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HS-PS1-2 Chemical Reactions

What to do after AP? Build and test simple dye-sensitized solar cells!

Tracy Schloemer | Wed, 05/03/2017 - 12:38

Have you considered having your students make solar cells? If your AP kids can understand batteries, solar cells are a logical next step. I usually do independent projects after AP along with final presentations, but I stumbled upon this activity the other day and my mind exploded in excitement and thought I would share. In the future, I would definitely do this with my students!

Silver Plated Bulbs

Deanna Cullen | Mon, 12/19/2016 - 13:16

I have used several different versions of the Silver Mirror or Tollen's Test lab. I am sharing the method that has proven to be the most reliable for me. The solutions should be made fresh, the directions must be followed closely and timing is very important. I like the fact that relatively small amounts of the chemicals are required, but as always you must be vigilant with safety precautions. 

An Interesting Way to look at Reactions....

Chad Husting | Mon, 11/07/2016 - 19:36

Atomsmith works really well on Chromebooks and other platforms. Students can manipulate molecules, add water, do experiments, heat solutions and examine intermolecular forces all on the particulate level. Another nice feature is the "Experiment" section. There are a number of guided activities, usually never more than a page or two. I have found them to be great supplements for activities, experiments and demonstrations.

Balancing Equations with Molecular Models

Michael Morgan | Mon, 07/25/2016 - 21:39

I am a very firm believer that the world of physical science can be visualized and is an excellent medium for teaching students to model and to picture what happens at the molecular level. The first topic we decided to explore was balancing chemical equations. This seems like such a simple topic to chemistry teachers but I have found that it can be quite challenging for many of my inner city students. The first thing they ask me for is a list of rules that they can follow. We can discuss the problems of algorithmic teaching in a later post! For the time being let’s talk about how to get students to understand why they need to balance equations and discuss what we can call “Conservation of Atoms”.

Fun and Quick Rates Lab (No pun intended...)

Chad Husting | Sun, 05/08/2016 - 19:37

I am facing what many teachers are facing. It is AP week, I am trying to continue "as usual" with doing labs and learning but this time of year is anything but "as usual". There is a rates lab we do this time of year which is a good lab, rather involved with a significant amount of set up and work. I got an idea for a slightly different rates lab from Bob Worley. I found a similar large scale version from Flinn Scientific. Thanks to Bob, I decided to do a microscale version.

 

A Look Into My General Chemistry Reactions Unit- Supporting Students with Making Connections among the Nanoscopic and Macroscopic

Tracy Schloemer | Fri, 05/06/2016 - 10:14

Organic chemistry was when I fell in love with chemistry. Also known as Chem 210 at the University of Michigan, it was the first time I actually started to connect what was going on at the nanoscopic level to the macroscopic world. Since then, I’ve been hooked.

 

Kinetics Review

Michael Morgan | Thu, 04/28/2016 - 13:08

In one of my last blog posts I wrote of how I sometimes enjoy ending a unit with a series of demonstrations and using them to elicit a dialog between the students and myself to check for understanding. It is always a fascinating experience to hear the misconceptions that many students have the day before the test.