edited by PATRICIAJ. SMITH
chemi~tryfor kid/ Chemistry Activities for a Summer Enrichment Program James 0. Schreck, George T. Betts, and M. Lynn James University of Nonhern Colorado Greeiey. CO 80639
The Summer Enrichment Program (SEP) for gifted and talented students, sponsored by the Department of Special Education and the Educational Service Center, is a residential summer program held yearly a t the University of Northern Colorado ( I ) . Now entering the seventh year, SEP was developed to better meet the diversified academic, emotional, and social needs of students identified as gifted and talented. Like many similar programs, SEP contains a chemistry component (2,3). During the past six summers, in each of three sessions, more than 250 students from 18 states have been brought together to live in a college dormitory for two weeks. Many of these students are involved in special programs in their regular schools while others do not have this opportunity. These students, selected either by individuals in their own schools or by summer program personnel, are identified for their performance and potential in the following areas: general intellectual ability, specific academic aptitude, creative or productive thinking, and/or leadership and skill in the visual or performing arts. The courses offered are designed specifically for these students. At the beginning of each session they choose from Table Period Length
Activity
United States Air Academy High School United States Air Academy. CO 80840
mis feahm is designed to enmuraga ar readers to become involved in some way wim inbodwing c h e m i m m chiben. M W s , techniques, and ideas that have proven successful will be featured. We wish to challenge those of you who already have successful programs to share them with me rest of the readen. We further challenge those who have not made the first step to use these programs to develop a system which will W O for ~ you and Um children in your community. Responses of the children to the activities would be of particular interest. In this way, this feature can provide mechanisms for introducing more chemistry to children and, thus. society.
over 80 courses which have been prepared for them. Each student participates in four, 70-min. classes per day. Topics include science, math, computers, social sciences, language, and visual and performing arts. Science is an-integral component of the summer program; additional classesareadded over the years to meet the interevts and abilities of rhe students. The chcmistry component way introduced four years ago, and then, hecause returning participants wanted more advanced work, a second course was introduced two years ago. Ruth courses are offered twice daily each session. An introductorv chemistrv course is desiened for fifth through seventh griders with knro~~ment for each section limited to 20 students. The advanced chemistry course (for eighth through tenth graders who have completed the introductorv course) is taught with a limit of 15 students in each section.
1. Elementary Chemistry Activities
Description
Demonstration A reading of the poem "The Blind Men and the Elephant" (4 Seeding a supersaturated sodium acetate solution (8)
Observation by Indirect Means
1
Crystals and Crystal Growth ( 5) Formationof Metallic Crystals
1 2
Effect of Heat on Solids
2
Solid elemems and compounds are heated and observed and the eflect of H P on the cooled sub~lancesis studiedd
Changes in State
1.5
Energy, Entropy, and Interactions
1.5
Volume of changes between liquid and solid "Experimenting" wilh liquid nitrogen states and the gaseous statea Study of spontaneous and nonspontaneous process.' (See footnotes in description column) energy and interactians,O energy and spontaneity," and "mixebupness" (entropy1and spontaneity'
Determinationof sizes and shapes of objects by indirect observationSB hysiysical changes: melting salai, cooling me melt, seeding, supercooling" Chemical changes: grow% of crystals through chemical reactionsr
Formation of silver mirror (7); writing on whHe paper with AgN03 in sunlight Introductionto concept of acids and bases, i.e., use of litmus paper and phenolphlhalein and omer indicators (8).
~ e t aobject l (circle, hameshoe, i m r 0, etc.) is hidjen under a box and me sizeandshspe oftheobjectikdefmined by bouncingasmall superball against meabject. Lineaare drawn on a sheet of paper on top of the t a x to represent me projenile of the ball. % smple of slol is melted, cooled to rmm temperature (it does not mlldity if Felt undisturbed),and me melt is seeded. The crystal gmwth is viewed wim a hand magnifier and again under a micmsmps. Silver C I Y S ~are ~ I amwn S by lacinga am in copper strip in a AgNO, mlutionin a 10X 75mm testhlbe. Similarly thefnmatim of copper hom an iron mil placed ina CuSO~mlution 45 S ~ L Oea 80m 8, ver am copper c q s a h are grown from tne rarpcsx us mlvt ons on a m~crorcope 31oc ano re*m Lnoer a m crossope O~tfecfof neat on MgO. hac JJCIMC. I) and morrr Zn a atam m c soluo rn (n,O,d tno s~orlancereman ngatfsr heal ng ,r obrmed ano conc . s m s made ~ rm n lnara d ir, n atan m a sano*ad to emandat roantemoorafre inla a rand oafk-m camat onsol mc vo .me c m w am maocam asewsea In arecono expn men1 ~- a1 HCI is-adjedto mlid CaCO.. and me CO, is mllected in ballom. (COI p;ovided hom a lecture demonstration cylinder has been used 8 8 a SOUTCB of gaseous C02.) The bsliwn and ga. are bansferred to a second test tube which is then is immersed in a liguldnitrogenreselvoir, The properties of CO1 are discussed. 1 These processes are illusbated in one example by holding a coln in me air and releasing n and then removing the coin from me flwr and placing it on a fable top. g m e burning of a match, sawing of a board. and melting of ice in a glass of warm water are used to illustrate energy transformationsand how enwm is involved in immactions. *The chemical volcano fa . . i* used to illusvate loss of enerrrv -.on me oan of an oblect isubstancel undergoing a swnfaneour change (ainteraction). I A spontaneous proses wcurring with an increase in energy of the object is i~i&ated by the addition of NH,NO~ m~ution to ice water in a beaker, me beaker is resting on a ~ICG+ 01wom and a haifdollsr-sizespot of ice water is placed directly under the beaker on the center of me block and allowed to freeze, thus "gluing" the beaker to the block. ~
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Journal of Chemical Education
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Table 2. ActiviN
Periodla1
Advanced Chemistry Actlvlties
Level 1
Level 2
Working wilh Glass
2
Construction of a wash bottle and stirring rcd; bending and firepolishing glass ( 14
Welghlng on a Balance
1
Recry~talllzationof Acstanilide
1
Contrast uergn ng varfous laboratory aoieCts an orterent baances nc ud ng an analyt ca balance (in Impure (sand, coloring maner] acetaniilde is recrystallizedfrom water; gravity and vacuum filtration is illustrated (12)
Chemical Synthesis: Aspirin, Food Additives
2
Weighing required quantities of chemicals, working with both organic and inorganic acids ( 13)
Recrystallization, melting paint, yield calculation
Chemical Detective Work: Identificationof an
3
Identifying cations and anions (5 each) lhraugh test reactions followed by an unknown salt ( 14)
Identifying a second unknown salt
I in*nnwn
Average, range, devlat.on from mean. average dewatmn. precmon versus accuracy Comparison of melting points of impure and purified acetaniiide
s.,,
Our goal in both the introductory and advanced chemistry courses is to interest children in chemistry. Because of the different degrees of abilities and the rural-metropolitan mix of the students, we selected activities that we felt the majority of students had not performed a t their own schools and which were designed to he intellectually challenging. Above all, we wanted to teach some chemical concepts by means of a discovery approach. Throughout the course the emphasis was on the students actually performing experiments and recording results. Seldom did we lecture about what the students were doing. The students were required to record their observations, and we routinely emphasized how important this was in the model-building process in the introductory course as well as in developing and mastering techniques, interpreting their results, and drawing conclusions in the advanced courses. In the introductory course the major emphasis is on the model-building process as a method to explain observations collected in the laboratory. The students are divided into groups of four. Each group performs the hands-on activity (Table l),proposes a model, and then gets a chance to share its model with the other groups during a discussion toward the end of the experiment. For each activity one or more demonstrations is used by the instructor (see Table 1)to illustrate and reinforce the concepts learned. The last day of class of each session is "Sharing Day," during which the students put on a 15-min chemical magic show based upon the activities performed during the previous two weeks, for all the participants in the entire program. Table 2 lists the activities of the advanced chemistry class which is allowed to work more independently than the introductory group. As shown in the table, each student must
complete the Level 1tasks. Completion of the Level 2 tasks is encouraged, but they are optional; about 30% of the students attempt them. Our experience has been that students have enjoyed the activities in both the introductory and advanced chemistry courses; the students were enthusiastic, eager to learn, and willing to discuss concepts and scientific phenomena of interest to them. Evaluations by the students have rated the chemistry course very high; particularly satisfying is the fact that students return desiring to take more chemistry. We accept the challenge and develop new activities for such students, consequently, the activities in the advanced course continually change. Readers who are interested in details of the experiments or procedures should write to the authors. Literature Cited
1983. p. 81. (101 Adsptad fmm Bauer. R D.. et d."LaboratoryManual: Chemistry for the Allied Health Sciences," Pmntice Hsll, EnglewmdCliffs. NJ. 1980. p. 1. (111 Adaptad from BeMiller, J.. "Laboratory Guide t o Accompany General. Organic and BiulugiealChemistry: D. C. Heathand Company, Lexington, MA, 1980. P. 21. Organic Chemist'y-A (121 Adapted from Hd.H.. mdSchulu,R,R"leborabwM~~al: Short Course: 5th ed.. HoughtonMifflin Company, Bosfon. 1978, p. 9. (13) Reference (Ill, p. 139. (141 Adapted from Hesxley, V., etd., "Chemistry and Life in the Laboratory," 2nd rd.. Bureess Publishing Company, Minneapolis, 1983, p. 82.
Volume 61 Number 8 August 1984
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