particulate level

At our November meeting, Easing your way into CED Unit 4: Low prep, high engagement activities,  we focused on low-prep, high-engagement strategies for AP Chemistry Unit 4 (Chemical Reactions), with an emphasis on helping students build conceptual understanding while preparing for AP-level rigor.

Many have asserted that the water we drink is exactly the same water that has been eliminated from the bodies of humans and animals from the past. The argument goes that water excreted from our bodies by exhalation or urine ultimately ends up back in the water cycle.

This is a relatively short unit in my course and as a result, I only use two spreads for it. I have two fully developed spreads to share, with optional bonus material you could add on to the first and an alternative layout for the second that includes colligative properties.

Learning chemistry requires students to become fluent in the symbolic language of chemistry. Developing expertise requires that students move beyond manipulating equations and symbols to create explanations with particulate models of matter to explain their observations in the laboratory.

Many chemistry teachers use models and diagrams to help students describe how matter behaves at the particle level.

“What are we doing to help kids achieve?” Each year I say to myself that I am going to try to do more to present the particulate level to my students. Each year I feel as if I fall short. This year I tried to do something just a little different to help students visual the particulate level.

After teaching the concepts and calculations for acid and base strength, concentration, percent ionization, and pH I noticed many of my students were struggling to make meaningful connections between these calculations.

I have been working with the Alchemie team -- founded by a former chemistry teacher, Julia Winter -- for a number of years. Trying out their learning tools for chemistry, giving feedback, and generally brainstorming new ideas for chemistry instruction. 

One challenge we encounter in teaching and learning chemistry is connecting the macroscopic and atomic views of matter. Another challenge, complicated by well-meaning but scientifically-weak advertising, is demystifying the word “chemical”.