This series of activities in this unit provides background knowledge for students to ultimately understand the science of papermaking at a molecular level. These activities will include learning about carbohydrates, building models to demonstrate how polysaccharides form in condensation reactions, watching videos describing the general steps in the papermaking process, and learning about how additives to pulp can enhance the overall strength of a finished paper product. This knowledge will be used to provide the tools for students to explore papermaking in an inquiry-based format. Upon demonstration of the basics of making handmade paper with a papermaking kit, students will be challenged to change variables to determine which set of parameters results in the highest quality paper. This will truly be engineering design, but at the molecular level.

Students will learn common standard and metric measurement tools to measure distance, weight, and volume. Then they will complete a series of hands-on labs where they apply the use of measurement skills.