists (detectives).
Lesson – Word Document
Training – PowerPoint
Chromatography (Mini-Lesson)
Goal: To provide an abbreviated (10 minute) version of the above lesson.
Lesson – Word Document
Training – PowerPoint
Chromatography of Food Colors
Goal: To learn how to separate color mixtures using chromatography.
Lesson – Word Document
Training – PowerPoint
Coffee Filter Chromatography
Goal: To demonstrate a technique or process for separating mixtures that is used by scientists.
Lesson – Word Document
Training – PowerPoint
Comets
Goal: To teach students the importance of and composition of comets.
Lesson – Word Document
Training – PowerPoint
Conduction (Mini-lesson)
Goal: To introduce students to conduction in solid objects.
Lesson – Word Document
Training – PowerPoint
Conduction, Convection, and Radiation
Goal: To learn about and demonstrate the concepts of conduction, convection, and radiation.
Lesson – Word Document
Training – PowerPoint
Lesson Demonstration – Youtube
Consumerism: Paper Towel Testing
Goal: To introduce students to the challenge of scientifically comparing products using objective, quantifiable information thus enabling them to make informed consumer decisions. This experiment also demonstrates the use of tests and variables (possibly as preparation for science fair projects).
Lesson – Word Document
Training – PowerPoint
Convection Currents
Goal: To demonstrate the concept of heat convection through currents by observing motion in liquids and gases.
Lesson – Word Document
Training – PowerPoint
Crazy Traits
Goal: To understand some basic principles of heredity by building creatures determined by flipping a coin for different traits.
Lesson – Word Document
Training – PowerPoint
Lesson Demonstration – Youtube
Cryogenic Temperatures
Goal: To investigate the properties of substances at extremely cold temperatures (referred to as cryogenic temperatures) and illustrate that changes in phases of matter are physical changes.
Lesson – Word Document
Training – PowerPoint
Lesson Demonstration – Youtube
Deep Ocean Currents and Air Convection Currents
Goal: To teach students about deep ocean currents by allowing them to visualize and understand how and why the currents form. To introduce students to convection in liquids and gases.
Lesson – Word Document
Training – PowerPoint
Lesson Demonstration – Youtube
Density of Liquids
Goal: To explore the concept of density.
Lesson – Word Document
Training – PowerPoint
Density Column (Identifying Plastics by Using a Density Column)
Goal: To explain the concepts governing the recycling of plastics, problems encountered in the recycling process due to the diffrent types of plastics used, and to gain an understanding of the differing properties of each type of plastic using density to illustrate the concept.
Lesson – Word Document
Diffusion Using Agar Blocks
Goal: To show students that diffusion is a fairly slow process and a cell that relies primarily on diffusion to transport essential molecules into and throughout its interior–and to carry wasted products out–could conceivably grow too large for this process to work efficiently.
Training – PowerPoint
Lesson – Word Document
Diffusion (with Dialysis Tubing)
Goal: To understand diffusion, the selective movement of molecules through membranes of different porosity.
Lesson – Word Document
Training – PowerPoint
DNA
Goal: To understand the role DNA plays in our bodies and to extract and visualize DNA.
Lesson – Word Document
Dry Ice Activities and Cave Formation (Mini-lesson)
Goal: To use some reactions of carbon dioxide to learn about (1) the acidity of carbon dioxide solution and (2) how caves form.
Lesson – Word Document
Training – PowerPoint
Effect of Carbon Dioxide on the Environment
Goal: To investigate how the acidity of water changes after carbon dioxide is bubbled through it.
Lesson – Word Document
Training – PowerPoint
Lesson Demonstration – Youtube
Effervescent Launchers
Goal: To explain the concepts of angle of trajectory vs. distance and the horizontal/vertical components of projectile motion; also to apply basic graphing and data interpretation skills to the physics of projectile motion.
Lesson – Word Document (7-8th Grade Version)
Lesson – Word Document (4th Grade Version)
Training – PowerPoint
Electrical Circuits (Elementary)
Goal: To learn about series circuits and their properties through the use of Elenco Snap Circuit™ kits.
Training – PowerPoint
Lesson Demonstration – Youtube
Electrical Circuits – Series & Parallel Circuits
Goal: To learn about series and parallel circuits and their properties through the use of Elenco Snap Circuit ™ kits.
Lesson – Word Document
Training – PowerPoint
Electrical Conductivity (Elementary)
Goal: To measure the conductivity of solids.
Lesson – Word Document
Training – PowerPoint
Electrical Conductivity
Goal: To measure the conductivity of solids and solutions using an LED in a circuit.
Lesson – Word Document
Training – PowerPoint
Lesson Demonstration – Youtube
Electricity – Resistors and Capacitors
Goal: To learn about the function of resistors and capacitors in electric circuits.
Lesson – Word Document
Training – PowerPoint
Electrolysis and Fuel Cells
Goal: To learn about the energy conversion from electrical energy to chemical energy through the electrolysis of water and to become familiar with fuel cells.
Lesson – Word Document
Training – PowerPoint
Electrolysis of Water (Mini-lesson)
Goal: To learn about the energy conversion from electrical energy to chemical energy in the electrolysis of water.
Lesson – Word Document
Training – PowerPoint
Lesson Demonstration – Youtube
Electromagnetism
Goal: To introduce students to magnetism and to allow them to understand how a compass works.
Lesson – Word Document (4th grade version)
Training – PowerPoint(4th grade version)
Lesson – Word Document(8th grade version)
Training – PowerPoint(8th grade version)
Lesson Demonstration – Youtube
Elements, Compounds, and Mixtures
Goal: To help show the differences between elements, compounds, and mixtures.
Lesson – Word Document
Endothermic and Exothermic Processes
Goal: To help students understand endothermic and exothermic processes by using the same chemicals that are in cold and hot packs.
Lesson – Word Document
Training – PowerPoint
Energy Conversions
Goal: To help students understand the energy conversions among chemical, electrical, and light energy.
Lesson – Word Document
Training – PowerPoint
Energy Conversions in Roller Coasters
Goal: To study energy conversions, the relationship of height to potential energy, and the resulting kinetic energy.
Lesson – Word Document
Epidemic, Tracing an – elementary
Goal: To demonstrate how a disease spreads and how the carrier is identified.
Lesson – Word Document
Epidemic, Tracing an – 7th grade mini-lesson
Goal: To demonstrate how an epidemic spreads and how the carrier is identified.
Lesson – Word Document
Training – PowerPoint
Lesson Demonstration – Youtube
Evidence of Chemical Reactions
Goal: To show students evidence of a chemical change.
Lesson – Word Document (4th grade version)
Training – PowerPoint (4th grade version)
Lesson – Word Document (7th grade version)
Training – PowerPoint (7th grade version)
Lesson Demonstration – Youtube
Eye (The)
Goal: To learn the basic science of the eye.
Lesson – Word Document
Training – PowerPoint
Fluorescence
Goal: To study fluorescence, phosphorescence, and chemiluminescence through demonstrations and hands-on activities.
Lesson – Word Document
Training – PowerPoint
Fluorescence (4th Grade)
Goal: To introduce students to the electromagnetic spectrum.
Lesson – Word Document
Training – PowerPoint
Food Chemistry
Goal: To investigate basic nutrients found in foods.
Lesson – Word Document
Training – PowerPoint
Fossils
Goal: To introduce students to the geological time scale, the fossil record and index fossils.
Lesson – Word Document
Training – PowerPoint
Lesson Demonstration – Youtube
Glow-in-the-Dark Slime
Goal: To demonstrate phosphorescence using slime.
Lesson – Word Document
Training – PowerPoint
Gluey Putty (4th grade)
Goal: To introduce the concepts of polymers and cross-linkers and to investigate their properties.
Lesson – Word Document
Training – PowerPoint
Gluey Putty (8th grade)
Goal: To elaborate on concepts from the previous lesson; students make Gluey Putty by mixing solutions of 50% glue/water (white), 80% glue (blue), or 20% glue (green) and 4% borax.
Lesson – Word Document
Training – PowerPoint
Household Chemicals
Goal: To identify an unknown household chemical by comparing its physical and chemical properties to those of known household chemicals.
Lesson – Word Document
Igneous Rocks
Goal: To introduce students to the types of igneous rocks, how they form, and what minerals combine to form them.
Lesson – Word Document
Training – PowerPoint
Lesson Demonstration – Youtube
Inclined Plane
Goal: To learn that simple machines can multiply the force put into them.
Lesson – Word Document
Training – PowerPoint
Inheritance and Blood Typing
Goal: To learn the difference between elements and compounds by studying the different forms of iron.
Lesson – Word Document
Training – PowerPoint
Lesson Demonstration – Youtube
Inheritance Patterns in Dragons
Goal: To understand recessive and dominant traits.
Lesson – Word
Inheritance Patterns in Humans
Goal: To introduce the students to the fundamentals of genetics and probability.
Lesson – Word Document
Training – PowerPoint
Inheritance Patterns in Reebops
Goal: To understand recessive and dominant traits.
Lesson – Word Document
Training – PowerPoint
Investigating Ionic, Covalent and Metallic Bonds
Goal: To measure the conductivity of solids and solutions using an LED in a circuit.
Lesson – Word Document
Training – PowerPoint
Knex Engineering
Goal: To introduce students to processes in engineering and demonstrate Newton’s third law of motion.
Lesson – Word Document
Training – PowerPoint
Lactose Intolerance
Goal: To show students that the enzyme lactase breaks down lactose into glucose and galactose, which are easily digested by humans.
Lesson – Word Document
Training – PowerPoint
Lenz’s Law
Goal: To explain how Lenz’s law works and the application of it in commonplace items.
Lesson – Word Document
Light
Goal: To demonstrate scattering, reflection of light, and diffraction.
Lesson – Word Document
Training – PowerPoint
Magic Sand (Elementary)
Goal: To learn about “water-loving” (hydrophilic) and “water-hating” (hydrophobic) substances by using sand and coated sand (Magic Sand).
Lesson – Word Document
Training – PowerPoint
Magic Sand (Mini Lesson)
Goal: To learn about “water-loving” (hydrophilic) and “water-hating” (hydrophobic) substances by using sand and coated sand (Magic Sand) in an abbreviated manner.
Lesson – Word Document
Training – PowerPoint
Lesson Demonstration – Youtube
Magnetism (8th grade)
Lesson – Word Document
Training – PowerPoint
Magnetism (Elementary)
Lesson – Word Document
Mineral Density
Goal: To show students that density is a unique property of a mineral.
Lesson – Word Document
Minerals
Goal: To introduce students to some of the tests that geologists use to determine the properties of minerals.
Lesson – Word Document
Training – PowerPoint
Lesson Demonstration – Youtube
Minerals and Crystals
Goal: To develop an understanding of the four defining characteristics of minerals.
Lesson – Word Document
Training – PowerPoint
Minerals and Their Everyday Uses (Elementary)
Goal: To explore the everyday uses of minerals.
Lesson – Word Document
Mixing Colors
Goal: To illustrate the mixing of colors.
Lesson – Word Document
Training – PowerPoint
Nanotechnology and Magnetism
Goal: To introduce students to nanotechnology and new magnetic products.
Lesson – Word Document
Training – PowerPoint
Training – YouTube
Newton’s Second Law (Rubber Band)
Goal: To allow students to discover a relationship between the input force and the relationship (Newton’s Second Law of Motion.)
Newton’s Second Law vinse F 2013
Newton’s 2nd law 2015 complete
Newton’s Second Law (Kinex Cars)
Goal: To allow students to discover a relationship between the input force and the relationship (Newton’s Second Law of Motion.
Training – PowerPoint
Oh Deer!
Goal: To help students understand the importance of suitable habitat for animal populations and recognize factors that may affect wildlife populations in changing ecosystems.
Lesson – Word Document
Training – PowerPoint
Oil Spill
Goal: For students to find the quickest and most cost effective method of cleaning up an oil spill in an ocean-like environment.
Lesson – Word Document
Training – PowerPoint
Optical Illusions
Goal: To study different features of the eye using optical illusions.
Lesson – Word Document
Training – PowerPoint
Osmosis (Mini-lesson)
Goal: To demonstrate the concept of osmosis using large-scale models.
Lesson – Word Document
Training – PowerPoint
Lesson Demonstration – Youtube
Oxidation of Iron
Goal: To have students observe rusting of iron and evidence of a chemical reaction.
Lesson – Word Document
Training – PowerPoint
Packing Peanuts (Mini-lesson)
Goal: To run tests on two different types of packing peanuts to determine which one is more environmentally friendly.
Lesson – Word Document
Training – PowerPoint
pH
Goal: To introduce students to acids, bases and the pH scale.
Lesson – Word Document
Training – PowerPoint
Lesson Demonstration – Youtube
Phosphorescence and Fluorescence
Goal: To show students the difference between phosphorescence and fluorescence.
Lesson – Word Document
Training – PowerPoint
Phosphorescence and Fluorescence (Elementary)
Goal: To show students the difference between phosphorescence and fluorescence.
Lesson – Word Document
Pinhole Optics
Goal: To learn how a pinhole affects how we see things using a pinhole magnifier and pinhole camera.
Lesson – Word Document
Training – PowerPoint
Polymer Chemistry
Goal: To introduce the concepts of polymers and cross-linkers and to investigate their properties.
Lesson – Word Document
Training – PowerPoint
Lesson Demonstration – YouTube
Potato Power
Goal: To learn about the energy conversion from chemical energy to electrical energy. To understand how a battery is made.
Lesson – Word Document
Training – PowerPoint
Lesson Demonstration – Youtube
Potential Energy
Goal: To investigate mechanical energy and the interconversion of kinetic and potential energy; to show that gravitational potential energy is related to the height and mass of an object.
Lesson – Word Document
complete Training – PowerPoint
Lesson Demonstration – Youtube
Power of Food
Goal: To learn about energy balance and the source of energy for human metabolism.
Lesson – Word Document
Training – PowerPoint
Powers of 10
Goal: To show students cubes whose volume increases by a power of ten. They are given a picture and told to draw a portion of it ten times larger.
Lesson – Word Document
Training – PowerPoint
Properties of CO2
Goal: To introduce students to various properties of CO2. To illustrate that changes in phases of matter are physical changes.
Lesson – Word Document (4th grade)
Training – PowerPoint (4th grade)
Lesson – Word Document (5th grade)
Training – PowerPoint (5th grade)
Lesson Demonstration – Youtube
Properties of Iron
Goal: To learn the difference between elements, compounds, and mixtures by studying the different forms of iron. To explain why iron is useful in the diet, and to demonstrate how iron is used by the body.
Lesson – Word Document
Training – PowerPoint
Properties of Waves
Goal: To investigate properties of waves by studying reflection, diffraction, and refraction of light.
Lesson – Word Document
Training – PowerPoint
Pulleys
Goal: To understand how pulleys can be used to lift objects; to understand the mechanical advantage of different pulley systems.
Lesson – Word Document
Training – PowerPoint
Rainbows and Colors (Elementary)
Lesson – Word Document
Training – PowerPoint
Rates of Chemical Reactions
Goal: To understand factors that affect the rates of chemical reactions – temperature, concentration of reacting substances in solutions, surface area (particle size) of solids in reactions with gases and liquids, and catalysts.
Lesson – Word Document
Training – PowerPoint
Rates of Chemical Reactions using Chalk
Goal: To understand factors that affect the rates of chemical reactions – temperature, concentration of reacting substances in solutions, surface area (particle size) of solids in reactions with gases and liquids, and catalysts.
Lesson – Word Document
Training – PowerPoint
Refraction and Absorption
Goal: To introduce the concepts of refraction and absorption.
Lesson – Word Document
Training – PowerPoint
Refraction using Water Gel Balls
Lesson – Word Document
Training – PowerPoint
Rock Cycle (The Game)
Goal: To understand what factors cause rocks to break down and change.
Lesson – PDF
Training – PowerPoint
Rusting
Goal: To introduce students to common metals and investigate their oxidation. To investigate the rusting of iron.
Lesson – Word Document
Training – PowerPoint
Saltwater Density
Goal: To demonstrate the concept of density using saltwater, and to share some information about the salinity of oceans
Lesson – Word Document
Training – PowerPoint
Lesson Demonstration – YouTube
Science of Soda Pop Lesson
Goal: To demonstrate the concept of density using saltwater, and to share some information about the salinity of oceans
Lesson – Word Document
Training – PowerPoint
Science of Magic