Summary

In this activity, students will use their observation skills to compare and contrast two similar chemistry classroom scenes in order to identify the differences between the two.

Grade Level

Elementary, Middle, or High school

NGSS Alignment

This activity will help prepare your students to meet the performance expectations in the following standards:

• Science and Engineering Practices:
  • Engaging in Argument from Evidence
  • Obtaining, Evaluating, and Communicating Information

Objectives

By the end of this activity, students should be able to

• Identify and locate the differences in the laboratory scenes provided.

Chemistry Topics

This activity supports students’ understanding of

• observations

Time

Teacher Preparation: 5 minutes

Lesson: 10-15 minutes

Materials

• Printed copies of image 1 and image 2
• Answer key

Safety

• No specific safety precautions need to be observed for this activity.

Teacher Notes

• This is a ChemFun activity, published with the May 2016 issue of Chemistry Solutions.
• Students should be given printed copies of both images (download each in order to print).
• Students should compare the images and attempt to identify 22 differences between the images.
• Teachers may want to have younger students work in pairs, and older students work independently.
• The answer key is available for teachers to download and use for reference.
• This activity can be used at all levels of K-12 chemistry.
• At higher levels, this could be a fun activity for students to complete after they have finished an assessment.
• At lower levels, this could be used to challenge student’s observation skills.
• Please note that this activity was developed in the spirit of fun. We hope that it provides an opportunity for an engaging, but light-hearted experience for K-12 students.