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Education “buzz words” can be meaningless jargon, or they can challenge us to consider new approaches to teaching and learning. Don’t let the jargon be a buzz kill!
“Significant figures are so confusing,” says my former student, who is currently taking AP Chemistry. My PowerPoint lecture with lab to follow didn’t work. Convicted, I wrestled with transforming my tired lesson. I embraced the buzz words. Let’s look at a significant figures lesson that changed my compliant, quiet learners to ENGAGED COLLABORATORS.
Chemistry teachers face many challenges. One of those challenges is providing our students with the equipment and resources they need to be successful. Many teachers find themselves in schools that cannot afford to properly outfit their chemistry courses. That is exactly the situation I found myself in as a new teacher.
Conducting experiments with liquid nitrogen experiments is a sure-fire way to energize many chemistry lessons. Unfortunately, getting access to liquid nitrogen can be a bit difficult.
At my school in Michigan, the second semester just started this week. And, since all chemistry classes (except for IB Chemistry) are semester courses, I have new students and different preps.
I love teaching chemistry! It is fun to express that interest by collecting t-shirts and other items when I attend professional development.
This is the time of year when I start looking ahead and planning my professional development for the new year. As a mom to two young boys I simply cannot attend all the conferences, workshops, or lectures I’d like to. I have to research my options and determine how each oppo
In my high school chemistry classes, I stress the use of units and the use of written chemical formulas to be represented properly. It is important to me that when a student expresses the formula of a chemical either in their data or in a balanced equation that they represent it correctly.
Wow! Night one of the semester we did the activity Change You Can Believe In. It was my second time facilitating, so I did a much better job of directing students when they asked questions and it went much faster than last semester. I did still, as expected, have students that were frustrated.
“On the third day of Christmas, my mailman brought to me… three gardening catalogs.” Jumping the gun? Or marketing genius? The doldrums after the holiday were a perfect time for these pages with their promise of spring. Their arrival kicked off an evening of grand plans. Somewhere along the line, chemistry crept in.
A good inquiry activity is an engaging way to begin a new semester.