Elephant Toothpaste Lesson Plan

September 28th, 2017

Andrew Buck
Iain Murray
Christopher Kopp
 Elephant Toothpaste Lesson Plan

Grade level: 7 (but can be catered to other grades)

Curricular topic: Chemical change (exothermic reaction)

Materials (per group):

- 16 oz. plastic soda bottle (empty/preferably with a narrow neck)
- 1/2 cup of 6% solution: hydrogen peroxide
- Squirt (or two) of dish soap
- 3-4 drops of food coloring
- 1 teaspoon yeast
- 2 tablespoons very warm water
- Funnel
- Foil pan
- Lab goggles
- Small stirring spoon

Cost for all materials: Under $20

Procedure:
- Students are organized into partners/groups; then, prompt each group to come
up with a hypothesis for the experiment using an if/then format.
- Students put on goggles. At this point, each group should have, in front of them:
- a foil pan
- 16 oz plastic bottle
- liquid dish soap
- cup peroxide (already in bottle)
- yeast (in a small cup)
- 2 tablespoons of very warm water (close by)
- Small stirring spoon
- Students will add 1 teaspoon of yeast (this will already be measured out prior to
experiment) to warm water, stirring with spoon until yeast is (at least) partially
dissolved.
- Students will place bottle in the centre of the cake pan. Theyll then add the
funnel to the top of the bottle opening.
- Students will then add 3-4 drops of food colouring and a squirt or two of dish
soap to the peroxide in the bottle.
 - Students will then pour the yeast mixture into the bottle and quickly remove the
funnel.
- The students should be able to observe what is happening to the liquid mixture.
- The students can touch the bottle to feel any changes that took place, after the
reaction has occurred.
- Students will discuss what happened, and come up with an explanation.
- Have the students compare their hypothesis with the results

Safety Considerations:
- Working with highly reactive chemicals can be very dangerous. Students should
be be made aware that the chemicals should not be played with or consumed in
any way.
- Make sure that the warm water is not boiling so that if it is spilled it will not burn
the students.

Classroom Management:
- Set up the room before the kids arrive with the equipment and materials divided
into different stations around the room.
- Have a proactive talk that outlines the rules and expectations of working with
chemicals (wearing safety equipment, etc). If a student is misbehaving they will
be removed from class.
- Assign the students numbers and ask each number to grab specific equipment
from the corresponding stations.
- Classroom cleanup, students clean up their respective equipment depending on
what numbers they were assigned.

Checking for Learning Strategies:

- What do you think will happen?
- What happened?
- Why do you think it happened?
- What would happen if we changed X-variable?
 Lab

Hypothesis:
What do you think will happen when the yeast solution is added to the hydrogen
peroxide? What type of reaction do you expect?

Observations:
What type of changes(state, temperature, etc) are you observing?

Conclusion:
Do the results support your hypothesis?