edited by
II
Skokie, IL 60077
So, What Can I Do for Extra Credit? Miriam R. Whiie Chestnut Hill Academy, W. Willow Grove Ave., Philadelphia, PA 19118 Chestnut Hill Academy is a college preparatory school in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. All of the students expect to attend college and are therefore rather grade conscious. Until enrolled in chemistry, a number of students have been able to get all A's and an occasional B. Frequently such grades are achieved through an ability to memorize. In some cases reasoning skills are not well developed. Until such students develop study habits that include learning to think and to trust their own thought processes, they have difficulty. I t isnot unusual for a student to fall short o n a major test and immediately ask what he or she may do for extra credit to improve hisher grade average. Some students are verv creative but have difficultv in the quantitativerealm. often the." wish toprove their worth in a wav in which they can excel. I face the challenge of coming u p k i t h extra credit projects that will be meaningful, teach some chemistry, and reassure students that there is always hope whether they are striving for the A or just hoping to pa3s. I offer four projects, one for each of our marking periods. Each project is worth 50 additional points, the equivalent of half a &st. The usual result is an increase of half a letter in the grade average (i.e., from B to B+ or B+ to A-) if they choose to do the activity and do i t well. The four projects are specific yet allow for expression of individuality. FIml Marking Period Project The first project consists of library research on an element. A student may choose any element, provided that no other student has already signed up for that element. The resulting report may take an; number of forms. It may be a hulletin board display for the room or the hall using pictures, large lettering and diagrams to convey the information. I t may be written as an interview or dialogue between the element and its discoverer or the element and the person first responsihle for its purification. The dialogue can he a renorter interviewine the element. or the dialoeue mav be between an element and a mythical beingassoci&d wi;h it. No matter what the format, the content must include the element's history. This includes the background leading to the discovery or isolation of the element, the year it occurred, and the chemist responsible for the discovery, any derivations of its name, and any myths or legends surrounding it. Second, the element's early and present-day uses must be included. Third, the student must indicate where the element is found and how i t is processed both today and originally. This should include both industrial preparation and ~urificationas well as laboratorv Dre~aration.Fourth. the iseful properties of the element &d the significant reac: tions that i t undereoes must be discussed. Finallv. the environmental problems associated with the mining; refining, industrial preparation, use, andlor disposal of the element should be addressed. Eighty percent of the grade is determined by how thor-
oughly and accurately the above areas were covered. How well the information was presented and packaged determines the other 20%. The more creative and original ones receive the most points. The student must include a t least five references that were consulted during the literature search. One of these may he a general encyclopedia. They may use material in the vertical files of the library as well as any articles that may appear in thesciencemagazines (Science News, ChemMatters, etc.) or the science section of the New York Times. A partial list of books that are available to the students is a t the end of the article (1-10). Second Marking Period Project The second project is similar to the first, but this time the student is to do a report on one of the top 50 chemicals produced in the United States. This listing is given each spring in the Chemical and Engineering News. (In 1989 it was the April 10th issue.) The list includes chemicals that are familiar to the students such as sulfuric acid, nitric acid, sodium hydroxide, and many that will he studied later in the course such as benzene, ethylene, and propylene. The students are quite pleased when they discover that "their compound" is a necessary ingredient in products they use every day, that antifreeze is ethylene glycol, that the white paint they use in the art department has titanium dioxide in it, and that their car tires were made with butadiene. The choice is limited t o the compounds on the list. Each student may choose the format as long as they cover why this compound is one of the top industrial chemicals. They must include how the compound is used, either by itself or as a vital precursor of other products, how the compound is produced, and any environmental factors involved in its use and manufacture. Though many of the sources used in the first project are useful in this one, the best sources are Chemical and Engineering News, Journal of Chemical Education, and ChemMatters. Third Marklng Perlod Protect The third project is an interview with a "working chemist" (no chemistry teachers, but rather persons in industry who are actually working full time in a lab). The idea is for the student to become familiar with what chemists do and their role in society. There are a numher of research laboratories in our area, and1 know many of the chemists throughmy activities in the Philadelphia Section of the American Chemical Society. I trv to match the student and chemist so that the interview $11 be an enjoyable experience for both. My hope is that the chemists will pass on enthusiasm for chemistw to the student. I alway; ask the chemist's permission tdgive hislher name to a student. The student must contact the chemist Volume 68
Number 5
May 1991
395
