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Classroom Resources: Chemistry Basics

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  • Physical Change, Chemical Change, Observations, Chemical Change, Radioactive Isotopes | High School

    Access is an AACT member benefit. Activity: Physical, Chemical and Nuclear Changes

    In this activity, students will analyze the representation of physical, chemical, and nuclear changes in four ways: submicroscopic (particle diagrams), symbolic (equations), macroscopic (observations), and linguistic (vocabulary words). This self-guided activity is designed to ensure that students internalize fundamental chemistry concepts that will serve as a meaningful basis for future learning about matter and its changes.

  • Metallic Bonding, Physical Properties, Physical Change | High School

    Access is an AACT member benefit. Lab: Molding Metal

    In this lab, students cast tin into molds and observe physical changes of metals while creating an ornament. They will apply their knowledge of metallic bonding to analyze and explain their observations.

  • Chemical Properties, Physical Properties, Chemical Change, Physical Change, Mixture, Chemical Structure, Chemical Change, Culminating Project | High School

    Access is an AACT member benefit. Project: Analyze a Family Recipe

    In this project, students will select a family recipe, or a favorite recipe to investigate. They will analyze several of the ingredients in order learn more about the chemistry of each one, as well as their purpose in the recipe. Additionally, students will examine several ingredient interactions to learn more about the chemistry of cooking.

  • Heat, Physical Properties, Physical Change, Molecular Structure, Monomer, Polymers | High School

    Access is an AACT member benefit. Activity: Ingenious: The World Has a Receipt Problem Video Questions

    In this activity, students will answer questions while watching the video The World has a Receipt Problem from the Ingenious series produced by the American Chemical Society. Each episode investigates a different topic related to how leading-edge chemistry is taking on the world’s most urgent issues to advance everyone’s quality of life and secure our shared future. This episode investigates the process of thermal printing on receipts, and the limitations related to the paper that currently prints using leuco dyes. This heat-sensitive ink appears when it reacts with an acid developer embedded in the paper. Scientists are working to develop a new kind of thermal receipt paper, that can use the same printers, however it offers many additional benefits and potential uses.

  • Heat, Physical Properties, Physical Change, Molecular Structure, Monomer, Polymers | High School

    Access is an AACT member benefit. Video: Ingenious Video 7: The World has a Receipt Problem

    The receipts you take home from the store – or stuff in your bag, or lose in your car -- employ a printing method that’s been around since the 1970s. Thermal printing involves heat-sensitive inks called leuco dyes that show up when they react with an acid developer embedded in the paper. Not only do these inks fade easily, but receipts that use them aren’t recyclable, and could even be dangerous to your health. Taking a cue from a failed experiment, scientists are developing a new kind of receipt paper that will use the same thermal printers without leuco dyes. Instead of acid developers, this paper is coated in reflective microspheres that collapse under heat, allowing regular ink underneath to show through.

  • Identifying an Unknown, Observations, Physical Change, Physical Properties, Chemical Change, Chemical Properties, Solubility, Precipitate, Indicators | High School

    Access is an AACT member benefit. Lab: Using Qualitative Analysis to Identify Household Compounds

    In this lab, students will be introduced to common laboratory techniques, safety procedures, lab reagents, and terminology, all while identifying unknown household substances. Students will learn how to use qualitative analysis techniques as a systematic way to identify unknown materials. As part of this process, they will practice careful observation and documentation, as well as identifying relevant physical and chemical properties and changes, including solubility, color change, gas formation, and precipitation of solids.

  • Introduction, Lab Safety, Chemical Properties, Physical Properties, Chemical Change, Physical Change, History, Separating Mixtures, Elements, Mixtures, Density, Measurements, SI Units, Significant Figures, Dimensional Analysis, Scientific Notation, Accuracy, Molecular Motion, Phase Changes | High School

    Access is an AACT member benefit. Lesson Plan: The Chemistry Basics and Measurement Quick Start Unit Plan

    This Quick Start Unit Plan includes all the materials that a teacher will need for the first 10 class meetings of the school year. Each day is outlined with teacher notes, and includes slide presentations as well as directions for demonstrations, activities and labs to use. The fundamental topics covered in the 10 days of lessons are: laboratory safety, laboratory equipment, experimental design, classification of matter, chemical properties, physical properties, chemical change, physical change, phase changes, separation techniques, dimensional analysis, unit conversions, factor label method, accuracy, precision, significant figures, and percent error calculations. This Quick Start Unit plan aims to help students to build a foundation of understanding, and master important topics before moving deeper into the chemistry curriculum.

  • Physical Properties, Chemical Properties, Physical Change, Chemical Change, Observations | High School

    Access is an AACT member benefit. Lab: Determining Physical and Chemical Properties

    In this lab, students will determine the physical and chemical properties of several different substances through testing and observation. Additionally, they will further their understanding of chemical and physical changes, and their ability to recognize each type of change.

  • Physical Change, Chemical Change, Observations | Elementary School, Middle School

    Access is an AACT member benefit. Lab: Comparing Physical and Chemical Changes

    In this lab, students will analyze different scenarios in order to determine if a physical or chemical change has occurred. This lab experience will provide students with the opportunity to record observations, as well as improve their ability to differentiate between physical and chemical changes.

  • Heat of Vaporization , Boiling Point, Intermolecular Forces, Phase Changes, Heating Curve, Heat of Combustion, Temperature, Specific Heat, Observations, Chemical Change, Physical Change | Middle School, High School

    Access is an AACT member benefit. Demonstration: Cooking an Egg in Chemistry Class

    In this demonstration, students will observe the very high latent heat of vaporization for water by boiling water over a Bunsen burner in a paper cup to cook a boiled egg. The discussion can be extended to incorporate intermolecular forces to explain the unusually high boiling point of water, as well as heat of vaporization and specific heat capacity.

  • Solubility, Solute & Solvent, Precipitate, Mixtures, Error Analysis, Chemical Change, Physical Change, Observations, Identifying an Unknown, Graphing | Middle School, High School

    Access is an AACT member benefit. Lab: Chemicals, Chromatography, and Crime!

    In this lab, students will test “evidence” that has been collected from a crime scene. In order to determine if the victim was poisoned, students will perform a solubility and crystallization test on an unknown powder. Then, students will attempt to identify the culprit by using paper chromatography to analyze the lipstick from the potential criminals.

  • Observations, Mixtures, Chemical Change, Physical Change, Chemical Change, pH | Elementary School

    Access is an AACT member benefit. Demonstration: The Chemistry of Cheese

    In this demonstration, students will observe the chemical process that occurs when making cheese. Students will be become more familiar with fundamental chemistry terms while making important observations.

  • Physical Change, Chemical Change, Observations, Molecular Structure | Middle School, High School

    Access is an AACT member benefit. Lab: Determining a Chemical or Physical Change

    In this lab, students will follow a laboratory procedure that instructs them how to heat a small sample of copper(II) sulfate pentahydrate. Students will make observations in order to determine if a chemical or physical change occurs.

  • Chemical Change, Physical Change, Observations, Molecular Structure, Lewis Structures, Polarity, Chemical Change | High School

    Access is an AACT member benefit. Lab: DIY Triiodide

    In this lab, students will investigate how iodine interacts with various substances. They will use color changes to justify whether a chemical or physical change is taking place. This activity is referenced in the October 2019 ChemMatters article called “Cash, Chemistry, and Counterfeiting.”

  • Density, Physical Properties, Chemical Properties, Physical Change, Chemical Change, Graphing, Alloys | Middle School, High School

    Access is an AACT member benefit. Lesson Plan: The Captivating Chemistry of Coins

    In this lesson, students will develop a better understanding of physical and chemical properties of matter by comparing the composition of different pennies. This is done by determining the density of different pennies which will be compared to the density of different metals.

  • Physical Change, Chemical Change, Physical Properties, Chemical Properties | Elementary School, Middle School, High School

    Access is an AACT member benefit. Activity: A Physical vs. Chemical Challenge

    In this activity, students will first complete a card sort to best categorize examples of change as physical or chemical change. Then they will compete in teams to identify whether given situations represent a physical change or a chemical change, or a physical or a chemical property.

  • Chemical Change, Activity Series, Redox Reaction, Chemical Change, Physical Change | High School

    Access is an AACT member benefit. Demonstration: Understanding the Discrepant Reactivity of Copper in the Presence of Strong Acids

    In this demonstration, students practice their observation skills during the additions of different acids to two test tubes containing copper. The activity is structured to allow students to make thoughtful remarks about what they observe, using rich indicators of both chemical and physical properties and changes. In subsequent lessons on new concepts, students can reflect back on their observations to rationalize the discrepant results of the reactions in the demonstration.

  • Measurements, Dimensional Analysis, Chemical Properties, Physical Properties, Chemical Change, Physical Change, Matter, Observations, Mixtures | Middle School, High School

    Access is an AACT member benefit. Activity: Cupcake Conversions, Bench to Bakery

    This activity will help to reinforce the importance of scientific measurement and apply it to the introduction of chemical reactions. Using an example of baking a single batch of cupcakes, students will plan for a larger production scale in a commercial bakery. This will help to introduce the idea of producing a reaction at the lab bench and converting it to mass production. In addition this activity investigates how chemistry is used in everyday life and challenges students to consider potentials errors that may occur when completing chemical reactions in the kitchen.

  • Solubility, Solute & Solvent, Physical Change | Elementary School

    Access is an AACT member benefit. Demonstration: Crystallization of Sugar

    In this demonstration, students will observe how to make rock candy in order to understand how sugar crystals form. They will be able to explain what a supersaturated solution is and how it is relevant to sugar crystallization.

  • Measurements, Dimensional Analysis, Physical Change, Matter, Mixtures | Middle School, High School

    Access is an AACT member benefit. Activity: Cooking with Conversions

    In this activity, students will be given a common homemade recipe for German chocolate cake with measurements in English units. They will be asked to convert the English ingredients list to metric units through scientific calculations. Students will also be asked to identify the ingredients as solid, liquid or gas. While reviewing the cooking procedures, students will classify certain steps as containing compounds or mixtures as well as identify whether chemical or physical changes are taking place. The culinary chemistry involved in this lesson should be introduced throughout the activity.

  • Intermolecular Forces, Polarity, Molecular Geometry, Molecular Structure, Molecular Structure , Physical Properties, Chemical Properties, Physical Change | High School

    Access is an AACT member benefit. Lesson Plan: An Exploration of Intermolecular Forces

    In this lesson students will explore intermolecular forces, and their associated effect on physical and chemical properties. Students will experiment with volatile liquids to investigate their predictions about intermolecular strength.

  • Review, Matter, Density, Physical Change, Chemical Change, Periodic Table, Elements, Mixtures | Elementary School, Middle School

    Access is an AACT member benefit. Activity: Chemistry Basics: Crossword Puzzle

    In this activity, students will complete a crossword puzzle by solving each clue that is related to a basic, yet fundamental chemistry topic.

  • Introduction, Lab Safety, Chemical Properties, Physical Properties, Chemical Change, Physical Change, History, Separating Mixtures, Measurements, SI Units, Significant Figures | 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.

  • Chemical Change, Chemical Change, Physical Change, Observations, Indicators | Elementary School

    Access is an AACT member benefit. Lesson Plan: Explorations of Baking Soda and Vinegar

    In this lesson, students complete a series of simple lab experiments to better understand chemical reactions as well as differentiate between chemical change and physical change. Students will also be introduced to the pH scale, and have the opportunity to understand how chemical reactions can be used in real-world scenarios.

  • Distillation, Physical Change, Separating Mixtures, Phase Changes | Middle School

    Access is an AACT member benefit. Activity: Distillation in Survival Mode

    In this activity, students will investigate methods for purifying water as they consider a survival based situation that requires clean drinking water. Students will investigate processes such as boiling and distillation, as well as review the phase changes within the water cycle.

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