Carolina STEM Challenge®: Separation of a Mixture Kit

Grades 7–12. Students use planning skills, logic, and trial-and-error to construct a flowchart that details how to separate a mixture of sand, iron filings, sodium chloride, and stearic acid. They first perform a warm-up activity to determine the mixture components' physical properties. Students then compete in teams to successfully separate the mixture and recover the highest percentage by mass of each component. Kit materials support 15 design teams of 2 students each.