Chemistry

This APTeach session focuses on low-prep, high-engagement strategies for AP Chemistry Unit 4 (Chemical Reactions), with an emphasis on helping students build conceptual understanding while preparing for AP-level rigor. The session highlights classroom-tested activities for net ionic equations, reaction stoichiometry, and solution stoichiometry, including labs, simulations, particle-level representations, and discussion prompts grounded in Johnstone’s Triangle. Designed to support both new and experienced AP teachers, these resources prioritize student sense-making while easing instructional planning for a traditionally challenging unit. 

When using standard thermodynamic values, the chemical reaction whereby ATP is converted to ADP is found to have a positive value for ΔG. This would imply the reaction REQUIRES energy. However, analyzing the process under physiological conditions shows that ΔG is in fact negative, as expected.

The September AP Teach session focused on the application of Coulomb's Law in various sections of the AP Chemistry Curriculum and Exam Description (CED) and strategies for helping students write better responses.

What if your students derived the periodic table’s masses before they ever learned about moles? This piece reframes “classic” atomic theory as a data-driven approach to building O:C ratios, uncovering the law of definite proportions, and explaining why oxygen’s relative mass is 16 when carbon's is 12. The result is a historically grounded, quantitative model of Dalton’s ideas that makes atomic theory feel discovered—not delivered.