2021 NCW Teaching Resources and Lesson Plan Contest Winners Announced!

National Chemistry Week (NCW) is a public awareness campaign that promotes the value of chemistry in everyday life. We encourage teachers and students to get involved and celebrate the 2021 NCW theme "Fast or Slow ... Chemistry Makes it Go!" This year, NCW is celebrated during the week of October 17–23.

This year’s AACT NCW Lesson Plan Contest for K–12 teachers of chemistry encouraged participants to submit teaching ideas related to the NCW reaction rates theme. One winning lesson plan idea was selected from the K-8 grade level, and one winning lesson plan from the high school grade level.

Congratulations to middle school teacher Jennifer Smith (Illinois Virtual School) and high school teacher Karen Ye (Illinois Mathematics and Science Academy), who were selected as the 2021 contest winners!

In Jennifer Smith’s middle school lesson, Investigating Fast and Slow Reaction Rates, students will review the characteristics of chemical changes and then use a catalyst and an inhibitor to explore the reaction rate of the oxidation of iron.

For the high school classroom, Karen Ye developed the lab How Fast Can We Remove Tough Stains? In this lab, students explore how temperature and concentration can affect reaction rate. Using various mixtures of OxiClean solutions, blue food coloring, and water students conduct several tests and draw conclusions based on their results.

Here are more AACT teaching resources for the NCW reaction rates theme: "Fast or Slow ... Chemistry Makes it Go!"

• Lab: The Disappearing Color (K-8)
• Lab: Rocket Challenge (K-8)
• Demo: Simple Kinetics (K-12)
• Video: Catalytic Converters (Middle and High School)
• Simulation: Reaction Rates (Middle and High School)
• Activity: Investigating Reaction Rates (Middle and High School)
• Lab: Plop, Fizz: How to Affect the Rate of a Chemical Reaction (Middle & High School)
• Demo: Milk of Magnesia Magic (High School and AP)
• Demo: Comparing Rates of Reaction (High School and AP)