New AACT Resources for Post AP Exam Activities
By Kim Duncan on April 26, 2018
With just over a week to go before the AP exam, you’re involved with review activities to get your students ready for the big test. But have you thought ahead to what you’ll be doing after May 7th? Many teachers use that time to complete lab work they didn’t get to during the school year. Others cover topics that are no longer included in the curriculum framework. Some decide to lighten things up with a long term project.
In April 2016, April 2017, and May 2017 we highlighted classroom resources from the AACT library that could be used to keep your students engaged after the exam. After looking through our collection, we’d like to highlight new post exam resources that you might find useful.
During the winter of 2017, AACT partnered with PPG industries to put together a team of chemistry teachers to create teaching resources related to “The Chemistry of Color”. Several of the 18 lessons, activities, and labs that they put together are appropriate for AP Chemistry students and include topics such as spectrophotometry, Beer’s Law, interactions with light and matter, and electrochemical cells. All of the resources are long term lessons that use the 5E instructional model (Engage, Explore, Explain, Elaborate, and Evaluate) and include alignment to NGSS.
In addition, AACT produced four short videos to help you introduce the science and technology of color to your students. “What is Paint” investigates the composition of paint, while analyzing the fundamental chemistry principles of its main components. The “What are Pigments?” video discusses the chemistry of pigment molecules and how they are used to give paints their specific color. Students learn how the spectrophotometer interacts with the spectrum of visible light in order to match or reproduce specific paint colors with the “Color Matching Paint” video. Finally, “The Future of Paint” video explores the fascinating and innovative scientific advancements of paint.
Read more about how this resource collection was created and explore the post exam options for your AP Chemistry students in the September 2017 issue of Chemistry Solutions. Additionally, you can find links to all of the posts we have had highlighting AACT resources appropriate for AP Chemistry in the sidebar.
Do you have a great post AP exam project that you would like to share with the community? We are proud to feature teacher-submitted activities in the classroom resources collection. If you want to share something you use in your classroom with the community, please send it along for consideration.