http://periodictable.com/index.html - has some applications to elements....not all of the examples are good though....ONLY chose the examples that are used by most of the population ! Some of these uses are too rare and not applicable to people’s lives...though they are interesting.

http://periodic.lanl.gov/naming.html – how the last elements were named...well 105 – 109

http://periodic.lanl.gov/default.htm - Talks about the history, sources, uses, properties, compounds

http://www.rsc.org/chemsoc/visualelements/pages/periodic_table.html – pick flash if your computer lets you, if not then click html, then pick an element, then on the side of the screen you will see “chemical data” and click html or pdf.

http://www.periodicvideos.com/# - short video clips on each element

http://www.webelements.com/ - lots of information of each element from the British Chemical Society

http://www.rsc.org/chemistryworld/podcast/element.asp – podcasts that talks about uses of the elements

http://www.everypoet.net/element/display.php?symbol=H – poetry about each element

http://azuregrackle.com/periodictable/table/ - prints based on each element

http://www.nndc.bnl.gov/content/elements.html#hydrogen – The history and origin of each element

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To introduce students to phase changes I have them go out in the hall. First i have them line up in rows and rock back and forth to represent a solid. THen I ask them to turn into a liquid. Some students start to most faster in place but then i say no....you are not just a hot solid. then another student will start to walk around and i will say..."look at chuck...he has it" then everyone will start to walk around. then I ask them to turn into a gas and they will walk fast. then I say things like now melt....then condense, evaporation...show me sublimation....it is really fun!

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I expanded on the typical unknown powder lab and included parents and diversity. First, before the lab, I have the students work with their parents to find white powders in their kitchen....examine them.....and then create an experiment with them. Many of them burnt them or put them in water. Because they did this first, when they started the powder lab they had previous knowledge that they can use to start making hypothesis. To make it a true inquiry activity I told them I was never going to tell them what the powders were......they were just required to make a good argument about what powders they thought they had. Then I collected the data from all of the groups in every class and ....if groups with cup #5 from every class came up with the same conclusion then we could make a scientific law that those powders were in the mixture.

To finish the activity and the unit of chemical and physical changes, I had them bake something using at least three white powders and they were encouraged to bring in something that represented their heritage or a family recipe. Along with the food they were asked to research each ingredient and talk about how it contributes to the final product. They also had to list chemical and physical changes that they saw. I made a stipulation that they had to put it in the oven to make sure they would have chemical changes. They learned things like sugar is what makes the food brown, baking soda makes the batter rise because of a chemical change that produces gas, and corn starch is what thicken sauces. It as fun and it was the first time many of them had ever baked. When they gave presentations many of them were proud of their ethnic dishes and the students loved tasting new things. Students had to bring in a small sample of what they cooked but if they wanted they could bring in enough for the whole class. They loved it..especially because they could eat in the classroom. For handouts e-mail me at jlarendt@cps.edu

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I learned this demonstration from JulieAnn Villa. I first have students copy and color the picture of the gold foil experiment for homework so students are familiar with its set up. I tell them that the walls of the classroom is the detector and i have a nerf gun that shoots out the positive particles. I talk to them about how J.J Thomson thought that atoms were made out of plum pudding and that they expected the positive particles to shoot right through the gold foil. I stand in the middle of the classroom to show the students where the gold foil is and have a student shoot through the imaginary foil and have the balls hit the back wall. I tell them that this is what Rutherford expected to happen but it is not what actually happened. I go to the center of the room where the gold foil should be, tell the students that I am the real representation of gold foil and ask the student to shoot the rest of the nerf balls. They are instructed to miss sometimes (JullieAnn had them shoot at a ball that was hanging from a stick to represent the nucleus. I am too lazy so I just have them hit me) I then talk about how, because I had mass, the balls were deflected to other parts of the classroom. We go back to the picture and I show them how just like me....the nucleus deflected the positive particle and they learned that the nucleus was small, positive. Based on the number of times the positive particles missed Rutherford also came to the conclusion that the atom is mostly space.

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There are both new and experienced teachers on this site. Offer any advice no matter how small to those who are just starting out.

It is helpful to learn all of your students names as soon as possible. If you need to play a name game on the first day of school for your sake. Then as they come in the room welcome them by name. This is very impressive and helps them understand that you care about them individually. They also think you are super smart.

My father used to learn their names before the first day of school because he had access to their pictures. Then he would pretend he had physic powers and he would go around the room pretending he could tell by their faces what their name was. He made sure to skip the students with difficult names to make it look real but would go back to them at the end.

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I got this idea from how our faculty meetings are run believe it or not.

Cut up your syllabus into maybe six sections, if you do not include your class procedures in your syllabus you may want to add that to this activity. Put your students in groups of six and have each of them read their section quietly. Then have them share their section of the syllabus. After they are done give the students markers and crayons and have them make pictures about the section of the syllabus they were given. Then have the students who have the same sections find each other and have each group present their rules again to the class but this time sharing their pictures. This way you can hang up the best pictures and have your rules posted for the rest of the year.

If you do not want that many pictures you can have the students with the same sections of the syllabus find each other first and then have them create a LARGE joint poster.

You can follow this up with an open notebook quiz about the rules in your class. Are there any other ideas to help students PAY ATTENTION when the important information about the syllabus is being relayed?

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I got this activity from Amanda Raymond at a class sponsored by fermi lab. On the activity itself it has a web-site www.KaganOnline.com

It is called Quiz-quiz-trade. Each student gets a card with a lab safety rule and the answer. The music starts and they walk around. Then when the music stops they find the person nearest them and each student will quiz each other on the lab rule they are holding. Then the music starts again and they walk around again. This seems like a fun way to review any concept really but it was first presented to me as a way to help students learn lab safety rules. You can either go over the rules first and have this be a review or have them learn the rules through this game.

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These are things I do to demo physical vs chemical changes as I know many teachers do. I would love to collect suggestions from teachers in Chem West for more. I know that some of you have flashy ones! All of these demonstrations have been passed down to me from other teachers.

If you are a new teacher looking at this site for ideas basically, after explaining the definition of physical vs chemical changes. I perform these demos and ask the students if they saw any physical or chemical changes. Mix up the physical changes with the chemical changes demonstrations. Some teachers have students do these as a lab. Make sure your set ups make sure your students will be safe during these demos especially with the chemical changes.

Physical change demonstrations - ripping paper, bending glass with fire (when I heat the glass in the Bunsen burner flame I roll the glass until I see it start to wobble and then take it out of the flame and bend it.), dissolving salt in water, boiling water, crushing chalk, melting ice, sublimation of Iodine (just put some Iodine in a flask, cap it, and then have a student hold it. The purple gas will be apparent in a few minutes if you hold it up to a white piece of paper, fizzing soda, and dissolve sugar and water

Chemical changes - burn Magnesium in a flame (looking at the flame will damage eyes), baking soda and vinegar, magnesium and hydrochloric acid - the more concentrated the acid the faster the reaction......I like 6 M HCl but 1 M still works I think,), calcium and water (be careful because calcium is more reactive when put in small amounts of water as opposed to large amount of water)

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I asked students to research diverse scientists. They researched a short overview of the scientist's life, their contribution to the science community, their application to society, and how the discovery directly effects the student's life. The application to the student's life was the most important part. If they could not figure out how the discovery changed their life then they had to find a new scientist.

I was shocked at how proud my students were to report on scientists from their heritage.

Many students have commented that the history of chemistry is racists. Though I disagree with that comment and have a discussion about the definition of the word racism, I desire to include scientists from around the world in my curriculum. My students had a lot of fun finding scientists from their cultural background and did a lot of great research for me!

We spent a day presenting what they found....they were able to report their research through many mediums including drama, song, poetry, summary of a paper, or a comic strip. I have attached the assignment and a rubric to help grade different kinds of presentation. It seemed at first that this would be over whelming to grade....but the students learned so much that basically......if they did the project and showed enthusiasm...they got an A.

The point of the project was for students to research cultures that are under-represented in science education. It is really touchy however to communicate this instruction. We had to come up with a definition of "under-represented population" together and then stick with it. I first asked students to "research scientists that were not Caucasian" but evidently no one knows what that means. So next year I may just give a list of countries I want them to avoid. I don't know.

HOW DO YOU REACH UNDER-REPRESENTED POPULATIONS IN YOUR CLASSROOM ?

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Instead of showing students equipment in the lab I have them find it. Give them a list of the equipment. Things like "iron ring," "clay triangle," and "bunsen burner" they can find themselves.

I put the equipment around the room with letters on them. THen I give them a list of the equipment and have them put the correct number next to the equipment. They are then sent out to match the name. You can send them out as individuals or groups. If you have a timid or lower class send them in groups so they feel more secure.

Then when they are done I reveal the names and ask them why they made their choices. Mark says - "the clay triangle is a triangle and it is made out of clay." Sara says - "I remember seeing test tubes on TV"

If they learn these names on their own and if they can rationalize how the equipment got its name they are more apt to remember the names. At the same time we also go over the uses of each piece of equipment.

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