Getting students to understand the concept of pure substances and mixtures can be a challenge. But with the right hands-on activities, you can bring these concepts to life, making the difference between pure substances and mixtures clear and engaging for your students.
Before beginning your pure substances and mixtures unit, you’ll want to make sure that you cover atoms and the periodic table so that students have background knowledge.
Here are some of my favorite tried and true activities for pure substances and mixtures:
Top Activities to Teach Pure Substances and Mixture
1. Teach with Guided Notes
Kick off the unit with a structured lesson using guided notes to break down each concept into digestible pieces for students so they understand the difference between elements, compounds, and mixtures.
These guided notes include checkpoints throughout the lesson to keep students engaged and to check for understanding.
Students should add these to their interactive science notebooks as a resource they can reference as needed.
2. Play “3 Corners”
Yes, you would usually play with 4, but 3 still works!
For this activity, label three corners of your classroom with “Element,” “Compound,” and “Mixture.” Show students an example and ask them to move to the corner that best represents the example.
After each round, have a student in each corner explain why they chose that category. This encourages them to think critically and justify their reasoning.
3. Use Stations for Hands-On Exploration
I’ll always be a big fan of middle school science stations. Classroom time is limited and precious, but stations allow you to expand how much you can touch on, differentiate for students, and challenge students’ knowledge in new ways.
Read about even more reasons to use middle school stations here!
Stations are my favorite way to reinforce these concepts, as students can experience the differences between elements, compounds, and mixtures in a variety of ways.
Station 1: Sand and Iron Filings
At one station, students mix sand and iron filings and discover that they can separate them using a magnet. This activity shows that mixtures can be physically separated.
Station 2: Salt, Sand, Lemonade, and Water
At another station, students create mixtures of salt and sand and a solution of lemonade powder and water. They then identify which type of mixture each represents: homogeneous or heterogeneous.
Station 3: Building with Bricks
My favorite station involves building bricks (like Legos) to model pure substances and mixtures. The moment I took out the Legos and started demonstrating elements, compounds and mixtures with them, it clicked.
Single bricks represent elements, connected bricks represent compounds, and a random mix represents mixtures. My middle school science students could visually grasp that elements were the simplest building blocks and that they combined chemically to form compounds. Then, those could be mixed together to create a mixture.
This visual and tactile activity helps students understand how compounds differ from mixtures in a concrete way. It’s different, it’s fun and gives students another way to visualize the concept.
4. Draw Examples
The more students practice drawing elements, compounds, and mixtures, the clearer these concepts become.
Have students draw examples during class discussions, in their notes, or as part of warm-ups, station activities, and exit tickets. Visual practice reinforces their understanding and helps them retain what they’ve learned.
Get all the Stations!
This resource includes 7 stations with minimal prep involved. There is a printable version, editable PowerPoint version and a Digital Google Slides™ version that will help you save on time and paper!
Get Stations
5. Create a Gallery Walk
To bring all these concepts together, set up a gallery walk with examples of elements, compounds, and mixtures around the room. They get your students moving, focusing on time management to get the activity done and add a little change up to your normal routine.
A gallery walk allows students to visually connect concepts and reinforces their ability to differentiate between pure substances and mixtures.
Have students circulate, observe each example, and answer questions:
- Is this an element, compound, or mixture?
- How do you know?
- If it is a mixture, is it heterogenous or homogenous?
- How do you know?
Learn more about Gallery Walks!
Learn more about how to prep a Gallery Walk in this blog post!
Read Blog PostIncorporating hands-on activities like these into your pure substances and mixtures unit will make the concepts more memorable and meaningful for your students. By engaging their senses and challenging their reasoning, you’re setting them up for a deeper understanding that will carry through their science education.
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