The concepts of Measurement and Significant Figures can induce discomfort for both teacher and students. Michael Jansen shares his approach to teaching this important topic.
Explore how small the stuff that makes up matter is and consider what those tiny particles are doing in this engaging activity.
Nora Walsh outlines the interactive notebook pages she uses for her first unit of the school year: Scientific Reasoning. All of the documents and foldables are available for download.
As high school teachers, we know that understanding how measurement works is crucial for lab skills and for understanding significant figures. We think measurement should be an easy topic for students to learn; especially because we know that teachers begin working with students in elementary school to teach these skills. However, I, and many other teachers, have spent countless hours teaching and reteaching a seemingly simple skill.
In an effort to implement the science and engineering practices of the NGSS, I have tried to introduce argumentation as a practice into my chemistry courses. I share some growing pains and what I have learned through the process in this blog post.
My first experiment involves measuring the density of water. Each group of two kids is assigned a specific volume of water from 10 to 100 mLs on the tens. They simply measure the mass of an empty graduated cylinder and then add the water and find the mass again. Once they have their data they go around the room and find another group that has one of the volumes that they need and get the data from them and record their names. Once complete they generate a graph of the data and answer a few simple questions. The whole procedure can be completed in about 20 minutes.
This POGIL- Like density activity is suitable for online instruction.
