Candy Bag Activity

Today I gave the students a design activity; they had to design and build a candy bag using printer paper and tape. The test weight was candy (8 fun-sized peanut M&Ms for second hour and 8 fun-sized Baby Ruth bars for third hour).

A successful design was defined as follows:

1. Bag is contructed entirely of paper and tape

2. Candy fits completely inside the bag

3. Bag must have handles

4. Bag holds candy from the center island in the back of the classroom to the fronto of the classroom and back

5. Bag remains intact

Groups with a successful design keep their candy. It took the groups in second hour 10 minutes to finish constructing their bags. The groups in third hour needed more time. All the bags were successful; if a group finished early I had them test their bag to determine it needed more work. The students enjoyed the activity.

The point of the activity was to give them a glimpse into what engineers do, in general. Since there have been issues with the students not reading directions, I had the class read through the instructions individually first and then I asked the class questions about what they had to do. This approached seemed to work; so I'll use it again for the next lab/activity.

After winter break

Today was my first day back after winter break. The students are working on acids/bases. I'm thinking of a presentation/activity to demonstrate how chemistry is applied in a chemical engineering application. There are a few more weeks left in this semester. Next semester the will cover physics.

Salt Crystal Lab

In the salt crystal lab, the students are growing crystals from three types of salt: iodized table salt, un-iodized table salt, and Epsom salt. Each group prepared a saturated salt solution, added food color, and then poured each solution into each half of a Petri dish (one half contained a sponge and the other was empty). See pictures from one group from each class.

For this lab, I gave an overview of the procedure while the students were at their desks. I also had them answer three questions before the could get the boiling water that they needed to make the salt solutions. My goal was to get them to listen, read, and pay attention. I think the lab went well, but it's difficult to get everyone to listen to and/or read the instructions before they start the lab. Hopefully everyone will have salt crystals next Monday.

Slime Lab

The planning and execution of my first chemistry lab was an experience. The planning went well, I had enough supplies for both classes, but I didn't factor in that some of the students would make mistakes and have to start over.

For this lab, the students were organized into eight groups of four. Each group had to make four types of slime: floam, silly putty #1, silly putty #2, and slime; each student in the group made one type of slime.

Overall, the students were excited to do the lab and they had fun making something that they could take with them. They students were able to take their slime home in a resealable sandwich bag. Quite a few of them didn't follow the instructions, so their slime, floam, or silly putty didn't come out right.

I think next time, I'll go over the procedure before I send them back to their lab stations.

Planning a slime experiment

The students have finished a section on the periodic table and are moving into chemical and physical changes. Next week I am planning a slime lab, where the students will be divided into eight lab groups and each person in the group will make a different type of slime. Differences in the properties of the slime are determined by the added materials beyond the basic materials of borax and white glue solutions. Slime variations are created by adding polystyrene beads, cornstarch, soluble fiber (such as metamucil) or cornstarch and vegetable oil.

Chemistry in everyday life

On Monday, October 26, I asked several students in 2nd and 3rd hour to write down, on a notecard, three things that they think of when they hear chemistry. The most common responses were chemicals and labs or experiements. I was hoping for responses like materials (e.g. plastics, synthetic fabrics) or food, things that the students encounter on a daily basis.

Now that the students have begun covering chemistry basics, my plan is to focus presentations on the chemistry that they encounter in their everyday life. I gave my first of such presentations today on water treatment (which is part of the field of environmental engineering). I made some connections to myself and what I do as an environmental engineering and emphasized why water treatment is important to their lives; I think the students got the point that I was trying to make. No one thinks about water treatment, they just expect that the water from the faucet will be safe to drink, and by safe I mean won't make them sick. Most people doesn't know what happens to things that go down the drain.

Attention

Some of the students who are struggling with the material and seem to only work when they receive individual attention. For journal questions and worksheets, if I see that a student has paper and pencil in front of them but aren't working, I'll ask them if they understand how to do the work. Usually they don't so I'll take the time to explain and walk them through the problem(s). For worksheets I'll stay with the student long enough to make sure that they can do the work on their own, then I'll move on to someone else and I'll return to make sure that they continue working on the assignment.

Both physical science classes, second and third hours, have spent the first month and a half of the school year going through the basics, such as lab safety, the scientific method, units, and measurements; all of which are important, but I don't think Ms. P wanted to spend that much time on this material. It is clear that some of the students are struggling with the material and others get it right away. How do you find the right pace?

Second hour is a difficult class to work with. There are 35 students in the class, which is too many, and a few of them are very disruptive and disrespectful. On the other hand, there are students in the class who come to learn, and several of the students should not be in physical science; they should be in physics or chemistry. Third hour is easier to work with; it's a smaller class, and the combination of personalities is much calmer. The students in third hour stay focused longer and they get more work done in class.