Inspired by Tom Kuntzleman*, I started using mysteries in my chemistry curriculum this past year. The first mystery I shared with my students was burning water. While my magician skills aren't perfect, I was able to get the students asking questions and proposing hypotheses. For my IB students, it really allowed me to delve into a number of topics (e.g. combustion, intermolecular forces, polarity, density). And thus an idea was born: Using one mystery per topic. Since I teach mostly IB Chemistry, I've got 11 main topics and my work has begun to find and/or develop a mystery for each unit. It's very early in the process, but here's what I have so far:
| Topic
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Demo
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Main Connection To Curriculum
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| 1: Stoichiometric Relationships
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Balloon in a Bottle (discussed below)
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Gas Laws
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| 2: Atomic Structure
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| 3: Periodicity
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| 4: Chemical Bonding and Structure
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Burning Water (from Tom Kuntlzeman)
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Intermolecular Forces
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| 5: Energetics/Thermochemistry
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| 6: Chemical Kinetics
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Clock Reaction
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Effect of Concentration on Rate of Reaction
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| 7: Equilibrium
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| 8: Acids and Bases
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Sweet-Sour Chemistry (from Tom Kuntlzeman)
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Acids and Indicators
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| 9: Redox Processes
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Potato Clock
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Voltaic Cells
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| 10: Organic Chemistry
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| 11: Measurement and Data Processing (includes spectroscopy)
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In March, I saw this tweet:
Time for some Gas Behavior! #chemchat #gaslaws pic.twitter.com/ZM0aDyFb5e
— Kaleb Underwood (@kaleb_underwood) March 29, 2016
So I made my own to show some students:
Given my project of finding a mystery for each unit, I chose this mystery for Topic 1, as it includes gas laws. So I tried the demo with my Intro Chem class. I showed them the balloon and challenged them to make a replica. They were given a similar Erlenmeyer Flask and a balloon. They could handle my example, but not take it apart. The first attempt at recreating the balloon often involved putting the balloon into the flask and trying to blow it up. When this didn't work, they started asking questions and trying other things - such as putting a straw in to allow air in the flask to leave as the balloon filled the flask when it was inflated. The students got close with this general method, but could never pull off an exact replica of my balloon. Then a group got a hot plate and started heating some water in the flask, as it was obvious that there was some water inside the flask of my example. They then put the balloon on top and watched in horror as the balloon expanded more as the water heated. It took a few more rounds of trial and error before a group figured out the real method: heat a small amount of water to boiling on a hot plate, then carefully place a balloon over the top. As the water condenses, the pressure inside will decrease to the point where ambient pressure outside the balloon will push the balloon into the flask.
One of my summer tasks is to find mysteries for the other units. And so it begins!
Do you have any mysteries you've used? I'd love to hear from you. And I'll keep you posted as I develop and/or modify mysteries for the other units.
*Tom Kuntzleman's Mysteries here:
Mystery 1: Chemical Riddle
Mystery 2: Chemical Riddle 2
Mystery 3: The Sweet Side of Chemistry
Mystery 4: The Misbehaving Balloon
Mystery 5: How To Burn Water
Mystery 6: The Case of the Crushed Can
NGSS
Analyzing data in 9–12 builds on K–8 and progresses to introducing more detailed statistical analysis, the comparison of data sets for consistency, and the use of models to generate and analyze data.
Analyzing data in 9–12 builds on K–8 and progresses to introducing more detailed statistical analysis, the comparison of data sets for consistency, and the use of models to generate and analyze data. Analyze data using tools, technologies, and/or models (e.g., computational, mathematical) in order to make valid and reliable scientific claims or determine an optimal design solution.
Asking questions and defining problems in grades 9–12 builds from grades K–8 experiences and progresses to formulating, refining, and evaluating empirically testable questions and design problems using models and simulations.
Asking questions and defining problems in grades 9–12 builds from grades K–8 experiences and progresses to formulating, refining, and evaluating empirically testable questions and design problems using models and simulations.
questions that challenge the premise(s) of an argument, the interpretation of a data set, or the suitability of a design.
Scientific questions arise in a variety of ways. They can be driven by curiosity about the world (e.g., Why is the sky blue?). They can be inspired by a model’s or theory’s predictions or by attempts to extend or refine a model or theory (e.g., How does the particle model of matter explain the incompressibility of liquids?). Or they can result from the need to provide better solutions to a problem. For example, the question of why it is impossible to siphon water above a height of 32 feet led Evangelista Torricelli (17th-century inventor of the barometer) to his discoveries about the atmosphere and the identification of a vacuum.
Questions are also important in engineering. Engineers must be able to ask probing questions in order to define an engineering problem. For example, they may ask: What is the need or desire that underlies the problem? What are the criteria (specifications) for a successful solution? What are the constraints? Other questions arise when generating possible solutions: Will this solution meet the design criteria? Can two or more ideas be combined to produce a better solution?
Constructing explanations and designing solutions in 9–12 builds on K–8 experiences and progresses to explanations and designs that are supported by multiple and independent student-generated sources of evidence consistent with scientific ideas, principles, and theories.
Constructing explanations and designing solutions in 9–12 builds on K–8 experiences and progresses to explanations and designs that are supported by multiple and independent student-generated sources of evidence consistent with scientific ideas, principles, and theories. Construct and revise an explanation based on valid and reliable evidence obtained from a variety of sources (including students’ own investigations, models, theories, simulations, peer review) and the assumption that theories and laws that describe the natural world operate today as they did in the past and will continue to do so in the future.
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Comments 3
Interesting twist!
I like what you did with this mystery: You showed the end product of an experiment, but hid the procedure. Then you challenged your students to mimic the hidden process. What a cool idea! I look forward to seeing what other types of mysteries you develop.
A new mystery?
I send an experiment that I have used to describe the scientific method but might serve as a new mystery. You will say.
Students see two glasses full of "water". In each glass an ice block of similar size is placed and left unstirred while the ice melts. Surprisingly one of the ice melts faster than the other. They should find out why. The reason is that one of the vessels contains a concentrated salt solution.
You can take advantage of the experiment asking the students to repeat it. They should find out why that different behavior is produced. The origin is in the different density of the liquid in both vessels.
I hope you enjoy as much as I did, readding the explanations of the students.
Pascual Lahuerta
Fantastic idea
Hi Pascual,
Thank you for sharing that idea. It is fantastic! Colligative properties related to freezing point depression of mixtures doesn't happen to be in the IB curriculum currently, but there are plenty of benefits from this type of exploration regardless of the actual "curriculum" being taught.
I like the idea and will be looking for a good place to insert it into my class.
Thank you for sharing the idea.
Lowell