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The ancient Romans built concrete structures that have stood for thousands of years. In this Guide, students will learn how scientists experimented to make Roman-style concrete — without causing explosions!

Use a real-life example to give students a deeper understanding of physical and chemical changes and properties of substances.

Students will answer questions about the online Science News article “These chemists cracked the code to long-lasting Roman concrete,” which explains the process scientists used to re-create the Romans’ superb building material. A version of the article, “Chemists Crack the Code to Ancient Roman Concrete,” appears in the February 11, 2023 issue of Science News.

In this guide, students will learn about new measurement prefixes, work with those prefixes in metric conversions and create their own units of measure.

Students will review prefixes and their meanings, learn about the metric system’s newest prefixes and apply the definitions in metric conversions. Learning Outcomes: Proportion and scale, measurement and dimensional analysis, a deeper understanding of the metric prefixes.

Large swarms of insects could produce as much electricity as a storm cloud. In this guide, students will explore how insect-induced static electricity might affect the atmosphere, review the concepts of electric charge and electrostatic force, and apply those concepts to their own experiences and the biological phenomenon of insect swarms. In a quick activity, students will create a poem or song about serendipity in science.

Students will use their experiences of static electricity to learn about electric charge and electrostatic force, then apply the concepts to a biological phenomenon. Learning Outcomes: Reinforcement of Coulomb’s Law with interdisciplinary examples.

In this guide, students will learn about how food scientists are using chemistry to improve the texture of ice cream, discuss the science of ice cream on a molecular level and brainstorm testable scientific questions about favorite frozen desserts.

Students will analyze and write a caption for microscope images of crystals in an ice cream–like solution, discuss how molecules behave as ice cream freezes and thaws, and pose scientific questions about one of their favorite frozen desserts.

Students will answer questions about the online Science News article “Grainy ice cream is unpleasant. Plant-based nanocrystals might help,” which describes new research into improving the shelf life of ice cream. A version of the article, “Cellulose helps ice cream go down smooth,” appears in the May 7, 2022 & May 21, 2022 issue of Science News.

In this guide, students will learn about the origin of organic material found inside a meteorite from Mars and discuss how new evidence can be used to reevaluate scientific claims.

Students will compare two Science News articles and analyze how new evidence has revised an initial claim and the reasoning behind that claim. As a bonus, students can answer chemistry questions about abiotic and biotic reactions.