This year one my goals is to use this space to talk specifically with various teachers about how they use inquiry in their chemistry classrooms. My four questions are:
As I maneuver through the school year, a certain rhythm develops. The start of the year brings the excitement of new classes and new students. I'm often trying new things in the fall as I've reflected on the previous year's teaching over the summer.
As this is my first blog post, I’d like to introduce myself to the ChemEdX community. I currently teach Chemistry I, Introduction to Organic and Biochemistry, and AP Chemistry at The University High School of Indiana. I use the Chemistry Modeling Curriculum in my classroom
I expect that most high school chemistry teachers assign some type of laboratory related to types of chemical reactions including synthesis, decomposition, single replacement and double replacement reactions. I have used several published versions, but I am sharing my modifications.
It has happened again. We just published a “Lab Accidents” blog with a link to the US Chemical Safety Board’s video entitled “After the Rainbow” published December 10, 2013. Less than a month later, a young boy has experienced the same nightmare scenario as the one described in the video.
I have my students use Orbital Viewer when learning about quantum numbers and their associated rules, electronic orbitals, and other quantum concepts. I have developed a worksheet that allows students to use Orbital Viewer to explore various concepts related to electronic orbitals.
Have you ever seen the soap boat experiment? Check out the video.
This is a series of experiments, PhET Interactive Simulation activities, and clicker questions to relate macroscopic and molecular representations of homogenenous solutions. Graphing skills are also used.
Wow! A very neat experiment, called “Hydroglyphics”, published by Kim, Alvarenga, Aizenberg, and Sleeper in the Journal of Chemical Education allows you to transform a common plastic Petri dish into a unique teaching tool to demonstrate the difference between hydrophobic and hydrophilic surfaces. Check it out in the video.
This activity is used as a reinforcement activity following my use of JCE Classroom Activity #113: An Interlocking Building Block Activity in Writing Formulas of Ionic Compounds. It could be used as a stand alone activity to support writing ionic formulas and names.
