Looking for a more RIGOROUS and WELL-ORGANIZED static electricity lab? These static electricity stations are the familiar static electricity activities you’ll find everywhere… but a little more elevated. And super easy to use!
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Each of these stations gives students practice with a particular static electricity activity (balloon and tissue, balloon and water, etc.) but then asks them to design their own simple experiment to answer a provided question. Once they have done their own simple experiment, they’ll answer the question in the Claims-Evidence-Reasoning format.
There are FIVE stations/labs included. You’ll be familiar with the static electricity activities themselves – what’s different about this version is that it is more aligned with middle school rigor. Here are the stations:
- Dancing Tissues (tissue paper and balloon or comb)
- Salt and Pepper Separator (salt/pepper and plastic spoon)
- Bending Water (stream of water and balloon)
- Rolling Soda Can (aluminum can and balloon)
- Sticky Balloons (two balloons on string)
Each station has TWO PARTS:
- Part One: Students follow step-by-step directions to experience an aspect of static electricity. They’ll answer follow-up questions on their worksheet.
- Part Two: Students are given a question that can be answered by experimenting with the materials at the station. They’re asked to design their own experiment to answer the question. (Don’t worry – it’s not that hard, and they’ve just done something similar in each Part One!) They use the information they gain from their own simple experiment to answer the question in the CER format.
SIMPLE Materials Required:
- balloons
- wool cloth
- plastic combs (can substitute ruler or balloons)
- tissue paper
- rulers
- empty aluminum can
- empty plastic water bottle
- empty paper towel or toilet paper roll
- salt and pepper
- string
- tape
- stream of water/sink
Teacher Notes:
- Answer key included.
- Please note: this static electricity lab is not editable.
- Related Standards: NGSS MS-PS2-3 and MS-PS2-5
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Related Standards:
- NGSS MS-PS2-3: Ask questions about data to determine the factors that affect the strength of electric and magnetic forces.
- NGSS MS-PS2-5: Conduct an investigation and evaluate the experimental design to provide evidence that fields exist between objects exerting forces on each other even though the objects are not in contact.
