Modeling Chemistry teachers are working to change the emphasis in calculations from factor-label to proportional quantitative reasoning. The document "The Story of Quantitative Reasoning” (https://bit.ly/quant_reasoning) makes the distinction between quantities (like mass and volume) and relationships (like density and molar mass), and makes an argument for why it is important to explicitly teach this.
We have made a short video describing this approach in greater detail. You can find it at https://bit.ly/prop_
The first five units in the chemistry curricular materials at the AMTA website have been updated to reflect this approach, which emphasizes sense-making over answer-getting. Work is currently underway on updating units 6- 9.
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Comments 1
Modeling in General
I have been using the Modeling curriculum since I took a workshop in 2011 (or thereabouts) at Lebanon Valley College. I have a deeper understanding of the fundamentals I teach as a result of learning to ask the right questions. I fell out of contact with AMTA. I am interested in a refresher and update course for those of us know have the basics, but need a little bit of like-minded encouragement and problem-solving. As an aside, on the last day of school last June, a student presented me with a hand-painted mole asking, "What is your evidence?" with a heartfelt hand-written message on the back. If I can help one student to keep asking questions and looking for evidence, then my mission is on track.