Hands-On General Science Activities with Real-Life Applications: Ready-to-Use Labs, Projects, and Activities for Grades 5-12 »

Pam Walker, a teacher at Alexander High School in Douglasville, Georgia, has been in the science classroom since 1981. In 2007, Pam Walker was named the Georgia Teacher of the Year.

Elaine Wood teaches at Chapel Hill High School in Douglasville, Georgia.

Pam and Elaine are co-authors of dozens of science teacher resource books including Crime Scene Investigations, Real-Life Science Activities for Elementary Grades, Crime Scene Investigations, Real-Life Science Labs for Grades 6–12, and Science Sleuths, all from Jossey-Bass.

Hands-On General Science Activities with Real-Life Applications

In this second edition of Hands-On General Science Activities with Real-Life Applications, Pam Walker and Elaine Wood have completely revised and updated their must-have resource for science teachers of grades 5–12. The book offers a dynamic collection of classroom-ready lessons, projects, and lab activities that encourage students to integrate basic science concepts and skills into everyday life.

This updated edition'includes 22 comprehensive, classroom-tested lessons, accompanied by more than 150 reproducible student activity sheets that will help students understand concrete scientific applications in ways that are both exciting and relevant. Each of the lessons includes a concise introduction to a specific topic, vocabulary games or puzzles, reproducible lab activities and projects, and complete answer keys. The activities do not require a formal science lab or expensive equipment. Instead, simple, easily accessible household items are suggested for use in experiments—ideal for the classroom or at home.

Focusing on the different areas of the standard science curriculum, Hands-On General Science Activities with Real-Life Applications contains stimulating lessons and activities on plenty of fascinating subjects, including:

EARTH SCIENCE: Earthquakes and plate tectonics, rocks and weathering, and weather and water

PHYSICS: Wave energy, heat, motion, energy, work, power and machines, and electricity

ASTRONOMY: Planets, stars, the moon, and space travel

CHEMISTRY: The periodic table, surface tension of water, hair chemistry, and macromolecules (fats).

BIOLOGY: The basic unit of life, DNA, Mendelian genetics, changes and adaptation, and ecology

The lessons are all correlated to the National Science Teachers Association Standards and promise to engage even those students who may not otherwise take an interest in science.

"Middle and high school teachers will find this book by Walker and Wood to be a valuable source of science content, experiments, activities, and vocabulary exercises that support the National Science Education Standards."

—Anne Marie Underwood, Science Department Head,Villa Rica, Georgia

SECTION 1: EARTH SCIENCE.

LESSON 1: PLATE TECTONICS.

1-1 As the Earth Moves.

Content on plate tectonics.

1-2 Rockin’ and Rollin’ in the U.S.A.

Lab on earthquake epicenters.

1-3 Quakes and Plates.

Lab on plate tectonics and earthquakes.

LESSON 2: ROCKS AND SOIL.

2-1 The Scoop on Soil.

Content on rocks and soil.

Vocabulary activity, word Trace.

2-2 Breaking Up Is Easy to Do.

Lab on weathering of rocks.

2-3 Shaking Sugar.

Lab on physical weathering.

LESSON 3: WEATHER.

3-1 The Weather Report.

Content on weather.

Vocabulary activity, Weather Crossword.

3-2 Hygrometer Engineering.

Lab on measuring relative humidity.

3-3 Weather Tracking.

Performance assessment on tracking, interpreting, and predicting weather.

LESSON 4: WATER.

4-1 The Water Planet.

Content on water.

4-2 Bearly Raining.

Lab on drainage basins.

4-3 Aquifer Project.

Inquiry lab on groundwater.

SECTION 2: PHYSICS.

LESSON 5: WAVE ENERGY.

5-1 Wave On.

Content on wave energy.

Vocabulary activity, Ride the Wave.

5-2 Telephone Waves.

Lab on sending waves along strings.

5-3 Assessing the Vibrations of Music.

Performance assessment on sound waves.

LESSON 6: HEAT.

6-1 Doing the Atomic Shake.

Content on heat energy.

Vocabulary activity, Atomic Crossword.

6-2 Up, Up, and Away.

Performance assessment on heat energy.

LESSON 7: MOTION.

7-1 Let’s Get Movin’.

Content on the energy of motion.

Vocabulary activity, Word Find.

7-2 Solving Your Problems in Motion.

Activity on the energy of motion.

7-3 The Ball Drop.

Lab on the energy of motion.

7-4 Take 1.

Project on the energy of motion.

LESSON 8: ENERGY, WORK, POWER, AND MACHINES.

8-1 Full of Energy.

Content on energy, work, power, and machines.

Vocabulary activity, Energy Unscramble.

8-2 Golf Balls and Their Potential.

Lab on potential energy.

8-3 Problems with Energy.

Activity on energy, work, power, and machines.

8-4 Machines Made Simple.

Performance assessment on machines.

LESSON 9: ELECTRICITY.

9-1 Dancing Electrons.

Content on electricity.

Vocabulary activity, AC-DC.

9-2 Paying the Bills.

Activity on calculating the cost of electric power.

9-3 Shocking Solutions.

Math problems involving electricity.

9-4 Wired for Action.

Lab on parallel and series circuits.

SECTION 3: ASTRONOMY.

LESSON 10: PLANETS.

10-1 Planetary Family.

Content on the planets in our solar system.

Vocabulary activity, Planet Unscramble.

10-2 Bringing the Solar System Down to Earth.

Activity on the size of our solar system.

10-3 Astonishing Planetary Discovery.

Performance assessment on designing life forms for the planets.

LESSON 11: STARS.

11-1 Star Light, Star Bright.

Content on stars.

Vocabulary activity, Star Puzzle

11-2 Star Chamber.

Class project on constellations.

LESSON 12: THE MOON.

12-1 The Man in the Moon.

Content on the moon’s surface.

Vocabulary activity, Lunar Message.

12-2 Moon Madness.

Lab on lunar craters.

12-3 Dear Moon.

Performance assessment on the moon’s phases.

LESSON 13: SPACE TRAVEL.

13-1 The Space Shuttle.

Content on space travel.

Vocabulary activity, Landing Spacecraft.

13-2 Design a Spacecraft.

Performance assessment on designing an original space vehicle.

SECTION 4: CHEMISTRY.

LESSON 14: THE PERIODIC TABLE.

14-1 Periodic Properties.

Content on periodicity of elements.

Vocabulary activity, Periodic Crossword.

14-2 Trend Setters.

Lab on density trends in family.

14-3 Berth of a Periodic Table.

Activity on what the periodic table reveals to scientists.

LESSON 15: SURFACE TENSION OF WATER.

15-1 Walking on the Water.

Content on the surface tension of water.

Vocabulary activity, Word Find.

15-2 Surface Tension.

Lab on the effect of detergents on the surface tension of water.

LESSON 16: HAIR CHEMISTRY.

16-1 Hair Care Chemistry.

Content on the chemical nature of hair and hair products.

Vocabulary activity, A Tri-ing and Hairy Experience.

16-2 Homemade Perms.

Lab on hair chemistry.

LESSON 17: MACROMOLECULE.

17-1 Fats.

Content on the structure and roles of fat.

Vocabulary activity, Fat Crossword.

17-2 Fat in Food.

Compare the fat content of meats.

SECTION 5: BIOLOGY.

LESSON 18: THE BLUEPRINT OF LIFE.

18-1 The Structure and Function of DNA.

Content on DNA.

Vocabulary activity, DNA Concept Map.

18-2 Recipe for Proteins.

DNA modeling activity.

LESSON 19: THE BASIC UNIT OF LIFE.

19-1 Cellular Structure and Function.

Content on cells.

Vocabulary activity, Tri-ing Cell Puzzle.

19-2 Cell Trek.

Review board game on the cell.

19-3 Cells Are Within Your GRASP.

Performance assessment on cells.

LESSON 20: MENDELIAN GENETICS.

20-1 Mendel’s Ideas on Inheritance of Traits.

Content on Mendelian genetics.

Vocabulary activity, Acrostic.

20-2 Mendelian Genetics.

Lab on inheritance of traits in pea plants.

LESSON 21: CHANGES AND ADAPTATION.

21-1 Changing with the Times.

Content on adaptations.

Vocabulary activity, Frayer Diagrams.

21-2 Plant Production.

Project on plant adaptations.

21-3 Monstrous Mutations.

Lab on the effect of random mutations.

LESSON 22: ECOLOGY.

22-1 Relationships in Life.

Content on ecology.

Vocabulary activity, Ecologically Speaking.

22-2 Who Lives in Our Trash?

Activity on composting and food chains.

Student activity sheet.

22-3 Web of Life.

Activity on food chains and food webs.

Student activity sheet.

ANSWER KEYS.

STANDARDS.

BIBLIOGRAPHY.

INDEX.