The book Chemistry on a Budget contains inexpensive chemistry labs that could be useful to your classroom. You can buy this lab book for $23 at amazon.com or lulu.com. Check it out!
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
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.
It will take a week or so to get to you, so Order Now!
*Some of you have purchased my lab book – be sure to check out Page 141 !
Past blog posts that may be useful at the end of the school year include:
-Final Exams – End of Year Preparation dated 06/08/2014
- End of Year Activity – Lab Clean-up dated 06/15/2014
- Lab Practical Examination dated 04/30/2015
- Final Exams II dated 06/04/2015
A video by NOVA on PBS that could be useful is “Life’s Rocky Start: The Vital Link Between Minerals and The Evolution of Life” (2016). It’s about 52 minutes and is available on YouTube:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zGyqWFF3x-I
This video examines the evolution of Earth and focuses on the importance of minerals to the development of life on the planet.
One way to keep students on task while viewing “Life’s Rocky Start” is to have them write a fact from each of the 6 stages of Earth’s development. These are listed as Black, Gray, Blue, Red, White and Green. To get different facts, maybe offer Extra Credit for facts different from those of other students.
One segment that might be useful is from 18:30 minutes to 24:20 minutes (6 minutes). It’s about the Miller & Yuri experiment in the early 1950s. This experiment simulated the “warm little pond” of basic organic substances and “lightening” where more complex organic molecules formed.
It’s interesting to see the changes in the atmosphere, and as oxygen developed as microbes produced oxygen during photosynthesis (around 38-39 minutes)
6CO2 + 6H2O -> C6H12O6 + 6O2
And later the oxygen reacts with iron to produce rust, leading to the Red phase (39-42 minutes)
Fe + O2 -> FeO
Fe + O2 -> Fe2O3
At this time of the school year you may be concentrating on finishing course material and reviewing towards final exams. This video may be more useful next school year – your department is probably ordering items for the 2016-2017 school year, as well as your school library.
Blog posts about Your School Library I and II were posted on 03/25/2015 and 11/27/2015. Check them out!
This video contains content appropriate to an Earth Science, Biology or Chemistry classroom, so you may want to talk to the other teachers in your department to see if they are already using it.
*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.
Remember, buying a copy of the lab book Chemistry on a Budget can be very useful to your Chemistry classroom with labs and class article ideas.
Have a great week!