How Running a STEM Club Benefits My Classroom

I run an after school STEM club that involves many projects and activities. Students build robots for FIRST Robotics, race RC cars, use 3D printers, and build underwater vehicles. They dissect specimens, and create biodiesel from vegetable oil. So why would I bring this up on the Chemed Xchange? Our science club does chemistry activities, we are an ACS Chem Clubs, but I think there are many other benefits to this kind of club. 

Relative Reactivities of Metals

Last winter I watched a webinar put on by ACS and AACT called "NGSS in the Chemistry Classroom." As a result of watching that webinar, I took an activity that had NGSS Science & Engineering Practices (SEP) integrated into it and tried it out in class. In this activity, students are required to develop their own procedures and data tables.

Concept Mapping as a Review Tool

It is the time of year that content exams loom large and student stress is high. A few years ago I decided to ditch the typical review packet for something else - an open ended, student led, collaborative concept mapping project and I am never going back to the old way!  

A Quick and Dirty Stoichiometry Lab...Differentiation and Inquiry?

There is a traditional stoichiometry lab I have done before. It involves adding dilute hydrochloric acid to sodium bicarbonate, boiling off the fluid and then getting the mass of the sodium chloride. Students then can solve the percent yield for the sodium chloride based on the amount of sodium bicarbonate they use. It is not a bad lab. Something about having hot ceramic watch glasses with acid just makes me a bit nervous. I am not sure where I got this new lab, but it has been one that has evolved over the years It is quick, dirty, relatively simple and uses over the counter (mostly) materials.

Grateful Grading of Labs?

One challenge I have is knowing how to evaluate labs properly. In writing my new lab manual, I am setting up rubrics for each lab. The ultimate goal is for this manual to be used by all instructors across the chemistry department at our community college, so they need to have a consistent grading system. Writing these rubrics has been challenging. 

Chemistry Topics

acids/bases applications of chemistry aqueous solution chemistry Atomic Properties / Structure conductivity consumer chemistry Demonstrations density electrochemistry electrolysis equilibrium gases General Chemistry Intermolecular Forces kinetics Laboratory Instruction liquids metals noncovalent interactions Outreach Oxidation / Reduction oxidation/reduction Phases / Phase Transitions / Diagrams Physical Chemistry physical properties Polymer Chemistry precipitation/solubility Public Understanding reactions solids stoichiometry thermodynamics