Chad Husting explains how he used two hands on activities to get a sense of where his students were at within the realm of labwork and the scientific process as school began.
Michael Jansen reflects on a very common empirical formula lab that asks students to determine the empirical formula of MgxOy. He then explains how he continues to use it as a "successful failure", how he demonstrates an alternate procedure and leads his students to an important lesson.
After a year or more of virtual laboratory instruction due to pandemic restrictions in many colleges, a simple experiment has been designed to provide students returning to in-person lab instruction with the opportunity to gain hands-on experience reviewing basic chemistry laboratory apparatus and techniques.
A lab practical with an escape room story turned out to be a great final exam.
Good day, gentle readers:
Let me start by telling a story that, at first blush, has nothing to do with chemistry teaching.
Chad Husting shares a microscale Reactions Lab and outlines his goals and plans for labs in his classroom as he prepares for next school year.
This post describes a simple way to generate blue, green, orange, and yellow copper complexes, and to use these complexes to introduce students to the effect of temperature on chemical equilibria. The protcol avoids the use of caustic agents, allowing the experiments to be conducted by students as a laboratory-based investigation.
Infrared technology (FLIR Cameras) can be used to investigate intermolecular forces.
What would be a useful infrastructure to help modernize undergraduate labs and perhaps give students more experience/skills- especially those serving student populations with low socio-economic status? This blog offers a practical solution.
The use of anthocyanins in red cabbage extracts as pH indicators has long been a popular classroom activity. Flowers, fruits and vegetables contain a diverse range of anthocyanins. This investigation explores further applications of plant-derived dyes including reversible reactions based on oxidation/reduction chemistry and other reactions to illustrate colour changes that are not solely dependent on pH change. By using household materials and plant dyes, this investigation may potentially be completed at home if necessary.
