Tobin Science logoTobinScience
Webquest · 8th Grade Physical Science · S8P1.a, S8P1.b, S8P1.c, S8P1.d

Matter Webquest

Classifying Matter, States and Particle Motion, Properties and Changes

Work through the stops in order. Each button opens in a new tab: finish that stop, answer on your webquest sheet, then come back to this page for the next one.

Start with Stop 1 ↓For teachers ↓
Students

How it works

1. Get your sheet

Your teacher gives you the webquest sheet (paper or digital). Every answer goes on it.

2. Open each stop in order

Each stop opens in a new tab. Use the sliders and buttons on that page — your answers come from what you see.

3. Come back here

Close the tab, tick Done, and open the next stop. Finished early with a partner? Play the bonus.

The webquest

Stops

  1. Stop 1 · about 12 min · your sheet: page 2, questions 1–6

    Matter Unit Intro

    Read the Campfire Mystery, pick a big question, play Particle Heat Lab, Mystery Metal and The Four Buckets.

    Open Stop 1 The Campfire MysteryBig questionsExplore activities
  2. Stop 2 · about 10 min · your sheet: page 3, questions 7–15

    Simple Science Videos: Matter, States of Matter, Physical & Chemical Changes

    Watch three one-minute videos twice each and fill in the tables.

    Open Stop 2
  3. Stop 3 · about 10 min · your sheet: page 4, question 16

    Vocabulary

    Flip the Word Wall cards and define 14 words in your own words.

    Open Stop 3 Word Wall (unit intro)Matter vocabulary
  4. Stop 4 · about 12 min · your sheet: page 5, questions 17–22

    Matter Part A: Classifying Matter and States of Matter

    Read particle pictures, run items through the flowchart, heat and cool a sim through four states, race the food coloring.

    Open Stop 4 Part 1: Classifying matterPart 2: States of matter
  5. Stop 5 · about 14 min · your sheet: page 6, questions 23–28

    Matter Part B: Phase Changes, Properties, Melting and Boiling Points, Density

    Click the phase-change map, heat the heating curve, sort properties, read the thermometer, measure a mystery block.

    Open Stop 5 Part 3: Phase changesPart 4: PropertiesPart 5: Density
  6. Stop 6 · about 12 min · your sheet: page 7, questions 29–33

    Matter Part C: Property Detective and Physical or Chemical Change

    Run tests on two look-alike samples, judge the evidence in three scenes, build a Claim-Evidence-Reasoning argument.

    Open Stop 6 Part 6: Property detectivePart 7: Changes and evidence
  7. Stop 7 · about 12 min · your sheet: page 8, questions 34–37

    Virtual Lab Bench: Density Dive and Melt & Boil

    Weigh, dunk and measure four mystery blocks, then heat a mystery substance and read its melting and boiling points.

    Open Stop 7 Density DiveMelt & Boil: Phase Change Lab
  8. Wrap-up · your sheet: page 8, questions 38–39

    Wrap-up: Solve the Campfire Mystery

    Go back to the hook at the top of the unit intro and explain where the missing 1,850 grams of firewood went, using what you learned about chemical changes and matter.

    Open the Campfire Mystery
  9. Bonus · for partners who are both finished

    Bonus: 1v1 8th Grade Matter

    1. Only when you and a partner have both finished every stop.
    2. One computer, two players: Red uses the W A S D keys and Blue uses the arrow keys. It needs a keyboard, so it will not work on a phone.
    3. Press Enter the Arena, pick a game, and play to 3 wins.
    Open the 1v1 game
Teachers

For teachers

Post this link for your students

https://www.tobinscience.com/webquest-8th-matter.html

Students move through six free tobinscience.com resources in order: the Matter unit intro (the Campfire Mystery hook, Particle Heat Lab, Mystery Metal and The Four Buckets), three one-minute Simple Science videos (Matter, States of Matter, Physical & Chemical Changes), the unit vocabulary, the full Matter section (Parts 1–7: particle pictures and the flowchart, the states sim and the food-coloring race, the phase-change map and heating curve, the property sorter and thermometer, the density lab, the property detective, and the evidence judge with a Claim-Evidence-Reasoning builder), two Virtual Lab Bench labs (Density Dive, Melt & Boil) and a 1v1 review game for early finishers. Every answer comes from what the page shows, matching S8P1.a through S8P1.d.

S8P1.a, S8P1.b, S8P1.c, S8P1.d · S8P1. Obtain, evaluate, and communicate information about the structure and properties of matter. (a) Develop and use a model to compare and contrast pure substances (elements and compounds) and mixtures. (b) Develop and use models to describe the movement of particles in solids, liquids, gases, and plasma states when thermal energy is added or removed. (c) Plan and carry out investigations to compare and contrast chemical (i.e., reactivity, combustibility) and physical (i.e., density, melting point, boiling point) properties of matter. (d) Construct an argument based on observational evidence to support the claim that when a change in a substance occurs, it can be classified as either chemical or physical.
Time: about 80–85 minutes (two 45-minute periods, or one block)

What students need

  • One Chromebook or computer per student (the 1v1 bonus needs a keyboard and two students on one computer)
  • Headphones, or low volume, for the three one-minute videos at Stop 2
  • No student accounts or sign-ins; nothing to install

Every stop at a glance

Good to know

  • The intro challenges, the flowchart item, the scores, the food-coloring percentages, the density-lab block, the detective's A/B order, the evidence-judge scenes and the Lab Bench values are randomized, so those answers vary. The readouts in the data tables (particle pictures, states sim, phase map, heating curve, thermometer, test results, trap cards, CER) are fixed and match the key.
  • Stop 1 activities award grams that are saved only on that device; students write their score on the sheet.
  • In Stop 7 each student gets different block densities and a different mystery substance. The Lab Bench shows a progress code when a lab is done; the verify tool on the Lab Bench page checks it.
  • The 1v1 bonus is for pairs who have both finished. It is head-to-head review of the whole matter unit.
  • The matter page also has endless practice (Part 8, a good warm-up the next day), worked examples (9), real-life cards (10), myths (11), the whole-unit practice set (12) and the vocabulary cards (13, used at Stop 3). Conservation of matter (S8P1.f) has its own sealed-bag sim on the Atoms page and its own webquest.
  • Short on time? Stops 1–3 make a good first day and Stops 4–7 a second day.
  • The printable student webquest and its answer key come with the Word / PDF webquest download. This page holds no answers, so it is safe to post.