Science is all about organization. Our students need to learn the vocabulary of this organization to understand how scientists communicate about what they learn. You can help your students learn these vocabulary words through connected topics. For example, to understand substances, solutions, and mixtures, students must understand how atoms bond. To understand how atoms bond, they have to know what an atom is. Once students have this information about the things they can’t see, they are ready to learn about things they can see.
Substances, Solutions, and Mixtures
A substance is either one type of atom or different atoms combined in a compound. Substances are made up of trillions of atoms because we can see them, whereas we can’t see one atom. Water is a substance. Copper is a substance.
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Mixtures are combinations of substances, but the substances are not chemically bonded to each other. A salad is the most common example of a mixture.
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Solutions are a type of mixture in which one (or more) substance dissolves into another substance. Sugar water and salt water are common examples of solutions.
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You can tell already that this is a vocabulary heavy unit. I haven’t even mentioned heterogeneous mixtures, homogeneous mixtures, solutions, or solutes yet!
The Importance of Vocabulary in Science
How do we teach vocabulary-heavy units? We define the words, we give examples, we show how the words are connected. This is a perfect topic for my digital science units because students can reference the information as many times as they want, and I include plenty of review activities along the way to allow their brains to consolidate the information and store it in long-term memory.
Solutions and mixtures is just one of the science units that shows us how important background knowledge is to understanding science. Students who have a solid understanding of atoms will have an easier time understanding the differences between substances, solutions, and mixtures. Students who don’t know about atoms will find the subject frustrating. That’s why I always include relevant background knowledge and video links in my digital science units. I want every student to learn from my resources, so I spend time making sure I show students how what they will learn connects to what they know.
Not convinced you need the solutions and mixtures digital science unit for your classroom? Check out the video! It shows every page so that you know exactly what you are getting.
Chemical Reactions
Middle School Science
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