Physical and Life Sciences

The following list of activities deal with Physical and Life Sciences. By clicking on the titles below, you can jump to that specific activity.

• The Three States of Matter
• Heterogeneous, homogeneous, and solutions
• "Mystery Box Activity" Qualitative vs. Quantitative Data
• Building a basic serial circuit
• Model the backbone and spinal cord
• Volume Boxes
• Name that frequency
• Hot spoons
• Hands free heating with a ring stand

The Three States of Matter

To introduce the three states of matter, students examine several models that illustrate the characteristics of particles in each state.

To create models for the particles of a solid, liquid and gas, you need three plastic plates and about 50 marbles for each student.  Label the first plate “SOLID” and fill the plate with marbles until there is nearly no room left between them to move.  Label the second plate “LIQUID” and fill the plate with fewer marbles than the solid, leaving room for the marbles to roll around a bit.  Label the third plate “GAS” and add around 5 marbles, giving them room to move freely.  Students can feel the relative space between the marbles and examine the ability of the marbles to move in the available space in each model.  

You can also make a demonstration model using balloons and large trash bags.  Blow up several balloons and pack them into a large trash bag until the bag is full.  This is a model of a solid.  The students can observe that the shape of a solid stays constant and there is not much room between the particles so they aren’t able to move.  After you create the bag to represent a liquid, you can show the students how because the particles have more room to move around, the bag can be shifted into different shapes much like a liquid can take the shape of its container.  This can be demonstrated by allowing the students to try putting the bag into a square box or round trash barrel.

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Heterogeneous, homogeneous, and solutions:

To create heterogeneous mixtures, students make trail mix or mix various small items together to illustrate how mixtures can be easily separated.

To create homogeneous mixtures, students can make a powdered drink mix with water to illustrate how a homogeneous mixture is not easily separated. During this activity, students can feel when the crystals seem to disappear in the water, at this point they have entered into solution. Students can taste the plain water and then the solution to describe differences. Safety Note: Remember lab materials should never be tasted unless directed by instructor.

The concepts of diluted and concentrated solutions can be experienced by adding more or less of the solute (the powdered drink mix). Salt and water provides an easy way to show that some solutions can be separated by evaporation. The students can tactually observe the crystals dissolving. If the salt solution is left to evaporate, the student can then feel the crystals that have reformed in the container and note that the water has evaporated.

Separating a sand/salt mixture is another common experiment that students with visual impairments can do with few adaptations. Present the students with a mixture of sand and salt and ask them to separate the salt and sand. Many students will use their fingers to separate the mixture. However, the student "in the know" will add water to the mixture and stir. After lining a funnel stand with filter paper, the student pours the mixture into the funnel. The sand stays in the funnel, and the water filters out. But where is the salt? Following the evaporation process described above, the salt reappears separated from the sand! Low vision students may notice that as the salt re-crystallizes it may look tan or brown. This is due to impurities from the water being trapped inside the salt crystals.

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"Mystery Box Activity": Qualitative vs. Quantitative Data

Students often have a difficult time differentiating between the types of data or observation asked for in a question. We start with the basic definitions of qualitative and quantitative data.  Quantitative data is expressed in numbers and comes from measuring or counting.  Qualitative data is descriptive and involves data that usually cannot be counted. 

To make qualitative observations, we discuss our senses and use them to describe everyday objects (spoons, gloves, pencils, soda cans, etc.).  After practicing with qualitative observations, give each student a box containing ten items.  Each student needs to have the same ten items.  For students with low vision, we ask them to close their eyes.  Students take turns describing an item with one-word descriptors until another student can guess which item from their box the student is describing.  To make quantitative observations, we use talking scales, talking thermometers, and talking tape measures to collect data. Then the students record the number data in a chart.  Students can then practice ordering the items by size, mass, temperature, etc.

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Building a basic Serial Circuit

Every student does a unit on electricity and circuits at some point in his/her education.  For visually impaired students, many of the same material and activities can be used.  Some adaptations and modifications that will assist a student with a visual and/or other impairments to build a circuit include: the use of Velcro to stabilize each component atop a template board with Velcro patches where the components go, the use of traditional single blade switches where the open/close action is more readily comprehended tactually than other forms of switches, and the use of Magna lead wires where the connections at the end of the wires are magnetized and thus easier to connect than standard alligator clips and the like. Standard electric motors and batteries are generally safe for any student to use.  

Materials for serial circuits

11” x 9” white cardboard template with 4 black Velcro patches
 
Basic circuit components (motor, 1.5v AA battery, battery holder, single-knife switch) with lead wires attached to each with alligator clips on ends and Velcro on underside of each.  The motor will need to be fastened to a sturdy base of some sort and then Velcro placed on underside of the base.

Activities using the circuit set-up

One activity our students enjoyed was making fans out of Braille paper and taping them to a wheel which fit on the motor.  The air movement created by the fan when the motor was on added another sensory dimension to the activity.

The circuit can be used to examine conductors and insulators.  Students can break the circuit at any point, place various materials between the alligator clips and observe whether the motor runs or not.  We have used metal objects like empty soda cans, strips of copper, as well as insulators like wood blocks and plastic and glass containers. 

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Model the Backbone and Spinal Cord

This activity gives students a chance to see how the spinal cord is surrounded by and protected by the backbone. It also models the way that the discs between each of our vertebrae cushion the bones facilitating movement and reducing grinning of bone against bone.
Materials for each student include: 26 Gummy style ring shaped candies; 33 Tube shaped macaroni (mini rigatoni work well); 1 Tubular shaped shoe lace 36 to 45”; 1 Paper plate for “head” pre-punched with hole for attachment of spinal chord; and additional string (optional).

Procedure

1. If desired, label the head or give it facial features
 
2. Tie shoe lace to head –the spinal cord in now attached to the brainstem.

3. Beginning with the macaroni (a vertebra) thread a piece of macaroni alternating with a gummy saver cushion.  (If threading onto the string is difficult for your student see activity below using a pipe cleaner.

4. Continue until all the gummy savers have been used.
The remaining un-cushioned macaroni represent the fused bones near the end of the spine as well as the coccyx and tailbone.

5. Tie off the end of the spinal cord/shoelace at the base of the spine to keep vertebrae and cushions from sliding off.

If desired, nerves (string) from the spinal cord can be added coming out from the spinal cord between each pair of vertebrae.

The model backbone produced is very close in length to an actual backbone. An alternate to this activity uses a shorter string or a pipe cleaner as the spinal cord.  Give each student 10 macaroni and 10 gummy rings. (If candy is not appropriate for your students cushion discs made of a rubber material from the hardware store are a great substitute.

Ask the students to thread all ten macaroni onto the pipe cleaner, Bend the pipe cleaner at one end to keep the macaroni from falling off. Ask the students to bend the pipe cleaner and listen to the sound of the macaroni rubbing against each other. Now remove all but one macaroni form the pipe cleaner. Thread the gummy ring shaped candy alternately on the pipe cleaner.  Ask the students again to listen as the pipe cleaner is moved. Encourage students to make other observations about the movement possible by the model back bone.

Other activities related to studying the backbone include looking at actual skeletons or animals or models of the human skeleton. Some students benefit from locating and touching their own backbones and exploring how their backbones move.

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Volume Boxes

Density is a tough concept for student to fully understand.  During the course of an introductory physics class it comes up several times.  There are several density kits out there and they all have their benefits but the more the better.  Another activity that involves students building volume boxes has proven very helpful.  Collect several boxes with lids.  These need to be the same size for each group.  Christmas shirt boxes are easy to measure and they come in multiple sizes.  For each group of identical boxes, assign several masses for student to fill the boxes to.  The masses need to be different enough that you can tell by lifting the boxes.  You can fill with bags of sand, cotton, crushed paper, etc.

Group	Group 1	Group 2	Group 3
Box volume	20 cm3	15 cm3	9 cm3
Box Mass 1	25 g	25 g	25 g
Mass 2	50 g	50 g	50 g
Mass 3	100 g	100 g	100 g

Having the students create the boxes themselves allows the chance to practice measurement techniques as well as makes them aware of the equivalent weights.  You can then compare the sizes and weights and do the math to figure the densities.

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Name That Frequency

While studying sound waves, students had a difficult time understanding that sounds are created by vibrating particles.  It’s even more difficult to model how vibrating particles bump into other particles and make them vibrate.  To demonstrate the chain reaction of sound waves you can use old video cassettes. 

Everyone has seen the row of dominoes set up and knocked down in a pattern to show cause and effect.  This activity is an adaptation of that.  Most students had trouble setting up such small pieces without knocking over the next.  Have the students take turns knocking down the row of tapes while showing how the first tape moves causing the second to move then the third and so on. 

After you model the idea of the sound wave, you can move on to frequency.  Setting the tapes up close together shows a high frequency.  Setting the tapes further apart demonstrates a low frequency.  Students can knock the tapes over and observe and compare the time it takes to knock down all of the tapes for a high and low frequency. 

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Hot Spoons

To incorporate some everyday items into science class you can try this activity to show how different materials conduct heat. After introducing conductors and insulators in our heat unit we had students explore materials and hypothesize about what material would or would not be a good conductor. The students can start by classifying several objects with a 3-part chart. Is it plastic, wood or metal? 

They can rank the items from 1 (not a good conductor of heat) to 3 (very good conductor of heat). After the predictions students can use spoons to test their theories.  You’ll need 3 large beakers, a timer, a thermometer, 3 spoons (wood, metal, plastic) and a heat source (hot plate or even a radiator). 

Fill each beaker ¾ full of water and place one spoon in each. Take a temperature reading at the beginning for each beaker to prove that they all start at the same temperature.  This demonstration relies on the qualitative observations so its important to have the same student (or all of them) check each spoon. Next place one beaker on the hot plate for 2 minutes.  Remove the beaker and have students check the relative temperature of the spoons. Make sure the metal spoon isn’t too hot to touch. Repeat the steps for each spoon, having the students rate the spoons in terms of how hot they feel.  Ask which spoon they would use to stir hot soup? To serve cold food? To stir something on the stove? 

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Hands free heating with a ring stand

Several lab activities call for the use of a heating element. When working with students with visual impairment, this is particularly tricky. Our classes have found the use of a ring stand helpful. Place the heating element (hot plate, burner, etc) on the table. Set up the ring stand at a height above the heat source and substance you are heating. Attach the head of a talking thermometer to the ring stand while the bottom is in the substance and tighten the ring stand. This allows the student to use the ring stand as a guide to the head of the thermometer and keep their hands away from the hot plate. 

We found this method works well with students who are familiar with a lab setting and the set up. Extra caution is still needed to avoid steam burns when pressing the button on the thermometer. 

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