density

The Density Bottle experiment has inspired many colorful variations over the years.^1-6 I recently came across yet another colorful variation that I’d like to discuss.

In “salting out” demonstrations, a mixture of water and an organic liquid separates into two layers upon addition of an inorganic salt.^1-4 Typically, acetone or various alcohols are used for the organic liquid, while NaCl, Na₂CO₃, or K₂CO₃ are used as the salt.

In 2009, I embarked on my Science Writing Heuristic (SWH) journey to teach experimental design to my International Baccalaureate Middle Years Program Chemistry students.¹ Experimental design was new to me because I did not experience designing and executing my

One of the main tenets of NGSS is the use of phenomena to have students discover the content. I’m new to NGSS, as Indiana just adopted the standards this year, but I’m very excited about the integration of phenomena. I’m all-in on attempting to ground as much of my instruction as possible in phenomena.

The floating soap bubble¹ is an experiment that is very easy to set up and carry out (Video 1).

The concept of Measurement and Significant Figures can induce discomfort.¹ This article and the associated resources take an empirical, logical approach to this important concept, which your students will understand, and dare I say, enjoy.

Thanks again for spending some time with me in this blog. Over the course of my posts, I will share some ideas (and hoping for feedback) about data-driven instruction in science. So what the heck do I mean when I say "data-driven"?  Or you might be asking, isn't all science instruction data-driven? When posting about data-driven

This is the fourth blog post in this series dealing with seawater chemistry and global maritime trade. In this classroom activity students predict the buoyancy (and hence stability) of a merchant cargo ship based on interpretation of seawater surface salinity values.

The first blog post of this seawater-oceanic shipping series deals with an introductory classroom activity that challenges students to predict how the composition and temperature of seawater influences a ship's buoyancy.

Maritime shipping is the backbone of global commerce and trade. In 2020 a mind-boggling 1.9 billion metric tons (4,188,782,981,513 pounds) of cargo criss-crossed Earth's largest geographical features- the expansive, featureless oceans and seas (1).