What’s the Matter?
Overview:
What is matter made of? How can students create a model to describe that matter is made of
particles too small to be seen? Are these unseen particles moving freely about in space? Is a solid
really solid—or are there spaces between its moving particles? How can students use a model to
show that the structure and behavior of these microscopic particles can account for observable
phenomena? In this investigation, students will engage in various online simulations and
activities to learn and understand the particle theory of matter and will develop models to
describe this understanding.
Lesson Concept:
Matter of any type can be subdivided into particles that are too small to see, but even then the
matter still exists and can be detected by other means. A model showing that gases are made
from matter particles that are too small to see and are moving freely around in space can explain
many macroscopic observations, including the inflation and shape of a balloon and the effects of
air on larger particles or objects. Models can also explain the macroscopic observations of ice
melting, sugar dissolving in water, and liquids evaporating.
NGSS Alignment:
5-PS1-1. Develop a model to describe that matter is made of particles too small to be seen.
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Crosscutting concepts: Scale, Proportion, and Quantity:
Natural objects exist from the very small to the immensely large.
Phenomena that can be observed at one scale may not be observable at another scale. (6th grade)
Background Knowledge on Scale: When we look around, we see (with the naked eye or
with a magnifying glass) objects with sizes that belong to a limited range known as the
macroscopic scale (insects, grains of sand, and clouds). The material world which our eyes
cannot observe is known as the microscopic scale of observation (cells, atoms, molecules). The
macroscopic phenomena that take place in nature are determined by the microscopic phenomena
of which they are made. Solids, liquids, and gases (macroscopic phenomena) behave the way
they do because of their atomic structure (microscopic phenomena). http://htwins.net/scale2/
Science and Engineering Practice: Developing and using models.
ISTE Standards:
1. Creativity and Innovation: Use models and simulations to explore complex systems and
issues.
2. Digital Citizenship: Exhibit a positive attitude toward using technology that supports
collaboration, learning, and productivity.
Cyberinfrastructure Tools:
http://www.strangematterexhibit.com/
http://htwins.net/scale2/
http://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/ks3/science/chemical_material_behaviour/particle_model/activity/
http://www.mheducation.ca/school/applets/bcscience7/particle/
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http://www.chem.purdue.edu/gchelp/atoms/states.html (iPad)
http://study.com/academy/lesson/states-of-matter-solids-liquids-gases-plasma.html (iPad)
http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/scienceclips/ages/9_10/gases.shtml
http://www.harcourtschool.com/activity/science_up_close/501/deploy/interface.html
http://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/ks3/science/chemical_material_behaviour/behaviour_of_matter/activit
y/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ndw9XYA4iF0 (iPad)
https://www.brainpop.com/science/matterandchemistry/statesofmatter/ (iPad)
http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/scienceclips/ages/10_11/rev_irrev_changes.shtml
http://indianapublicmedia.org/amomentofscience/sugar-dissolve/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e-2EoyDYamg (iPad)
https://www.google.com/drive/
http://www.gingerlabs.com/
(Google Drawings)
(Notability app)
These cyberinfrastructure websites can be viewed on individual student laptops, by
utilizing a computer lab or mobile lab, or be done as a whole group lesson using a
projection tool. While many of these resources are Flash based and will not work
on iPads, “iPad friendly” resources are also listed as less desirable options.
Lesson Activities
ENGAGE
Teacher Does
Student Does
1. Teacher presents the crosscutting concept
to the class: Natural objects exist from the
very small to the immensely large.
Teacher asks: What evidence can you give to
support this claim?
Teacher records students’ ideas on flip chart
or board. (The aim is for words like matter,
atoms, particles, etc. If a student says atoms,
teacher may query, “What are atoms?” The
Students Think-Pair-Share their ideas and
evidence to support the claim, “Natural
objects exist from the very small to the
immensely large.”
Students share evidence with class.
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students may have many misconceptions
which are expected. Through the course of
this learning sequence, their misconceptions
will be addressed.)
2. Teacher directs students to “Strange
Matter” website where they will explore the
“ZOOM inside Stuff section only:
http://www.strangematterexhibit.com/
(If this is being done whole class, the teacher
can make decisions to focus on the
information that is more relevant to the
lesson. Here the students will be exploring
scale—from a macroscale or macroscopic
scale to a microscopic scale. There are ten
horizontal white lines like “rungs” of a
ladder representing the length scale, from 100
m (or 1 meter) to 10 -10 m where atoms are
visible! Each one contains information when
clicked on. More relevant information is
found on 10-1 m (1/10 m or 10 cm), 10-5m
(width of a human hair), 10-6m (or 1
micrometer), 10-8m, 10-9m (or 1 nanometer),
and 10-10m or one ten-billionth of a meter or
a million times smaller than a human hair or
1 Angstrom.)
3. A whole class discussion is held to debrief
the information learned. The teacher asks the
students to support the statement, Matter
that can be observed at one scale may not
be observable at another scale, with
information from the simulation. The teacher
charts this information including questions
that the students have.
Students go to Strange Matter website on
computers or teacher projects it for the
whole class. The students will “zoom into” a
soda can to see the structure “inside” the
aluminum.
Students see the macroscale (or macroscopic
scale) where matter is visible to the naked
eye or with a magnifying glass. They should
venture down to the microscale or
microscopic scale (virus, bacteria, atoms)
seen by powerful electron microscopes and
watch short video clips from material
scientists.
Students share the information from the
simulation supporting the statement, Matter
that can be observed at one scale may not
be observable at another scale. Students
should start to understand that when
viewing in the macroscopic scale, matter is
visible to the naked eye or with a
magnifying glass. When viewing in the
macroscopic scale, matter in the
microscopic matter will not be visible.
Powerful microscopes are needed to see
very small scale things.
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EXPLORE :
Teacher Does
Student Does
Scale: Macroscopic to
microscopic and beyond
As questions arise as to scale, teachers may
choose to use this activity and resource to
have their students explore scale.
1. Teacher refers back to the Engage lesson
and the questions that the class had. Present
the crosscutting concept generalization:
Natural objects exist from the very small
to the immensely large.
Teacher asks: What are some examples of
very small things and very large or immense
things?
Students record the names of some very
small objects and some very large objects.
They share their ideas with their
partners/teams and then briefly with class.
2. Teacher distributes Scale of the Universe
handout and says: Today you may have a
chance to find out how big or how small
some of those objects are. And to see what
scale they are in.
Teacher directs students to access this
website: http://htwins.net/scale2/
With your group or partner, try to find some
of the objects you listed. In addition, find at
least one example of an immense thing and
three examples of very small things. Record
each object’s name, size and scale.
Students share devices to access website to
find some familiar objects. They will also
find at least one example of an immense
thing and at least three examples of very
small things. They record each object’s
name, size and scale.
(Note: Students need to know that 102m or
100 meters is written as 10^2m because of
the font limits of the website. If they are
recording the sizes by hand, they should use
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the exponent form. If recording on an iPad,
they will use the ^ key.
Note: This amazing website allows its
viewers to see the sizes of various natural
phenomena. Viewers can zoom in and out
from the largest scales in the universe to
scales many times smaller than an atomic
nucleus. For example, this site shows the
extent of the macroscopic scale (that which is
visible to the human eye: objects 10-4 m or
larger) to the microscopic scale, including
what is visible using an optic microscope
(10-5 to 10-7 m) and what is visible using an
Students take part in whole class discussion
electron microscope (down to 10-11 m).
to debrief.
Clicking on an image reveals the size (and its
size in meters) and some information
sprinkled with little humor.
3. Teacher debriefs exploration:
What objects did you find that were
macroscopic?
About how big is the smallest thing that
humans can see (macroscopic)? (10-4 m or
larger)
What were some objects that can be seen
with an optical microscope? About how big
is the smallest thing that can be viewed with
an optical microscope? (10-5 to 10-7 m)
What were some objects that can be seen
only with an electron microscope? About
how big is the smallest thing that can be
viewed with an electron microscope? (down
to 10-11 m)
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EXPLAIN
Teacher Does
Student Does
Scale: Macroscopic to
microscopic and beyond
Teacher asks, “Why might objects that are
visible at one scale not be observable at
another scale? Explain giving examples from
today’s lesson.”
Students write in science journal, either on
paper or digitally using Google Drawings
(computer) or Notability (iPad).
If this question is problematic for some
students, rephrase it as, “Why are
microscopic objects invisible?”
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EXPLORE
Teacher Does
Student Does
Particle model: The particle model of
matter suggests that the macroscopic matter
that we can see consists of microscopic
particles. (Note: The term particle is used
instead of molecules or atoms.)
1. Teacher directs students to websites.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/ks3/science/che Students share devices and use websites to learn
mical_material_behaviour/particle_model/acti about the particle model of matter to understand
the states of matter at the microscopic scale.
vity/
(This interactive site has audio and has
subtitles so that the students can read along
with the audio. The students are able to push
plungers and tip simulated water into another
container. If the mouse doesn’t work or the
students get stuck, they can press the forward
button. They can also pause or rewind to play
again. At the end, there is a 6 item quiz.)
http://www.mheducation.ca/school/applets/bc
science7/particle/
(This website explains a model and the
particle model of matter. The students should
interact ONLY with the first two pages. The
third page has the particle model and solutions
which they explore later.)
2. Teacher: Now that you know what the states
Students will use Google Drawings (computer)
of matter look like at the microscopic scale,
or Notability (iPad) to draw and label their own
draw, label, and explain a model for each
models of solids, liquids and gases, showing the
state of matter.
structure of their particles. They should also
include written explanations of their models.
Additional iPad friendly resources are listed
below that might be used to replace the above
sites:
http://www.chem.purdue.edu/gchelp/atoms/st
ates.html
(This iPad friendly site will allow the students
to read about the states of matter and see
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microscopic models of solids, liquids, and
gases)
http://study.com/academy/lesson/states-ofmatter-solids-liquids-gases-plasma.html
Although it is not from a free site, you are
able to use it for free. It gives a bit more
information and is slightly more advanced.
Students will not be able to take the quiz as it
requires signing up for a free trial to take it.
EXPLAIN
Teacher Does
Student Does
Particle model
Teacher holds up a clear bowl and some
soap and asks: If I put some solid soap into
a bowl, why doesn’t the soap take the
shape of the container? Write a scientific
explanation in your science journal. (You
may want to sketch what the soap particles
look like at the microscopic scale to help
you with the scientific explanation.)
Students write in science journal, either on paper
or digitally using Google Drawings (computer)
or Notability (iPad). They should explain that
since this soap is a solid, it retains its shape
because its particles are tightly packed and they
don’t move past each other.
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EXPLORE :
Teacher Does
Student Does
Changes in States of Matter
1. Teacher: Now that you know about the
particle structure of the states of matter,
today you will start to figure out what causes
them to change states. We’ll start at the
macroscopic level.
Teacher distributes handout and directs
students to first website:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/scienceclips/a
ges/9_10/gases.shtml
(Note: They are to do the simulation activity.
To replay, they may reload the page or click
the blue back arrow. In addition, there is a
quiz that they can take and a Sorter game
where they sort the macroscopic views of
solids, liquids, and gases.)
Students follow the directions of the
simulation, heating liquids and cooling
vapors or gas. They record their ideas and
macroscopic observations on the handout.
2. Teacher start a class discussion by asking
the following question from the activity:
When the liquid evaporated, why did it go
into the other beaker? Imagine or predict
what it looked like at the microscopic level.
Talk with your team/partner. Then share with
the class.
Students Think-Pair-Share. They may use
their handouts and notes from previous
learning and the website itself to replay the
scenario described by the teacher. (Some
students may understand that when it
evaporated, it became a gas. The particles in
a gas are far apart and move rapidly. The
gas particles flowed easily and traveled
Teacher continues to ask the following
questions, encouraging them to imagine what through the tube to the other container.
Other won’t, but they will learn it when they
was happening on the microscopic level to
give a scientific explanation based on particle explore other website in the next part of the
lesson.)
structure:
When the gas was cooled, why did it appear
in both beakers? Imagine what it looked like
in the microscopic scale.
What happened when you lifted the lids when
they contained gas? Why? Imagine what it
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looked like in the microscopic scale.
This is a phenomenon or event that can be
explained by what’s happening at the
microscopic level.
Teacher continues class discussion by asking,
Students Think-Pair-Share: They should
“What did you notice? How does matter
have noticed that adding or removing heat
change state?
(cooling) causes state change. They should
say that steam (a gas) was formed when the
liquid water was heated. When they cooled
the gas, it turned back into a liquid.
3. Teacher says: In the next websites, you will
be able to see the matter change in both the
macroscopic and microscopic view! You’ll
see the observable matter but also see the
unseen particles! Later you will draw a
particle model to show what’s happening
during these changes in the microscopic
scale.
Students explore websites sharing devices
seeing macroscopic events or phenomena
and their corresponding microscopic view.
They may take notes as they deem
appropriate.
Teacher presents the following websites for
the students to explore.
http://www.harcourtschool.com/activity/scie
nce_up_close/501/deploy/interface.html
(Heat makes the difference, This site has
both audio and text for the students to read.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/ks3/science/che
mical_material_behaviour/behaviour_of_matter
/activity/
(This interactive site has audio and has
subtitles so that the students can read along
with the audio. The students are able to heat
and cool matter and tip simulated water into
another container. If the mouse doesn’t work
or the students get stuck, they can press the
forward button. They can also pause or
rewind to play again. At the end, there is a 6
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item quiz.)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ndw9XY
A4iF0
(An excellent, rather advanced, iPad friendly
video that shows the macroscopic scale and
microscopic scale of matter along with other
amazing information. Although it’s iPad
friendly, it’s ideal for showing whole class
on a projection system.)
Additional iPad friendly site:
https://www.brainpop.com/science/matterand
chemistry/statesofmatter/
An animated video from Brain Pop that has
all five states of matter.)
EXPLAIN
Teacher Does
Student Does
Changes in States of Matter
Now that you have learned about the states of
matter and can use a model to show them,
can you also use a model to show and
explain the events you observed in the first
simulation? (Choose one)
Can you show and explain when the liquid
evaporated in one beaker, why it went into
the other beaker?
Can you show and explain when the gas that
filled the beakers was cooled, why it
appeared in both beakers?
Can you show and explain what happened
when you lifted the lids of the beaker when
they contained gas?
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Teacher posts: Draw a model to show a
macroscopic phenomenon (or event that you
can see) and its microscopic view showing
its particles. Please title, label, and explain
your model. Be sure to use what you know
about the structure and behavior of the
particles in the state(s) of matter in your
explanation.
The students each choose one event to
model. They may use Google Drawings or
Notability (iPad) or any other drawing tool
to draw a model that shows a macroscopic
phenomenon (event that can be seen) and its
microscopic view showing its particles.
EXPLORE
Teacher Does
Student Does
Particle model and Solutions
1. Teacher asks: What does reversible mean?
What is meant by a reversible change? What
about irreversible?
Students demonstrate that they understand the
vocabulary, reversible and irreversible.
2. Teacher directs students to this website
about reversible and irreversible changes and
distributes a handout.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/scienceclips/ag
es/10_11/rev_irrev_changes.shtml
(Reversible and irreversible changes is a
simulation from the BBC. The students will
encounter reversible and irreversible changes
in matter in macroscopic view. Chemical
changes are irreversible while physical
changes (including mixtures) are reversible.
Students might not see that the changes are
reversible because they require heating or
filter, but this will come out during the class
discussion.)
3. Teacher facilitated discussion:
How did you recover the salt from the water?
Was there another way?
Students access website on shared devices
and use handout to guide them through the
dissolving and reversing changes simulation.
When students are finished, they participate
in a class discussion using Think-Pair-Share
strategy.
How did you recover the sand from the water?
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Was there another way to do it?
Why could you filter sandy water but not the
salty water?
Can you imagine or predict what was going
on in the microscopic level?
Why does some matter dissolve in water? Why
doesn’t some dissolve?
4. Teacher says: Now it’s time to see a
microscopic view of one of these changes. Be
sure to record and define the new vocabulary
words that will help you explain the changes.
Teacher directs students to pages 3-4 of
http://www.mheducation.ca/school/applets/bc
science7/particle/
(Optional—although without it, they won’t
really understand what happens to the sugar
particles.)
Students go to website on shared devices.
They must wait through the first two pages to
get to page 3 “Particle Model and Solutions.”
Here they drop a sugar cube into a cup of
water and observe the particles. They record
the vocabulary words and definitions of
solution, solvent, solute from p.3. On page 4
they see different concentrations of solutions,
from dilute to concentrated and see the
corresponding particles. Finally, on p. 5, they
can take a quick 3-point quiz.
http://indianapublicmedia.org/amomentofscie
nce/sugar-dissolve/
(Why sugar dissolves in water—audio only.
Advanced, perhaps too advanced, but some
kids will want to know!)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e2EoyDYamg
annoying iPad friendly video about solutions
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EXPLAIN
Teacher Does
Student Does
Particle model and Solutions
Teacher asks: Does salt or sugar magically
disappear when mixed into water? Where
does it go? Draw a model to show that this
observable phenomenon (observable event)
can be explained by the arrangement of its
particles which are too small to be seen.
Please title, label, and explain your model.
Students use Google Drawings (computer) or
Notability (iPad) to draw, label, and explain
their own models
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EVALUATE
Evaluation will be on-going throughout these lessons. Teacher will
evaluate the student progress by monitoring student understanding as
evident in
 Classroom discussions
 Student questions and answers
 Model drawings and explanations
A sample rubric can be found by using the following link:
http://www.isbe.net/ils/science/pdf/rubric.pdf
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ENRICH/EXTEND
Various simulations can be used to extend this lesson to upper grade
levels: (Use these to explore the states of matter further, atoms and
the periodic table, and molecules for 7th grade.)
http://phet.colorado.edu/en/simulation/states-of-matter
https://phet.colorado.edu/en/simulation/build-an-atom
https://phet.colorado.edu/en/simulation/build-a-molecule
Text and a video from Bitesize: (Use these to start to explore
chemical changes/compounds in comparison to physical
changes/mixtures. This extends the reversible/irreversible changes
concept for 5th grade 5-PS1-4: Conduct an investigation to
determine whether the mixing of two or more substances results in new
substances.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/ks3/science/chemical_material_behaviour/compounds_mixtu
res/revision/1/
http://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/ks3/science/chemical_material_behaviour/compounds_mixtu
res/activity/
Use this simulation to explore heat transfer (6th grade)
https://phet.colorado.edu/en/simulation/energy-forms-and-changes
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