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There are many activities that can be used to cover the topics of percent composition, empirical and molecular formulas and hydrates. Percent composition of sugar in a piece of bubble gum is an easy activity to begin the unit with.
I was having difficulty with a student that was making poor choices in the lab. When I saw him making positive choices and acknowledged that, our relationship changed for the better.
Links to a webinar and other resources to support the use of the Journal of Chemical Education as a resource for teaching and learning.
When it comes to student laboratory/apparatus setup, one thing is sure to help—visuals. There is a free and incredibly easy tool that allows you to assemble and customize almost any chemistry related setup you wish. Say hello to Chemix!
I am sharing a list of YouTube videos that I have used with my students. I am interested in finding more. Please share any that you use in the comment section below.
Decorative beads are tested for the presence of iron pyrite, or FeS2, in an activity well-suited for the National Chemistry Week theme of "Chemistry Rocks!"
Face to face professional development provides the opportunity for teachers to learn from and share with other teachers. This post provides an example of one of the many great ideas that I have learned from other teachers.
I allowed my students to choose between two separation type laboratories. About two thirds of the class chose to separate the flavoring out of a grape of cherry soda. The rest of the students used paper chromatography to determine if red-40 dye was in a specific type of candy.
I have been in the lab conducting tests on the chemical and physical properties of various geological samples. In my investigations I’ve found that hematite is a particular mineral that is easy to acquire and quite amenable to experimentation.
As I began to prepare my labs for this upcoming year, I decided to put a bit of a twist on a previous density of a block lab I had used in the past entitled the Measurement Challenge that is sold by Flinn Scientific. It can also be used to find the mass of a block given the materials density and requiring students to measure and calculate the blocks volume. My added twist resulted in great scientific discourse.