Brain Breaks are powerful tools in education, supported by research showing improved focus, retention, community building, and reduced stress among students. When structured using chemistry principles, like in the Water Maze Race, brain breaks can also introduce or reinforce fundamental chemistry concepts.
Did you figure out how to create a multi-colored mixture? Check out the solution to Chemical Mystery #19: Multi-colored Mixture!
Infrared technology (FLIR Cameras) can be used to investigate intermolecular forces.
Card sorts can be used to quickly assess student understanding. The author has modified two card sorts on photoelectron spectroscopy and intermoleculer forces for use either remotely or in a paperless classroom.
Like most concepts in chemistry, intermolecular forces takes a bit of imagination and critical thinking to fully comprehend and apply when explaining a variety of situations. Though demonstrating the presence of these forces in a simple and explicit manner can easily be done, I wanted to change how I introduced IMFs a bit this year by focusing on a more data-to-concepts approach.
The solution to Chemical Mystery #15: The Leaky Cup is shown here.
Heidi Parks offers a soap-making lab or activity that can be run in a chemistry class with 25-30 students working at the same time. She usually does this activity right before spring break, as it provides enough time for the soap to harden and cure (high school students are impatient to use their soaps right away, which you should not do with cold process soap). She has used this soap making activity at different points in the curriculum: during intermolecular forces, during acids and bases, and during stoichiometry.
Red dye #40 found in strawberry Kool-Aid and various cloth fibers can be used in a very simple experiment that can teach students about intermolecular forces. A video is included that describes the experiment and analysis of results.
It all started with a class my son and I took together at Marc Adams School of Woodworking (link is external). To make a long story short, we started on a Saturday morning with nothing and left Sunday afternoon with a custom built longboard. (Think skateboard but...well...longer).
Check out the solution to Chemical Mystery #4: The Case of the Misbehaving Balloon!
