Classroom Resources: Chemistry Basics
1 – 20 of 20 Classroom Resources
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Physical Properties, Lab Safety, Chemical Properties | High School, Middle School
Lesson Plan: Lab Safety and Safety Data Sheets (SDS)
In this lesson, students will identify various safe lab practices with a focus on the importance of labeling and knowing the background safety information for all reagents used in a lab. Students will design a series of tests to determine the identity of an unknown substance using properties found on safety data sheets.
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Lab Safety | High School, Middle School, Elementary School
Video: Video 1: Safety Mindset
The chemistry lab is an amazing place! Through experiments and demonstrations your high school students have been discovering that chemistry is more than just a collection of facts and formulas-- it’s a way of observing and understanding the very real properties of matter all around them. However, the lab can also be a dangerous place. Contrary to what your students might have seen in films and TV, safety is a core value of chemistry—it is essential to everything they do in the lab. It begins with their mindset, the attitudes and beliefs they bring to class with them every day. Use this video to introduce your students to elements of safe importance of safety mindset in the chemistry lab.
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Physical Properties, Lab Safety, Chemical Properties | High School
Activity: Analyzing & Creating Safety Labels
In this activity, students will understand and interpret the color and number symbols on an NFPA Safety Diamond and then apply their knowledge to interpreting a label for chemicals. Students will also demonstrate an understanding of the safety precautions recommended for safe handling of specific chemicals as indicated by the diamond.
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Lab Safety | High School, Middle School
Activity: Lab Safety, You're Fired!
In this activity, students will read an account of a laboratory tour which details numerous safety infractions. They will be charged with identifying the safety violations and determining which scientist working in the lab should be fired. This activity is designed to be used after both lab safety and Claim, Evidence, Reasoning framework has been introduced.
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Lab Safety | High School, Middle School, Elementary School
Video: Video 2: Safety Data Sheet (SDS)
Preparation and planning are key to working in the chemistry lab. To be prepared, your students must understand the hazards of any chemicals they will be working with. The place to find that information is the Safety Data Sheet or SDS. The SDS provides detailed information about the properties of a chemical, its hazards, and how to protect yourself from those hazards. Use this video, to guide your students through 16 sections of the SDS for isopropyl alcohol to demonstrate importance of SDS information.
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Lab Safety | High School, Middle School, Elementary School
Video: Video 3: How to Dress for the Lab? And what about Personal Protective Equipment (PPE)?
Wearing personal protective equipment (PPE) for short is one of the main ways for you and your students to stay protected from injury in the lab. PPE includes things like goggles, gloves, lab coats or aprons. These are designed to protect eyes, hands and skin, as well as clothing, from exposure to chemicals. PPE is the most obvious way of preventing contact with chemicals--but it is not the first line of defense. Use these video to teach your students that before they put on any PPE, why they should dress properly for lab.
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Lab Safety | High School, Middle School, Elementary School
Video: Video 4: Preparing for Emergencies
There is an old saying that you should always plan for the best, but prepare for the worst. This is good advice in the lab as well. Use this video to teach your students about two lab emergencies that carry a high risk of injury--spills and fires. The videos describes concrete steps to prevent these emergencies and goes over some of the safety equipment used to deal with them.
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Lab Safety | High School, Middle School, Elementary School
Video: Video 5: RAMP (For Students)
Use this video to teach your students a simple yet powerful tool for protecting you and your classmates in the lab. The tool is called RAMP. RAMP stands for: Recognize hazards; Assess risks; Minimize risks and Prepare for emergencies.
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Lab Safety | High School, Middle School, Elementary School
Video: Video 6: RAMP (For Teachers)
As a teacher, there are steps you can take to make sure your students are as safe as possible while exploring and experimenting in the lab. In this video, we discuss some ideas to help you to set up a safe lab experiment. We use RAMP, the acronym for lab safety. RAMP stands for Recognize hazards; Assess risks; Minimize risks and Prepare for emergencies. RAMP is a simple yet powerful tool to help you prepare for and safely carry out any lab activity with your students.
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Physical Properties, History, Lab Safety, Chemical Properties | High School, Middle School
Project: Chemical Disasters: Good Chemicals gone Bad!
In this project, students will research an industrial chemical accident. They will examine the chemicals involved including uses, hazards, chemical and physical properties. Students will investigate the cause of the accident and its repercussions. As the final product, they will film a 5-minute documentary which will be viewed in class.
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Density, Lab Safety, Combustion | High School
Demonstration: Density of Gases and Particle Diagrams
In this demonstration, students will observe the teacher carry out two combustion reactions. First the teacher will burn a small sample of propane gas in a beaker. Next the teacher will burn a small sample of methane gas. Students will create particle diagrams in order support their explanation and model their observations as they improve their understanding of gas density.
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Lab Safety | High School
Activity: The Essentials for Survival
In this activity, the students will be introduced to and explore different lab equipment, model appropriate group work and class discussions, and practice writing efficient Claim-Evidence-Reasoning reports. This is an introductory activity for use in a general education chemistry class.
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Separating Mixtures, Physical Properties, Chemical Change, Introduction, Physical Change, History, Lab Safety, Measurements, Significant Figures, SI Units, Chemical Properties | High School
Lesson Plan: Chemistry Basics Unit Plan
The AACT High School Classroom Resource library and multimedia collection has everything you need to put together a unit plan for your classroom: lessons, activities, labs, projects, videos, simulations, and animations. We searched through our resource library and constructed a unit plan for introducing the basic chemistry concepts to students: Laboratory Safety, Equipment, and Reports, Periodic Table Basics, Physical and Chemical Properties and Changes, Endothermic and Exothermic Changes, and Classification of Matter. These topics are very important for your students to master before they dig into other chemistry concepts. This unit is designed to be used at beginning of the school year.
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Lab Safety | High School, Middle School
Activity: Hazard Symbols
In this activity, students will familiarize themselves with common hazard symbols and their meaning.
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Introduction, Review, Lab Safety | High School, Middle School
Activity: Laboratory Equipment Memory Game
In this activity, students will play a modified version of the classic Memory Game in order to help them identify common laboratory equipment by name. This activity provides an opportunity for students to increase their familiarity with the laboratory equipment that they will be expected to properly use.
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Lab Safety | Middle School, Elementary School, High School
Activity: What Not to do in the Chemistry Lab
In this activity, students will examine a cartoon of a chaotic chemistry laboratory and note the specific behaviors that are dangerous and unsafe in a chemistry laboratory setting. This activity provides an opportunity for teachers to introduce laboratory safety and best laboratory practices and discuss them with their students.
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Observations, Density, Chemical Change, Lab Safety, Combustion | High School
Demonstration: Fish Tank Carbon Dioxide
In this demonstration, students watch as a reaction between baking soda and vinegar produces carbon dioxide, which then causes lit candles to extinguish.
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Lab Safety | Middle School, High School
Demonstration: Lab Safety
In this demonstration, students discuss laboratory safety and observe corn starch being ignited.
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Observations, Separating Mixtures, Chemical Change, Conservation of Mass, Lab Safety, Conservation of Matter, Balancing Equations, Percent Yield, Conservation of Mass, Classification of Reactions, Accuracy, Chemical Change, Chemical Properties, Conservation of Matter, Error analysis | High School
Lab: Reactions of Copper
In this lab, students will convert copper metal into different copper compounds and then back to copper to illustrate conservation of matter.
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Lab Safety, Culminating Project | Middle School, High School
Activity: Dangerous Goods Specialist
In this activity, students will take on the role of a Dangerous Goods Specialist for a large chemical company. In this role, students will research a specific commercially available industrial chemical looking at both the properties of the compound as well as how can they safely ship the chemical to a buyer in a cost effective and timely manner.