first-year undergraduate

Salt vs. Sugar – A Dissolving Problem

This formative assessment looks at two household chemicals (table salt and sugar) and compares their properties while looking at how they dissolve in water. The “Salt vs. Sugar” formative assessment explores students’ thinking about the question “How does structure influence reactivity?” The main idea that is being targeted is for students to think about what is happening at the molecular level during the solution process. This activity is important for students because it helps create a context for what some of the vocabulary and concepts mean by providing tangible examples of these concepts (such as the concept of saturation).This formative assessment looks at two household chemicals (table salt and sugar) and compares their properties while looking at how they dissolve in water. The “Salt vs. Sugar” formative assessment explores students’ thinking about the question “How does structure influence reactivity?” The main idea that is being targeted is for students to think about what is happening at the molecular level during the solution process. This activity is important for students because it helps create a context for what some of the vocabulary and concepts mean by providing tangible examples of these concepts (such as the concept of saturation).

How strong of acid is Vinegar (Acetic Acid)?

In “How strong an acid is vinegar?” the students explore the nonlinear relationship between the concentration of a weak acid and the pH of the solution. This formative assessment targets the question “how does structure influence reactivity?”  Students need to understand the behavior of strong and weak acids to comprehend phenomena like buffering capacity.

Hot, hot, hot

This formative assessment was designed to target students’ thinking around the structure-property relationships in an accessible, real-world context. This is done through targeting noncovalent interactions. The understanding of this topic is critical for students’ reasoning about observable properties of matter.

Frying ice

In the Frying Ice formative assessment students explore the three phases of matter. This formative assessment targets the question “What cues are used to differentiate matter types?” The target of this formative assessment was for students to demonstrate their understanding of the three states of matter and how the particles in each state react when heated. 

The fire story

The fire story formative assessment is used to explore students' thinking about the question "what affects chemical change?" through a real-world problem. This formative assessment specifically probes students' understanding of energy and phase changes. There are several different explanations using different chemistry concepts that could be used to explain the phemomenon explained in the story. 

Resources for Teaching Online in 2020

As we continue to make plans to teach during these uncertain times we have been compiling a list of both new and previously published ChemEd X posts and resources that will be useful to readers while teaching during the COVID-19 pandemic. Do you have an activity, strategy or idea to share with the community? Is there a resource you would recommend? We welcome contributions. This list will grow, so check in again to see what has been added. 

Activities to Promote Higher-Order Thinking in Virtual Asynchronous Chemistry Learning

The 2020 global pandemic of SARS-CoV-2 forced millions of teachers to switch from in-person to online instruction. With minimal training in online teaching, many substandard learning environments were quickly rolled out. In this post, the author describes two metacognitive learning activities that are easy to incorporate into an online learning environment.