Activity: Compare & Contrast

Activity: Compare & Contrast FOR THE TEACHER Summary In this activity, students will use their observation skills to compare and contrast two similar chemistry classroom scenes in order to identify the differences between the two. Grade Level Elementary, Middle or High school Objectives By the end of this activity, students should be able to  Identify and locate the differences in the laboratory scenes provided. Chemistry Topics This activity supports students’ understanding of  observations Time Teacher Preparation: 5 minutes Lesson: 10-15 minutes Materials  Printed copies of image 1 and image 2  Answer key Safety  No specific safety precautions need to be observed for this activity. Teacher Notes  This is a ChemFun activity, published with the May 2016 issue of Chemistry Solutions.  Students should be given printed copies of both images (download each in order to print).  Students should compare the images and attempt to identify 22 differences between the images.  Teachers may want to have younger students work in pairs, and older students work independently.  The answer key is available for teachers to download and use for reference.  This activity can be used at all levels of K-12 chemistry.  At higher levels, this could be a fun activity for students to complete after they have finished an assessment.  At lower levels, this could be used to challenge student’s observation skills.  Please note that this activity was developed in the spirit of fun. We hope that it provides an opportunity for an engaging, but light-hearted experience for K-12 students.

American Association of Chemistry Teachers

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