Middle school students learn about science through labs.
Middle school science classes often set up the lab in the classroom. Unlike high school or college labs, which are often separate from the classroom, middle school labs are frequently limited in space. This means the lab experiments performed by middle school students need to adjust for a minimal space and use fewer supplies than labs for older science students. Teachers can use labs experiments which use few supplies to help students gain a better understanding of science topics without using large amounts of space or potentially dangerous items like chemicals.
Water on a Penny Lab
The water on a penny lab is an introductory lab to review the basics of the scientific method for middle school students. The students must first make a hypothesis about how many drops of water fit on a penny. They then dry the penny with a paper towel to ensure it is clean and use an eye-dropper to put one drop of water on the penny at a time. Students record the results and then repeat a few more times to have enough data to determine an average, such as between three and five times.
Half Life Lab
Middle school students learn about the half life of radioactive decay as a basic chemistry lesson. The lab requires the use of pennies and a stop watch. The students put 50 pennies in a box and shake them for ten seconds. They then take out the pennies facing heads up as "decayed." Students record the number of "decayed" pennies and the number of pennies remaining. The process is repeated until all of the pennies are decayed. The students can repeat the entire process a second time, but using more or less pennies.
Metric Measurement Lab
Students in middle school start learning the use of beakers, test tubes and metric measurements. This lab requires the students to fill one beaker half full of water for rinsing and keep aside a second empty beaker for waste. Six test tubes are labeled from A to F to keep track of information. Test tube A has 25 mL of red liquid, C has 17 mL of yellow and test tube E has 21 mL of blue. Test tube D has four mL from test tube C mixed with seven mL from test tube E and is swirled. Students record the results. Test tube F has four mL from test tube E mixed with seven mL from test tube A swirled together. Students record the resulting color. Students mix eight mL from test tube A into test tube B with three mL from test tube C. Swirl and record the results.
Heart Rate Lab
Students learn about the circulatory system in a heart rate lab. The students first determine breathing rate by having one student lie on their back, rest their hands on their stomach and then breath for one minute. The watching student counts the breaths taken in a minute. Repeat for the other student. Have the class find their pulse and then have students count heart beats for six seconds. Multiply the number by 10 to get the resting heart rate. Have students do jumping jacks for 60 seconds and count breaths again. Then students run for 60 seconds and take the pulse again. This determines heart rate at rest and active heart rate.
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