Classroom Resources: Chemistry Basics
1 – 25 of 31 Classroom Resources
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Physical Properties, Physical Change, Observations, Identifying an Unknown, Lab Safety, Molecular Shapes, Covalent Bonding, Ionic Bonding, Intermolecular Forces, Molecular Motion | High School
Animation: Physical Properties and Particle Interaction Animation
This animation explores the relationship between physical properties and particle-level interactions. Particle diagrams of common household substances are used to illustrate that forces of attraction influence melting points. Similarly, particle diagrams of the same substances dissolved in water are used to compare their conductivity in solution. This animation was featured in the November 2023 issue of Chemistry Solutions. **This video has no audio**
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Physical Properties, Physical Change, Observations, Identifying an Unknown, Lab Safety, Molecules & Bonding, Covalent Bonding, Ionic Bonding, Intermolecular Forces, Molecular Motion, Solutions, Conductivity, States of Matter, Melting Point, Intermolecular Forces, Molecular Motion | High School
Activity: Animation Activity: Physical Properties and Particle Interaction
In this activity, students will view an animation that explores the relationship between physical properties and particle-level interactions. Particle diagrams of common household substances are used to illustrate that forces of attraction influence melting points. Similarly, particle diagrams of the same substances dissolved in water are used to compare their conductivity in solution.
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Introduction, Lab Safety, Measurements | High School
Lab: Cleaning Up the Lab
In this lab, students will learn how to mass a solid, properly wash glassware, and clean up their lab area.
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Lab Safety, Physical Properties, Chemical Properties, Interdisciplinary, Heat, Temperature, Polymers, Molecular Structure | High School
Video: Ingenious Video 3: This Sandwich Will Save Your Life in an Arc Flash
It’s never fun when your clothes catch on fire. And while “stop, drop, and roll” may be a good idea sometimes, in more extreme cases, you need a better plan. Every day, industrial workers, firefighters, and soldiers risk fiery situations that might seem hard to imagine. In an arc flash event, for one, temperatures can jump to metal-melting levels in milliseconds. How can anyone possibly survive that? Well, take a tip from a club sandwich, because it’s all about the layers. The composite fabrics that protect life and limb in these situations rely on some incredible, multilayered chemistry, including the ability to quickly form a protective carbonaceous crust around the wearer.
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Lab Safety, Physical Properties, Chemical Properties, Interdisciplinary, Heat, Temperature, Polymers, Polymers | High School
Activity: Ingenious: This Sandwich Will Save Your Life in an Arc Flash Video Questions
In this activity, students will answer questions while watching the video, This Sandwich will Save your life in an Arc Flash, 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 composite fabrics that protect lives of many people, like industrial workers, firefighters, and soldiers. When these workers encounter a fiery situation, they rely on protective clothing, designed using multiple layers of chemistry, to keep them safe.
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Lab Safety, Chemical Properties, Physical Properties | Middle School, High School
Activity: ACS Chemical Safety Video Questions
In this activity, students will learn about safety, a core value of chemistry, through watching related videos produced by the American Chemical Society, Students will complete guided notes and questions during the activity. This chemical safety video series includes five videos: Safety Mindset, Safety Data Sheets, How to Dress for the Lab, and PPE, Preparing for Emergencies, and RAMP (Recognize hazards, Assess risks, Minimize risks, Prepare for emergencies).
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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
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.
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Lab Safety | Middle School, High School
Demonstration: Why Do We Have to Wear Goggles?
In this simple demonstration, students will observe a reaction between an acid and an egg white and learn why is important to wear safety goggles in the lab. The reaction is similar to the damage that can be done to your eye if acid comes in contact with it.
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Lab Safety | Middle School, High School
Activity: Race to Safe
In this activity, students will be engaged in a kinesthetic activity to teach laboratory safety. They will be prompted with different laboratory safety and equipment scenarios and asked to demonstrate the correct safety protocols to follow.
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Molecular Structure, Lab Safety, Identifying an Unknown, Interdisciplinary | High School
Lesson Plan: How Modern Instrumentation Revolutionized the Poison Game
In this lesson, students are introduced to the world of Forensic Chemistry using the prologue of Deborah Blum’s The Poisoner’s Handbook. Discussion revolves around why murder by poison was so prevalent during the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, and why it is so rare today. Students create their own Safety Data Sheet on a poison of choice, and learn about how mass spectroscopy has helped revolutionize the modern analysis of toxins.
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Lab Safety, Introduction | Middle School, High School
Lesson Plan: ACS Chemical Safety Video: RAMP
In this lesson, students will learn about a simple yet powerful tool for protecting themselves and their classmates in the lab, RAMP. It stands for: Recognize hazards; Assess risks; Minimize risks and Prepare for emergencies. Using a video, and multiple activities, students will become more knowledgeable and better prepared to assess risks and identify hazards in the lab.
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Introduction, Lab Safety, Review | Middle School, High School
Activity: Laboratory Equipment Bingo
In this activity, students will play a Bingo game, crossing out the names of laboratory equipment on their Bingo card that corresponds to the pictures of equipment shown by the teacher. This will help students to identify common equipment found in a chemistry lab.
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Lab Safety, Chemical Properties, Physical Properties | Middle School, High 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 | Elementary School, Middle School, High 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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Lab Safety | Elementary School, Middle School
Activity: Super Safety Scientists
In this activity, students will brainstorm ideas for keeping people safe during lab activities and design personal protective equipment (PPE) suitable for a given situation.
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Lab Safety, Chemical Properties, Physical 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 | Middle School, High 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 | Elementary School, Middle School, High 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 | Elementary School, Middle School, High 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 | Elementary School, Middle School, High 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 | Elementary School, Middle School, High 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 | Elementary School, Middle School, High 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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Lab Safety, Physical Properties, Chemical Properties, History | Middle School, High 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, Combustion, Lab Safety | 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, Middle 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.