Happy Wednesday! Just a little more time before many of you have a Winter Break, so it’s a rush to get teaching units finished by February 13th.
If you’re a new teacher, try to give any quizzes or tests before the last day of school because some students may leave early for vacation with their families – you may have experienced this at the end of December.
There isn't much money left in most 2014-2015 science department budgets. For inexpensive chemistry lab ideas, buy my lab book "Chemistry on a Budget" for $20.56 at amazon.com or $23 at lulu.com. It will take a few weeks to get to you, so order now!
http://www.amazon.com/Chemistry-Budget-Marjorie-R-Heesemann/dp/0578129159/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1389410170&sr=1-1&keywords=chemistry+on+a+budget
http://www.lulu.com/shop/marjorie-r-heesemann/chemistry-on-a-budget/paperback/product-21217600.html
This book contains 13 labs using consumable materials purchased from local stores. There are two versions of each lab, one with a ten-question conclusion and one with directions for a full lab report. This way the teacher has the option! Each lab is two pages to allow for one two-sided handout.
I was talking about Gases for the past few weeks, but now I am revisiting Atomic Structure. I posted about Atomic Structure on 02/16/2014 – check it out!
Atomic Structure and the challenges of investigating it are easy to explore with “Mystery Boxes” (also known as “Black Boxes”). Students may have encountered this lab in younger years, but it still is useful to show the challenges of determining how the atom is built.
I made my own mystery boxes, wrapped them in brown paper, labelled each and had a KEY so I knew what was in them. They ranged from a single object to a barrier for the object to work around.
One year, I had my students perform the lab and then had them create their own “mystery boxes” or donate empty shoe boxes or leftover items from home. I did warn them not to take a shoebox and just dump out the shoes or to take objects that their household was still using.
Here is a very simple Mystery Box Lab (3 pages) where students research the history of research about Atomic Structure including Rutherford’s experiment:
http://www.lmtsd.org/cms/lib/PA01000427/Centricity/Domain/219/mystery%20box.pdf
This lab could also be completed with a blank sheet of note paper with the directions of what should be recorded on the board.
After the Mystery Boxes lab, the history of the development of science's picture of the atom could be discussed.
Here is a video (10 minutes) to provide an overview of the History of Atomic Structure:
If you’re a new teacher, try to give any quizzes or tests before the last day of school because some students may leave early for vacation with their families – you may have experienced this at the end of December.
There isn't much money left in most 2014-2015 science department budgets. For inexpensive chemistry lab ideas, buy my lab book "Chemistry on a Budget" for $20.56 at amazon.com or $23 at lulu.com. It will take a few weeks to get to you, so order now!
http://www.amazon.com/Chemistry-Budget-Marjorie-R-Heesemann/dp/0578129159/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1389410170&sr=1-1&keywords=chemistry+on+a+budget
http://www.lulu.com/shop/marjorie-r-heesemann/chemistry-on-a-budget/paperback/product-21217600.html
This book contains 13 labs using consumable materials purchased from local stores. There are two versions of each lab, one with a ten-question conclusion and one with directions for a full lab report. This way the teacher has the option! Each lab is two pages to allow for one two-sided handout.
I was talking about Gases for the past few weeks, but now I am revisiting Atomic Structure. I posted about Atomic Structure on 02/16/2014 – check it out!
Atomic Structure and the challenges of investigating it are easy to explore with “Mystery Boxes” (also known as “Black Boxes”). Students may have encountered this lab in younger years, but it still is useful to show the challenges of determining how the atom is built.
I made my own mystery boxes, wrapped them in brown paper, labelled each and had a KEY so I knew what was in them. They ranged from a single object to a barrier for the object to work around.
One year, I had my students perform the lab and then had them create their own “mystery boxes” or donate empty shoe boxes or leftover items from home. I did warn them not to take a shoebox and just dump out the shoes or to take objects that their household was still using.
Here is a very simple Mystery Box Lab (3 pages) where students research the history of research about Atomic Structure including Rutherford’s experiment:
http://www.lmtsd.org/cms/lib/PA01000427/Centricity/Domain/219/mystery%20box.pdf
This lab could also be completed with a blank sheet of note paper with the directions of what should be recorded on the board.
After the Mystery Boxes lab, the history of the development of science's picture of the atom could be discussed.
Here is a video (10 minutes) to provide an overview of the History of Atomic Structure:
It’s a lot of information, and the narration can be very fast. (sorry about the subtitles -- see if you notice the “Breaking Bad” reference)
Here is another 11 minute video that provides an overview of the History of Atomic Structure starting with Dalton:
Here is another 11 minute video that provides an overview of the History of Atomic Structure starting with Dalton:
It discusses the experiment leading to the discovery of the neutron (starting at 7:37 minutes), which is not typically discussed very much.
Here is a crossword puzzle to provide an overview of the History of the Atom:
Check out the Topic List to help you to find past Blog entries. I hope it helps!
Have a good weekend!
Here is a crossword puzzle to provide an overview of the History of the Atom:
Check out the Topic List to help you to find past Blog entries. I hope it helps!
Have a good weekend!
RSS Feed
