Before the 2018-19 school year, buy a copy of the lab book Chemistry on a Budget. It’s a great resource for your class!
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.
A 5-Star Customer Review of Chemistry on a Budget at amazon.com states:
“[S]traight forward, to the point, using household chemicals…this is the lab book for you.
I teach high school chemistry and this is exactly what [I] was looking for. Labs included simple household chemicals that could be easily found. Nice format, easy to follow along procedures, and touches on every topic of our chemistry curriculum.”
You can buy this lab book for $23 at amazon.com or lulu.com. It will take 1-2 weeks to get to you -- Order Now. It’s a great resource!
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
*Some of you have already purchased my lab book – be sure to check out Page 141 !
“There was a time when biochemists had a lot in common with sculptors. Scientists who had devoted their lives to studying a molecule would building a model, using metal and a forest of rods to hold up the structure of thousands of atoms. …
These days simulations on screens have replaced such models, sacrificing some of their tactile value while gaining the ability to show movement. But what if you could enter a virtual reality environment where the molecules lie before you, obeying all the laws of molecular physics as calculated by supercomputers, and move them around in three dimensions? “
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/07/03/science/chemistry-virtual-reality.html?rref=collection%2Ftimestopic%2FChemistry&action=click&contentCollection=science®ion=stream&module=stream_unit&version=latest&contentPlacement=2&pgtype=collection
“The practice of building and manipulating models has a rich history and profound impacts across a range of domains, including the physical sciences, the social sciences, engineering, medicine, design, and architecture. Here, our primary focus is on modeling at the nanoscale. From a modeling perspective, the nanoscale represents an interesting domain, because the objects of study (for example, molecules) are invisible to the naked eye, and their behavior is governed by physical forces and interactions significantly different from those forces and interactions that we encounter during our day-to-day phenomenological experience. In domains like this, which are imperceptible to the naked eye, effective models are vital to provide the insight required to make research progress.”
http://advances.sciencemag.org/content/4/6/eaat2731
“For many years, chemistry students have been taught to manipulate physical models depicting molecules as a means of learning how they work. The researchers note that such models are not up to the task of showing how molecules work dynamically—they cannot show movement or the flexibility of molecules, which leaves students having to imagine how they might look. In more recent years, computer applications that allow students to watch and even manipulate molecules onscreen have led to improvements in teaching techniques. But, as the researchers also note, such apps that generally make use of touch screens still lack the required hands-on approach. To improve on such applications, the researchers have created a VR [virtual reality] system that is able to show complex molecules as they exist in a 3-D space. And even better, users are able to physically manipulate the molecules to learn more about their properties.“
https://phys.org/news/2018-07-virtual-reality-chemistry-d.html
This article contains three brief video clips of 3D models using virtual reality models.
“Sales of VR headsets, which have only just begun to ship, are expected to reach nearly $1 billion by the end of 2016, according to a global forecast from technology consultancy CCS Insight. This first generation of headsets isn’t cheap: The Oculus Rift is priced at $599 and the HTC Vive at $799. Building on the momentum predicted for 2016, shipments of VR headsets and AR devices could reach 96 million units by 2020.
It would be easy to dismiss the excitement as hype, but one university researcher says this is the Model T era for VR headsets.”
https://cen.acs.org/articles/94/i14/chemists-tilt-heads-virtual-reality.html
Here the abstract of one 2014 experiment in China titled, “A case study of Augmented Reality simulation system application in a chemistry course”:
“The comprehension of micro-worlds has always been the focus and the challenge of chemistry learning. Junior high school students’ imaginative abilities are not yet mature. As a result, they are not able to visualize microstructures correctly during the beginning stage of chemistry learning. This study targeted “the composition of substances” segment of junior high school chemistry classes and, furthermore, involved the design and development of a set of inquiry-based Augmented Reality learning tools. Students could control, combine and interact with a 3D model of micro-particles using markers and conduct a series of inquiry-based experiments. The AR tool was tested in practice at a junior high school in Shenzhen, China. Through data analysis and discussion, we conclude that (a) the AR tool has a significant supplemental learning effect as a computer-assisted learning tool; (b) the AR tool is more effective for low-achieving students than high-achieving ones; (c) students generally have positive attitudes toward this software; and (d) students’ learning attitudes are positively correlated with their evaluation of the software.”
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0747563214002271
“University of Bristol researchers have designed and tested a new virtual reality (VR) cloud-based system intended to allow researchers to reach out and “touch” molecules as they move — folding them, knotting them, plucking them, and changing their shape to test how the molecules interact. Using an HTC Vive virtual-reality device, it could lead to creating new drugs and materials and improving the teaching of chemistry.
More broadly, the goal is to accelerate progress in nanoscale molecular engineering areas that include conformational mapping, drug development, synthetic biology, and catalyst design.”
http://www.kurzweilai.net/discovering-new-drugs-and-materials-by-touching-molecules-in-virtual-reality
This technology is in (or is going to be in) College level Chemistry classrooms/ laboratories. It can be useful for your students to know what may be awaiting them in their higher level study.
“Jonas Boström, whose day job is in computational chemistry at AstraZeneca, along with former student Magnus Norrby, recently started a company called EduChem VR. They aim to increase comments like ‘wow, this cool!’ in chemistry education.
Twenty years ago when I studied chemistry at the University of Gothenburg in Sweden, the lecture halls were full of students. Today they echo empty. Chemistry is often seen as dull and dry… and difficult to understand.
In an attempt to reverse that trend, and to engage students and inspire further studies we set out to produce virtual reality (VR) apps for chemistry education. Apps that can be used with todays’ kids’ favorite toy – their smartphone.”
http://www.rsc.org/news-events/community/2017/sep/virtual-reality/
“All molecules are 3D objects, thus making it perfect for VR. The way chemistry is taught today is usually with pen-and-paper/whiteboard... or using physical models, which is rather limiting and can be tedious to set up.
As an illustrative example, the stereochemistry concept is often as difficult to understand as it is to describe. In brief, many molecules have mirror images. These mirror images have the same molecular formula and connectivity of atoms but a different arrangement of atoms in space. They are thus not the same, and are non-superimposable. Just like your left and right-hand.
Proteins can often distinguish between these mirror images, and many chemical reactions favors the formation of one mirror image, a specific stereoisomer. This is an important concept which is difficult to explain using traditional methods.”
Two past blog posts referring to Technology in the Classroom include:
01/28/2015 Computer Simulations of Gases
03/25/2015 Your School Library (computers)
Before the 2018/2019 school year, buy a copy of the lab book Chemistry on a Budget – it is a great resource! You can examine the labs and decide what you want to use during the school year.
*This Blog contains several entries that would be helpful to your chemistry classroom. Check out the Topic List to help you to find past Blog entries.
Also, Write To Me about your successes, challenges, or questions in the Chemistry Classroom.
Have a great weekend!