Classroom Resources: Chemistry Basics

1 – 25 of 27 Classroom Resources

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

  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.”

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

  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.

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

  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.

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

  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.

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

  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.

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  Measurements, Dimensional Analysis, Physical Change, Matter, Mixture | Middle School, High School

  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.

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

  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.

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  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.

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  Intermolecular Forces, Intermolecular Forces, Physical Change | High School

  Demonstration: Intermolecular Forces & Physical Properties

  In this demonstration, students observe and compare the properties of surface tension, beading, evaporation, and miscibility for water and acetone.

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  Physical Change | High School

  Activity: Magic Bubble (High School)

  In this lesson, students will create and interpret particle diagrams that represent elements and compounds at the molecular level. They will also describe the process of dissolving and create particle diagrams that represent mixtures at the molecular level.

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  Chemical Change, Conservation of Mass, Chemical Change, Physical Change | Middle School, High School

  Lab: Chemistry in a Bag

  In this lab, students will observe and identify chemical and physical changes contained inside a plastic bag. Students will also use this lab to understand the Law of Conservation of Mass.

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  Chemical Change, Physical Change, Chemical Change | Middle School, High School

  Lab: Chemical and Physical Changes

  In this lab, students will observe and analyze a number of examples in order to determine if a chemical or physical change occurred.

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  Periodic Table, History, Physical Change | Elementary School, Middle School, High School

  Video: Gold Video

  In this video, Sam Kean tells stories about gold.

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  Intermolecular Forces, Physical Change, Intermolecular Forces, Polarity | High School

  Activity: Intermolecular Forces Activity

  In this activity, students will represent molecules and energy to investigate the different types of intermolecular forces.

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  Intermolecular Forces, Intermolecular Forces, Physical Change | High School

  Activity: Simulation Activity: Intermolecular Forces

  In this activity, students will use a simulation to investigate different types of intermolecular forces (London dispersion and dipole-dipole). In the analysis that follows the activity, they will relate IMFs (including hydrogen bonding) to physical properties (boiling point and solubility).

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  Density, Observations, Chemical Change, Physical Change, Balancing Equations | High School

  Lab: The Lovely Lava Lamp

  In this lab, students add food coloring to a mixture of oil and water and record their observations. They then add an Alka-Seltzer tablet, record their observations and answer a series of questions about the chemical and physical changes that took place.

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  Chemical Change, Physical Change, Separating Mixtures, Observations, Mixture | High School

  Lab: Test Tube Separation

  In this lab, students will mix four substances in a test tube and recreate the original four layers through chemical and physical means.

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  Physical Change, Intermolecular Forces, Heating Curve, Phase Changes, Graphing, Heat, Exothermic & Endothermic, Temperature, Freezing Point, Melting Point | High School

  Lab: Heating & Cooling Curve

  In this lab, students will create a phase change graph by adding and removing heat to observe and record data during actual phase changes.

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  Separating Mixtures, Physical Change | High School, Middle School

  Lab: Separation of a Mixture

  In this lab, students devise their own method to separate a mixture of sand, salt, poppy seeds, and iron filings.

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  Exothermic & Endothermic, Physical Change, Temperature, Freezing Point, Boiling Point | High School, Middle School

  Demonstration: Energy

  In this demonstration, students will observe the exothermic and endothermic properties of state changes of substances with different freezing and boiling points.

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  Physical Change, Distillation, Separating Mixtures, Mixtures, Conservation of Matter, Boiling Point, Phase Changes | High School

  Lab: Distillation of Common Soft Drinks

  In this lab, students will see the distillation procedure using a common soft drink and a simple equipment setup.

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  Separating Mixtures, Observations, Physical Change | High School

  Lab: Distillation

  In this lab, students complete a simple distillation lab separating water from cinnamon and food coloring.

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  Physical Change, Physical Properties, Review | High School

  Activity: Physical Properties

  In this study game, students will review topics including the scientific method and states of matter.

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  Exothermic & Endothermic, Physical Change | High School, Middle School

  Lesson Plan: Particle Modeling of Hand Warmers

  In this lesson, students will create a particulate model of matter that explains energy changes and transfer during a physical process, such as the crystallization of a solid from a supersaturated solution.

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  Solute & Solvent, Physical Change, Solubility | Middle School, High School

  Lab: Chemistree

  In this lab, students will prepare a solution to observe a physical change.