1. Home
  2. > 90 minutes

> 90 minutes

Recrystallization in the Organic Chemistry Laboratory.

Daniel Rivera | Mon, 11/17/2025 - 18:49

Implementing a Process-Oriented Guided Inquiry Learning (POGIL) style recrystallization activity provides students with an opportunity to actively engage in the learning process while reinforcing key chemical concepts such as polarity, solubility, and purification techniques. Research has shown that a POGIL approach promotes improved conceptual understanding, critical thinking, and teamwork skills compared to traditional laboratory approaches1,2.

NGSS-ify Alka-Seltzer Rocket Activity - With Virtual Options

Stephanie O'Brien | Sun, 10/04/2020 - 16:22

In this lab students are given a film canister, a quantity of Alka Seltzer of their own choosing and any materials available in the room to investigate factors that affect the rate of reaction. They work with their groups to create CER boards and then the class engages in a Glow and Grow session. Tips for using this activity in a virtual setting are offered as well. 

Break the Ice with Mystery Blocks

Stephanie O'Brien | Thu, 02/15/2018 - 20:00

In an effort to align my lessons with the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS), I have tried to take the content I have traditionally taught, and shift the design to focus on student engagement with the science and engineering practices outlined in the standards. For the topic of heat transfer I re-packaged the ice melting blocks discrepant event as a NGSS investigative phenomena.

Titration of an Esterification Reaction to Determine Equilibrium Constant

Lowell Thomson | Wed, 09/21/2016 - 08:44

This activity was submitted for a 2016 ChemEd X Call for Contributions soliciting input regarding the big ideas being put forth by organizations like AP. The author shares a lab activity that relies on connections - between stoichiometry, esterification, equilibrium, kinetics, titrations and uncertainty of calculations. He also shares the resources he created. 

Complex Ions Lab

Michael Morgan | Wed, 03/19/2014 - 13:43

This laboratory exercise accompanies the article "A guided group inquiry lesson on coordination compounds and complex ions". The laboratory serves as part of an extended exercise on the chemistry topic of coordination compounds and complex ions. The entire lesson as described in the article also exposes students to how chemical research is conducted and the conflicts and uncertainties that lead to new theories and discoveries.