Classroom Resources: Molecules & Bonding
1 – 25 of 25 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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Physical Properties, Molecular Structure, Intermolecular Forces | Middle School, High School
Lesson Plan: Structure Matters
In this lesson, students will explore the atomic level structure of various elements and compounds to determine how arrangement of atoms at the microscopic level affects macroscopic material properties.
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Interdisciplinary, Elements, Molecular Structure, Molecular Formula | High School
Activity: Discovering Minerals as Naturally Occurring Compounds
In this activity, students will learn about the basics of earth chemistry. Students will investigate and analyze the composition of various minerals, while drawing connections to their chemistry content knowledge. Additionally, students will examine the chemical make-up of the earth’s crust and interpret associated data.
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Molecular Structure, Intermolecular Forces, Ionic Bonding, Covalent Bonding, Metallic Bonding, Polarity, Intramolecular Forces | High School
Project: Problem-Solving with Materials
In this project, students will develop a presentation to explain how and why a specific material can solve a problem. The explanation will involve researching the properties of the material and how its properties are suited for solving a specific problem.
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Molecular Structure, Intermolecular Forces, Physical Properties | High School
Lab: Solubility Plays a Role: Making Seitan from Flour
This lab offers insight into a practical aspect of solubility and demystifies a common ingredient, wheat flour. In this lab students will read about the composition and observe some properties of whole wheat flour by preparing seitan, a vegetarian meat substitute made from the glutenin and gliadin proteins in flour. Gluten, formed from the interaction of the aforementioned proteins, has a unique property of elasticity.
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VSEPR Theory, Molecular Geometry, Molecular Structure, Lewis Structures, Covalent Bonding | High School
Activity: Discovering Molecular Shapes
In this activity, students will use tactile methods (manipulation of connected strings) and a computer simulation to discover how electron-electron repulsion determines the 3D VSEPR geometric shapes of simple covalent molecules. It will allow them to practice drawing Lewis structures as well as deepen their understanding of the connection between a molecule’s structure and its shape.
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Introduction, Interdisciplinary, History, Heat, Renewable Energy, Polymers, Molecular Structure | Middle School, High School
Activity: The Frontiers of Chemistry: Video Questions
In this activity, students will answer questions while watching a video about several exciting scientific developments, including solar cells, 3D printing and micro machines. This video will help students understand that fundamental chemistry concepts are essential to the advancement of science and technology.
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Ionic Bonding, Covalent Bonding, Molecular Structure, Molecular Formula, Molecular Geometry, Naming Compounds, Polarity, Electronegativity, Intermolecular Forces, VSEPR Theory, Resonance, Metallic Bonding | High School
Lesson Plan: Chemical Bonding Unit Plan
The AACT high school classroom resource library has everything you need to put together a unit plan for your classroom: lessons, activities, labs, projects, videos, simulations, and animations. We constructed a unit plan using AACT resources that is designed to teach Chemical Bonding to your students.
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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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Molecular Structure, Molecular Geometry, Bond Energy | High School
Activity: Find the Best Bond Angle and Bond Length of Water
In this activity, students participate in an introductory level computational chemistry investigation. Students will interact with computational software to conduct this activity and will analyze data to determine the best bond angle and bond length of a water molecule.
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Molecular Structure, Molecular Geometry, Polymers, Electronegativity, Heat, Temperature, Electricity | High School, Middle School
Video: The Future of Paint Video
This video explores the fascinating and innovative scientific advancements of paint. Students will learn how the molecular components in paint are helping to evolve in the world around them. Futuristic paint is capable of replacing light switches, conducting electricity, and regulating temperature amongst other things!
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Electromagnetic Spectrum, Redox Reaction, Molecular Structure, Law of Conservation of Energy, Half Reactions, Oxidation Number, Oxidation, Reduction, Intermolecular Forces | High School
Lesson Plan: Fading Away
In this lesson students will explore photodegradation of color. First, students will view how fading of paint has affected Van Gogh’s great works of art and the efforts that are being taken to conserve these works. While exploring, students will actively engage in research to relate the fading process to redox reactions, X-Ray diffraction, solute-solvent interactions, and light/energy calculations. Students will then act as an Engineering Task Force and brainstorm to identify how photodegradation affects modern day objects and plan how to address their fading in an effort to market to the airliner Jetstar
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Mixtures, Molecular Structure, Separating Mixtures, Solute & Solvent | High School
Lesson Plan: What Type of Mixture is Paint?
In this lesson students will use simple laboratory tests to characterize differences between solutions, colloids, and suspensions. They will then apply those tests to paints to classify them as specific types of mixtures.
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VSEPR Theory, Molecular Structure, Molecular Geometry | High School
Activity: VSEPR Modeling
In this activity, students construct physical models of molecular shapes. However, students are not told what the preferred arrangements of electron pair domains are. Instead, they derive the arrangements. Students are given the opportunity to conceptualize what is happening when one electron pair domain acts upon another, and to understand how those interactions result in the molecular geometries predicted by VSEPR theory.
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Mixtures, Solute & Solvent, Intermolecular Forces, Intermolecular Forces, Molecular Formula, Molecular Structure, Polymers, Electromagnetic Spectrum | Middle School, High School
Video: What is Paint? Video
This video investigates the composition of paint, while analyzing the fundamental chemistry principles of its main components. Students will learn about the differences between three common paint types, water colors, oil-based and acrylic paint as well as the chemistry of each.
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Electromagnetic Spectrum, Molecular Structure, Mixtures | Middle School, High School
Video: What are Pigments? Video
This video discusses the chemistry of pigment molecules and how they are used to give paints their specific color. Students will learn about the importance of a pigment’s molecular structure, how they are physically suspended to create a paint color, as well as how they interact with light.
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Periodic Table, Electronegativity, VSEPR Theory, Polarity, Molecular Structure | High School
Activity: Making Connections between Electronegativity, Molecular Shape, and Polarity
In this activity, students will find the electronegativity values of a variety of elements, draw the Lewis structures of select molecules that are made with those elements, and identify the molecular shape of each molecule. Students will then be asked to determine if the molecules are polar or nonpolar based on the electronegativity values of the atoms and the molecular shape. Students will use Ptable.com to find information about atoms and molecules and connect what they find to observable properties.
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Ionic Bonding, Covalent Bonding, Melting Point, Molecular Structure | High School
Lab: Ionic vs. Covalent Compounds
In this lab, students will compare two seemingly similar substances, salt and sugar. Through melting a sample of each substance and analyze of their chemical composition, students will draw conclusions regarding ionic and covalent compounds.
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Buffers, Solubility, Molecular Structure | High School
Lab: Aspirin Tablets: Are they all the Same?
In this lab, students will design an experiment to test the time and completeness of dissolution of various types of aspirin in different pH environments.
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Physical Properties, Molecular Structure, Polarity | High School
Activity: What Makes Water So Special?
In this activity, students will become familiar with the special properties of water by completing several activities that investigate the following physical properties: cohesion, adhesion, surface tension, and capillary action.
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Molecular Structure , Molecular Structure, Molecular Formula, Naming Compounds, Chemical Bond, Interdisciplinary, Introduction | Middle School, High School
Activity: Modeling Carbohydrates
In this activity, students will identify that organic compounds contain carbon and other elements such as hydrogen and oxygen. They will investigate the structure of different organic and inorganic compounds and model several molecules, including a carbohydrate molecule. They will use their models to help understand how larger molecules are broken down into smaller molecules.
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Molecular Structure, Molecular Geometry, History, Periodic Table, Molecular Structure | Elementary School, Middle School, High School
Video: Phosphorous Video
In this video, Sam Kean tells the story of how phosphorus was at the center of the race to discover the structure of DNA.
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Polymers, Intermolecular Forces, Molecular Structure | High School
Lesson Plan: The Right Polymer for the Job
In this lesson students are introduced to polymeric materials by exploring polymers (mostly plastics) used in automobiles. Students will learn about the features that all polymeric materials have in common and the features that distinguish one polymer from another on the molecular level. Students will learn how the molecular differences translate into property differences. The selection of a polymer with the right properties for any particular application is of critical importance in an automobile.
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Molecular Structure, Molecular Structure | High School
Lesson Plan: Biofuels of the Future
In this lesson students will explore the world of automobile alternative energy sources through the study of biofuels. They will design and create an e-book that illustrates and explains one of the provided topics or an original idea approved by the teacher.
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Mixtures, Mixture, Physical Properties, Molecular Structure | Elementary School, High School, Middle School
Demonstration: Analyzing Mixtures
In this demonstration, the teacher will create a sequence of mixtures in a single test tube. Water, oil, food coloring and soap will be used in this demonstration to introduce the concepts of heterogeneous and homogeneous solutions as well as the idea of miscibility. Students will also have the opportunity to analyze the properties, such as surface tension of each component used.