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Phase Change Station Lab

Seven hands-on stations that move students from something obvious — an ice cube melting — toward changes they have to explain with evidence and particle models. Free to use, print, share, and adapt.

Try this before you hand out any vocabulary. Ask students: “A cold cup develops water droplets on the outside. Where did that water come from? Write your best explanation before touching the materials.” Don't correct anyone. Save the responses, run the stations, then ask again — that before-and-after will tell you more than a page of definitions.

A hands-on companion to Amplify's Phase Change unit · Print the color page, or the built-in black-and-white page for the copier · Follow your district's lab-safety procedures (Station 7 is a teacher-controlled demo).

Build ACE thinking into the rotation

At each station, push past naming the change: Articulate — what happened, in your own words? Connect — what observation, measurement, or model supports it? Extend — what would you predict if one condition changed? That last question is the point: students take the model somewhere the lab didn't take them.