STEM Activities for Students
Want to power a backyard cookout using only the sun’s rays? Or see muddy water become clear right before your eyes?
You can do this and more...all with the help of science!
Third-Fourth Grade
STEM Third-Fourth Grade Experiments
Dow would like to thank the Chemical Educational Foundation® (CEF) for permission to use these materials. Dow is a Diamond sponsor of all CEF’s You Be The Chemist® programs. For more fun ways to incorporate science into everyday life, head to the Chemical Education Foundation’s Activity Guide.
Learn more about science by exploring these experiments:
TOY BOAT EXPERIMENT
- Fill a sink or any container with fresh, clean water.
- Now, cut out some cardboard or heavy paper in the shape of a boat.
- Make your boat small, about the size of a postage stamp.
- Once your boat is cut out, make a small notch in the back.
- Put a small dab of soap in the notch.
- Set your boat in the water and watch it speed around!
Scientific Principle at Work
Surface tension represents the way liquids, like water and vegetable oil, act when they are mixed together. Surface tension is measured by scientists in a unit called “dynes” per centimeter. Tension is created by the attraction of molecules toward the interior.
Soap has molecules that are designed by chemists to dissolve in water. The action of dissolving reduces surface tension mixing soap molecules among the water molecules on the surface of the water.
As the soap dissolves in the water, it creates a force that moves the boat forward.
COMPETING WATER DROPS EXPERIMENT
Find two identical drinking straws.
Fill two glasses with some fresh water. Mix a squirt of dish soap into one of the glasses.
- Using both hands, lower the two straws into the two glasses at the same time.
- Next, covering the top openings with your thumbs, lift the two straws out of the glass and watch what happens.
- You will notice that the straw that was placed in the soapy water has smaller droplets of water that drip off of it while the straw in the plain water makes larger drops.
Scientific Principle at Work
Dynamic surface tension measures the attraction or “strength” between molecules in the liquid. The surface tension governs how much weight a drop of water can hold before it is too heavy and falls off the straw. Reducing the surface tension by adding soap means only smaller drops of water can form before falling off.
THE INCREDIBLE SHRINKING MILK JUG EXPERIMENT
Find a one-gallon, plastic milk jug. Go to the sink and run some hot water.*
Put a half-inch or so of hot water in the jug and then put on the cap. Now shake the jug so the water spreads around the inside of the jug. You should see the jug expand or get bigger.
Now, take the cap off and pour out the hot water. Next, run the same amount of cold water in the jug. Cap it again and shake. Watch the jug shrink!
Scientific Principle at Work
Gases like air expand or contract with temperature. When the molecules (they’re the building blocks for everything) are heated, they move faster. When molecules are cooled, they move slower. A law in chemistry says for a given volume and number of molecules of vapor, the pressure follows the absolute temperature. You saw this law when the jug expanded and then shrunk.
*Note to teachers and parents: Be sure to supervise this experiment with younger children.
Additional Experiments:
Goofy Putty Experiment
Milk Rainbow Experiment
Note: If you’re under the age of 18, be sure your parent or guardian knows what you are doing. Some of these experiments require the use of simple household tools, such as scissors and knives, and some could make a mess. Ask your parent or another adult to help.
Fifth-Eight Grade
STEM Fifth-Eighth Grade Experiments
For more fun ways to incorporate science into everyday life, head to the Chemical Education Foundation’s Activity Guide.
Dow would like to thank the Chemical Educational Foundation® (CEF) for permission to use these materials. Dow is a Diamond sponsor of all CEF’s You Be The Chemist® programs.
Learn more about science by exploring these fun experiments:
WET OR DRY MAGIC FORK EXPERIMENT
Take a drinking glass filled with water and a clean fork. Dunk the end of the fork into the water. You can control whether the water drips off when you pull it out slowly, by the angle, or by how fast you pull it out. It takes some practice, but when you pull it out slowly and straight up, the fork comes out dry and will not drip water.
If you pull it out fast and at an angle, it will drip lots of water. With practice, you can amaze your friends by altering your lifting techniques just at the water surface.
Scientific Principle at Work
Hydrodynamic flow is governed by rheological (the science of flow) properties. This is just a fancy way of saying that liquids move a certain way according to the laws of gravity and physics. The viscosity and thickness of the water-film control how fast it flows off the ends of the fork.
Note: If you're under the age of18, be sure your parent or guardian knows what you are doing. Some of these experiments require the use of simple household tools, such as scissors and knives, and some could make a mess. Ask your parent or another adult to help.
LITTLE STUFF WINS OVER GRAVITY EXPERIMENT
Take a piece of clean, white paper. Make separate, small piles of table salt, pepper, and flour at one end. Toward the clean end of the paper, gently blow across all three piles. Watch what happens. The salt will move the least while the flour travels the farthest.
Scientific Principle at Work
The cross-sectional area of an object determines the force on it in a moving fluid. So smaller objects are more influenced by how the fluid (in this case the air you blew is the fluid) is moving around them. When you blow on the flour, it spreads out over a wider area.
Or, if you were to drop a bowling ball, a small rock, and a grain of sand at the same time, the bowling ball would hit the ground with a mighty thud, the rock with less of a thud, and the sand would strike the ground gently.
Note: If you’re under the age of 18, be sure your parent or guardian knows what you are doing. Some of these experiments require the use of simple household tools, such as scissors and knives, and some could make a mess. Ask your parent or another adult to help.
SPINNING YO-YO EXPERIMENT
Get a toy yo-yo and practice using it. Use a piece of clear tape to attach a piece of gum centered on the side. Leave the gum in the wrapper. Now use the yo-yo as you normally would. The gum will come shooting out of the wrapper.
Scientific Principle at Work
The spinning yo-yo, like any spinning object, creates a force on each part of it equal to mass times radius times the square of the rotation rate. In other words, the faster the yo-yo spins, the larger the force it creates. So the harder you throw the yo-yo, the further the gum will fly.
Note: If you’re under the age of 18, be sure your parent or guardian knows what you are doing. Some of these experiments require the use of simple household tools, such as scissors and knives, and some could make a mess. Ask your parent or another adult to help.
Additional Experiments:
Mysterious Mixtures Experiment
Iron in Cereal Experiment
Note: If you’re under the age of 18, be sure your parent or guardian knows what you are doing. Some of these experiments require the use of simple household tools, such as scissors and knives, and some could make a mess. Ask your parent or another adult to help.
Ninth-Twelfth Grade
STEM Ninth-Twelfth Grade Experiments
Dow would like to thank the Chemical Educational Foundation® (CEF) for permission to use these materials. Dow is a Diamond sponsor of all CEF’s You Be The Chemist® programs. For more fun ways to incorporate science into everyday life, head to the Chemical Education Foundation’s Activity Guide.
Learn more about science by exploring these fun experiments:
WET OR DRY MAGIC FORK EXPERIMENT
Take a drinking glass filled with water and a clean fork. Dunk the end of the fork into the water. You can control whether the water drips off when you pull it out slowly, by the angle, or by how fast you pull it out. It takes some practice, but when you pull it out slowly and straight up, the fork comes out dry and will not drip water.
If you pull it out fast and at an angle, it will drip lots of water. With practice, you can amaze your friends by altering your lifting techniques just at the water surface.
Scientific Principle at Work
Hydrodynamic flow is governed by rheological (the science of flow) properties. This is just a fancy way of saying that liquids move a certain way according to the laws of gravity and physics. The viscosity and thickness of the water-film control how fast it flows off the ends of the fork.
Note: If you're under the age of18, be sure your parent or guardian knows what you are doing. Some of these experiments require the use of simple household tools, such as scissors and knives, and some could make a mess. Ask your parent or another adult to help.
SPINNING YO-YO EXPERIMENT
Get a toy yo-yo and practice using it. Use a piece of clear tape to attach a piece of gum centered on the side. Leave the gum in the wrapper. Now use the yo-yo as you normally would. The gum will come shooting out of the wrapper.
Scientific Principle at Work
The spinning yo-yo, like any spinning object, creates a force on each part of it equal to mass times radius times the square of the rotation rate. In other words, the faster the yo-yo spins, the larger the force it creates. So the harder you throw the yo-yo, the further the gum will fly.
Note: If you’re under the age of 18, be sure your parent or guardian knows what you are doing. Some of these experiments require the use of simple household tools, such as scissors and knives, and some could make a mess. Ask your parent or another adult to help.
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