Chemical Education Today
Report
High School Day, Chicago ACS Meeting
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by Linda Bennett, Ami LeFevre, and Lee R. Marek
While the element bouquet centerpieces shown below were a stunning visual highlight of High School Day in Chicago, there were other highlights as well. Summary, High School Day in Chicago Linda Bennett They say if you walk away from a seminar with just one good idea, the day was a success. Attendees at the High School Program at the Chicago ACS Meeting could not help but walk away with dozens! The program was a mix of showmanship, practical ideas, and solid chemistry; nine guest speakers shared challenges and classroom success stories picked up during their entire teaching career—there was something for everyone in the audience, from first-year teachers to seasoned veterans.
Element Project
photos by J. W. Moore
Bouquets of Periodicity Niles West High School chemistry students displayed their under standing of periodic group trends with “bouquets of periodicity”. Each bouquet included physical and chemical properties of elements and their practical uses. The bouquets decorated the tables at the High School–College Interface Luncheon. (Left) Group 8A–noble gases, where a crown represented the “noble” qualities. (Lower left) Group 7A. (Center) Group 5A, in which matches were placed on the bouquet to show a practical use for phosphorus. (Right) Group 7A–halogen family. (Far right, p 1095) Group 1A–alkali elements, where descriptions of four different elements were placed directly on insects and flowers.
Eleanor Siegrist, recipient of this year’s James Bryant Conant Award in High School Chemistry Teaching, talked about Thirty-Nine Years of Motivating and Enjoying Students, which could be summed up as “talk to yourself, take it slow, and be logical”. Demonstrating Carbonate Chemistry from the Pyramids to Soda Pop was the title of John Fortman’s talk; its takehome message was “it’s not what they learn, it’s what they remember…” Jim Spencer and Patrick Daubenmire talked about POGIL (Process-Oriented Guided Inquiry Learning) with the message “students learn best if they find the answers themselves”. William Deese presented the attention-grabbing (anything for science!) Demonstrations of the Dead Chemists Society. Following the luncheon, George Bodner talked about How to Make Your Students Hate You Less if Not Necessarily Love You More; its message: “predigested knowledge and predigested food are equally palatable…” “Give them the tools, then let your kids design a better way” was the message from Mary Harris and Linda Fanis in their talk, Celebrate Earth Day—Resources from the Journal of Chemical Education. They were followed by Jim Spencer, with information about Redesign of Advanced Placement Chemistry. Lynn Hogue and Mickey Sarquis closed the program with a very energetic presentation, Lowering Students’ Activation Energy for Learning Chemistry with the take-home message “magic is just science you don’t understand yet”. Element Project—Bouquets of Periodicity Ami LeFevre My chemistry students needed a break from Power Point lectures and mind boggling worksheets so I created an easy project with a Valentine twist. The purpose of the bouquet project was to present unique properties of an assigned representative group from the periodic table. I wanted students to recognize elements they use on a day to day basis. The following instructions were given to the students:
1094 Journal of Chemical Education • Vol. 84 No. 7 July 2007 • www.JCE.DivCHED.org
Chemical Education Today
FTD, Flowers Transworld Delivery, would like to send element bouquets as part of their “Chemistry Is Love” campaign. Your job is to create an original bouquet that is informative and decorative. The purpose of this project is to present unique properties of a representative group from the periodic table.
Assignment
1. Each lab pair will be assigned a group from the periodic table to investigate.
2. Each lab pair will create an element bouquet which includes information about 4 elements.
a. Element Information (7 points each)
Atomic structure Physical and chemical properties How the element is obtained Who discovered the element
photos by J. W. Moore
(Left) Lee Marek, program organizer for the ACS High School Day Program in Chicago, hands out a prize from the raffle at the High School–College Interface Luncheon. (Right) High School Day attendees work together to design a recycling plant based on Mary Harris’ article, “Sorting Recycled Trash: An Activity for Earth Day 2007”.
Includes decorative pieces—ribbons, tissue paper, etc. Colorful display. Must stand alone. Biodegradable material not permitted.
Students were given two weeks to complete the assignment and required to gather information about other projects. The summary chart given to each student is included in the Supplemental Material.W A test about the elements was given after the summary table was completed. These projects can also be used to educate the public at an open house or used as decorations at workshops. I used these projects to decorate luncheon tables at the ACS High School Program in Chicago. The projects became an instant centerpiece and entertained teachers throughout lunch. WSupplemental
Material The student instructions are in this issue of JCE Online.
Practical use Graphic relating to the element Physical object representing the element
3. Bouquet requirement (5 points)
Dimensions 30 cm 3 30 cm base (foam, box, Styrofoam). Must be sturdy.
Linda Bennett teaches at Naperville Central High School in Naperville, IL;
[email protected]. Ami LeFevre teaches at Niles West High School, Skokie, IL;
[email protected]. Lee R. Marek is in the Department of Chemistry, University of Illinois at Chicago, 845 West Taylor Street, Chicago, IL;
[email protected].
www.JCE.DivCHED.org • Vol. 84 No. 7 July 2007 • Journal of Chemical Education 1095
