Navigating the Quantum Mechanical Model Using Guided Inquiry
Kristen Drury | Thu, 01/06/2022 - 14:30
Using guided inquiry learning to identify patterns and trends in the Quantum Mechanical Models of elements.
electron configuration
How I Fell in Love with PES
Melissa Hemling | Mon, 02/25/2019 - 19:28
Like many AP Chemistry teachers, Melissa Hemling was not fond of teaching Photoelectron Spectroscopy (PES). Surprisingly, she fell in love with teaching PES in AP Chemistry after making an old-school change.
Figuring Out Electron Configurations
Laura Wang | Tue, 02/28/2017 - 10:01
After spending the start of the year using a modified version of the Modeling Instruction curriculum (density and physical properties, followed by gas laws, followed by energy and phase changes), we don’t actually start talking about what’s inside atoms until December. I love that by this point students are already familiar with some of the habits of mind needed to reason abstractly about atoms -- thinking proportionally, explaining macroscopic observations at the particle level -- and we are ready to layer on both more abstraction and the symbolic level. By January, we are ready to explore electron configurations.
Especially JCE: September 2016
Erica Jacobsen | Thu, 09/15/2016 - 09:43
“You sank my battleship!” Do you remember this line from a classic commercial featuring the board game Battleship? It sat in my family’s game closet when I was a kid, but it’s popping up again recently, with chemistry twists.
Clarifying Electron Configurations
Dave Doherty | Fri, 04/29/2016 - 13:23
We’ve all seen and use the so-called Aufbau Diagram. It is a mnemonic used to remember the order of “filling” of atomic orbitals during the construction of the ground state electron configurations of the elements. The presentation of this diagram is largely disconnected from any physical meaning. Here’s what we tell our students: “Memorize the diagram, learn to use it, and you’re guaranteed to get the right answer.”