Students may have been using the metric system as early as in elementary school, so why do they struggle to use it in first year chemistry class in high school? This is a quick idea to help you reintroduce the metric system in your class.
The floating soap bubble is an impressive experiment that is surprisingly easy to carry out.
Practice problem answer keys that provide correct and incorrect answers increase student metacognition and lead to more thorough learning.
The solution to Chemical Mystery #17 is presented. Were you able to use your chemical knowledge to explain the results?
If you know your chemistry, you can figure out how the bubbles get busted!
With the current global COVID-19 pandemic, there has been much discussion of “flattening the curve” by social distancing. These ideas can be demonstrated chemically, for example, by the iron-catalyzed decomposition of hydrogen peroxide to produce an oxygen gas foam. Decreased hydrogen peroxide concentrations, representing decreased human population concentrations from social distancing, produce oxygen gas foam, representing cases of illness, at a slower rate. A similar demonstration can be achieved using the popular Diet Coke and Mentos experiment. These simple experiments are best used as stand-alone demonstrations.
You may have observed a red to blue color change when you rinse your bowl after eating frozen blueberries. Sounds like an acid-base reaction, doesn’t it? Well, read on to learn about the blueberry surprise!
The ability to anticipate the errors that students tend to make should serve as a guiding principle when designing assessment items. In addition, a well-written question can uncover student misconceptions.
Have you ever seen the liquid nitrogen cloud? Do you wonder how the cloud forms when hot water is thrown onto liquid nitrogen? This post explores the liquid nitrogen cloud and possible explanations for its formation.
I facilitate a working group of chemistry teachers in the New York area and we recently created our own activity surrounding the topic of oxidation. The goal of the probe was to force students to think about what the meaning of oxidation is, as well as to allow students to engage in the science and engineering practice of argumentation. This was an introductory lesson to my oxidation and reduction unit prior to students learning the terms oxidation and reduction.
