Chemistry II students have sat and listened to a lot of lecture here lately, as we have been covering chemical kinetics and equilibria. They have been cooperative, using the quadratic formula and solving problems along the way. However, once we got into weak acid/base equilibria, in particular conjugate acids and bases, I wanted a kinesthetic activity that would get the students up an engaged. That was the genesis of this activity.
Chemistry I students last discussed the states of matter in sixth grade, but they are also used as a discussion lead in to thermodynamics in chemistry. Because students have experience with states of matter, I wanted to find an engaging way to activate previous knowledge and begin our thermochemistry unit. I generated a list of eight properties of each of the three common states of matter, printed them on colored sheets of paper, cut them into slips and mixed them together in a bucket. Then I divided the class into three teams and assigned each team a state of matter to represent and asked them to pull eight random slips from the bucket. The teams were to discuss amongst themselves whether or not each of the eight slips they pulled out matched their state of matter. If the group found that some of the slips descriptions didn’t define their state, they were to trade with another group until they found descriptions that did, but not to have more than eight slips at once.
Kinesthetic activities are one of my favorite ways to engage students in their learning. We utilized several methods in modeling the art of balancing chemical reaction equations, but one of my favorite activities was balancing reactions using beads.
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Traditional methods of practicing chemical nomenclature offer little interactivity among students. I attempted to energize this topic by physically engaging the students with beachballs labeled with chemical compound names that were categorized according to naming type, including Type I & II ionic compounds, as well as binary covalent compounds. Names of each category were written on a particular ball, which was then tossed in the classroom from student to student. Whomever caught the ball then had to properly name the compound where their left thumb landed. The activity continued until all 10 compounds on each ball were named. Student feedback was favorable in that they commented on how “fun” the activity was.
Introducing and using conversions and the factor label system in the science classroom are traditionally done through lecture based activities. Student engagement in this topic is usually limited to checks for understanding via homework and assessment on quizzes and tests. Utilizing Marzano’s kinesthetic technique, our goal was to physically engage students in groups while simultaneously performing a formative assessment of understanding of these topics.
Continue reading Factor Label Conversions Using Marzano Techniques
