Chemistry is more than a textbook! Sometimes it is che-mystery, but in my classroom it is chem-is-TRY! I want my students to experience the magic of chemistry first hand with lab experiences and on-your-feet activities that might knock their socks off (proper safety gear included, of course!).
My students are curious and gain more from experiencing chemistry first hand in the laboratory than with paper and text.
My students come from a wide range of demographics and all deserve quality, lab-intensive rigor and experiences. My high school hosts the only IB program in the district. Very few of my students will join this prestigious program next year because most of my students fit into the general education and college/career bound track. I teach six classes with 35-40 students per class. The monies received from students who can pay the lab fee do not give me freedom to purchase much lab equipment. Lab is where the magic of chemistry happens! When the labs are relevant, meaningful, and interesting students want to learn. These labs answer real-world questions and integrate other disciplines such as math and literature. I find that the more students manipulate matter in the lab personally and analyze the data, the deeper their understanding of chemistry concepts.
My Project
What is light? Why are red, green and yellow light used in traffic lights? Whys is the sunrise red? How does light relate to electrons in atoms? These are some of the questions I pose to my Jr. Chemists as we purposely pursue chemistry from starting bell to ending bell everyday and encourage them to find connections to the content from ending bell to starting bell outside of class. Labs and demonstrations transform the content into "in-your-face-and-up-close-and-personal" experiences that students will remember. Each spectrum tube contains an element sample that produces light. When students view the light through the spectro-glasses they discover that each element has a unique spectral fingerprint. This lab serves to demonstrate the mathematical relationships between energy, wavelength, and frequency of the light that we see in the universe. Overall, students learn to appreciate how electrons are arranged in atoms and that the energy they contain is quantized.
My school currently has 8 power supply stations and 12 spectroscopes to serve nearly 800 chemistry students.
This project would allow 40 students to experience lab at the same time. Lab experiences demonstrate that science concepts are relevant to their life outside of school. This project provides opportunities for students to understand the wave/particle nature of light with the electronic structure of atoms and how it influences the macroscopic world of chemistry they experience every day.
More than a third of students from low‑income households
Data about students' economic need comes from the National Center for Education Statistics, via our partners at MDR Education. Learn more
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