inquiry-based discovery learning

Teaching Chemistry With Case Studies

Case studies have been a staple of undergraduate and graduate education programs like medicine, law, and business, for many years. They let learners engage with simulated real-world situations, making the content more meaningful and connected to their future careers. As a valuable context-based learning tool, case studies are becoming more common in secondary science. Here, we'll explore the role that students and instructors play when learning with case studies.

Managing Student Collaboration with Kristen Drury & Stephanie O'Brien

POGIL activities can be used to engage students in chemistry lessons through the use of student teams, effective models, and tiered questioning. Kristen Drury and Stephanie O'Brien presented in a ChemEd X Talk on April 21, 2021 and provided teachers with guidance on fostering student buy-in, student role formation, and POGIL implementation. Additionally, information was shared on how to assess students' participation in POGIL activities holistically and through individual examination of process skills such as communication, teamwork, and problem solving. You can watch the edited recording of their Talk here.

Context-based Chemistry: Benefits and Challenges

Context-based chemistry aims to make chemistry learning more meaningful for students. With an emphasis on inquiry-based activities, context-based chemistry improves student interest and motivation in chemistry by linking content to real-world situations. Though the idea has been around for over 20 years, researchers are still learning the best strategies for teaching context-based chemistry. Here, we will explore some of the benefits and challenges unearthed up until this point.

Color Changing Coke and Mentos

What's a better way to start the new school year than with some new experiments? Learn how to use a variety of color changing experiments to teach students about the Diet Coke and Mentos experiment, acids, bases, chemical and physical changes, and climate change.

Build a Boat Collaboration

As many teachers are preparing to teach online, we are revisiting posts from the ChemEd X archives like this one that might be of help. The original Build a Boat challenge was used to help create a classroom culture of teamwork and growth mindset. The author has updated the Build a Boat activity by providing a modified slide show presentation specifically to help those teaching remotely this fall.