Chemistry Never Sleeps

Chem Matters

2011-02-02T13:15:00.000-08:00

Chem Matters Magazine Archive

Chem Matters Magazine from the American Chemical Society for High School students is available online along with teachers guides. Check it out.

Petroleum

2011-01-21T05:49:00.000-08:00

I am designing a unit based around petroleum chemistry. It is new and exciting for me and tied into my work as a mudlogger in the oil fields of west Texas before becoming a teacher. I am brushing up on my organic chem and gathering resources. My goal is to start with the standards, design an appropriate assessment, then see what assignments fill in the gaps between.

I believe I have a lot of tools in my teaching tool belt that are not being utilized. I believe this next unit may be a good way to utilize these in a easy connect to the world of my students.

Behaviors That Support Learning Rubric

2011-01-11T10:08:00.001-08:00

My good friend and colleague, Luc Roy, designed and field tested this online rubric on Google Docs for "behaviors that suport learning". This is a school wide rubric, now turned digital and a great quick check in for students to assess their own class performance.

Loading...

2010-12-08T12:52:00.001-08:00

SAT Prep Test

Curious Chimp — Congo's Chimps — Video — National Geographic Magazine

2010-06-05T05:51:00.000-07:00

Curious Chimp — Congo's Chimps — Video — National Geographic Magazine

2010-01-29T04:53:00.003-08:00

2010-01-29T04:53:00.001-08:00

Edit Central

2010-01-25T10:13:00.001-08:00

Excellent Lit Link

http://www.editcentral.com/gwt1/EditCentral.html

Cool Little Miniature Stove! - Video

2009-12-21T19:36:00.001-08:00

Cool Little Miniature Stove! - Video

Posted using ShareThis

Dynamic Periodic Table

2009-12-21T19:32:00.001-08:00

Dynamic Periodic Table

Posted using ShareThis

DonorsChoose.org: Chemistry Students Probe Ware the Real Data Is

2009-12-15T11:12:00.001-08:00

DonorsChoose.org: Chemistry Students Probe Ware the Real Data Is

Posted using ShareThis

From Atoms to Patterns - Wellcome Collection

2009-12-02T11:44:00.001-08:00

From Atoms to Patterns - Wellcome Collection

Posted using ShareThis

2009-11-20T02:38:00.000-08:00

BBC Bitesize

The entire first Quarter of Chemistry in 2 minutes, how is that for digesting information?
I am going to play this in class today before starting balancing equations.

Wolfram Alpha

2009-11-11T11:01:00.000-08:00

http://www.wolframalpha.com/examples/Chemistry.html

If you have not yet tried Wolfram Alpha yet, then you don't really know the power of the internet. According to its own desctiption it is not a search engine, it is a computational knowledge engine. It sends back an answer rather than links. If I type in two stocks it will return a chart comparing market cap to shares outstanding. If I type in third cousin's great grandson it will return a family tree of that relationship... Earthquakes in Italy... a map with dots that I can deliniate a date or historical period.

It is just cool, Mathematica cool.

Read more about it at Discover Magazine

The Science Room at Make Magazine

2009-11-07T18:59:00.000-08:00

http://blog.makezine.com/science_room/

This is a cool website and the science room may have a lot of potential for the layered curriculum lab setting. Teach yourself chemisty through lab experiences. However the mantra of the site " all Lab no Lecture" does not hold true, I had to read a lot of background info to get to the acid base lab. Useful to find labs organized by topic.

Teach them how sciecne works...

2009-11-07T18:42:00.001-08:00

Discussion on Science education and the future of Science Literacy in America. Take a listen to this pod cast.

Nobel Laureate Dr. Carl Wieman directs the Carl Wieman Science Education Initiative at the University of British Columbia and the Colorado Science Education Initiative.

(Sep 22, 2008 at Cornell University)

Wieman emphasizes the importance of making science education effective and relevant for a large and diverse population. The approach, he says, is to transform how students understand and use science, and this calls for teaching them to actually think like scientists.

Science Education in the 21st Century: Using the Tools of Science to Teach Science on Huffduffer

The Periodic Table of Videos

2009-11-07T16:18:00.000-08:00

The Periodic Table of Videos - University of Nottingham
http://www.periodicvideos.com/

Cool reference for all the elements.

"We've done all 118 - but our job's not finished. Now we're updating all the videos with new stories, better samples and bigger experiments.?

2009-11-06T17:32:00.000-08:00

Science Nation Online Magazine
Science Nation
is an online magazine that each week looks at discoveries and researchers that will change our lives: an artificial retina that can help the blind to see, new materials for building things stronger and lighter, what we're learning from organisms in hot volcanic vents, and ice core secrets that could reveal answers to global warming. (National Science Foundation)

Video Download helper

2009-11-03T06:00:00.000-08:00

https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/3006

Video Download Helper for Mozilla Firefox. Useful tool to have copy of YouTube videos when internet access is slow or unavailable. As teachers we always need a contingency plan in case our lesson plans do not work out.

Periodic Table Lecture

2009-10-23T10:59:00.001-07:00

2009-10-13T11:36:00.000-07:00

Science is Fun Good site for kids type science demos and examples

General Chemistry Online The Classic online chem textbook

Phase Diagrams and Kinetic Molecular Theory

2009-10-13T06:26:00.000-07:00

Three good animations for Phase change and Kinetic Molecular Theory.

Interactive Phase Diagram

Molecules in Motion

Phases of Water

2009-10-08T05:39:00.000-07:00

Layered Curriculum Day here in Chemistry class. Four Lab stations, four different labs going on, all kids engaged in science. One pair working on determining which of 5 different ionic compounds are exothermic or endothermic, another is determining the heat of fusion of candle wax. A different group is calculating the number calories consumed by an alcohol burner and a third is prepping a lab for next class by melting mass quantities of wax in a water bath and weighing out equal test tube fulls of the stuff.
I am starting them to clean up and have no grading to take home. Sounds good to me.

2009-10-06T08:16:00.001-07:00

Super conductors and Mag-Lev trains cooled with Liquid Nitrogen

2009-09-18T11:15:00.000-07:00

http://misterguch.brinkster.net/chemfiestanew.html

2009-09-18T10:42:00.001-07:00

Fun with white phosphorus

2009-09-18T10:33:00.000-07:00

watch this video on phosphorous

2009-09-10T15:57:00.000-07:00

http://science.howstuffworks.com/vampire.htm

http://www.fvza.org/science1.html

http://www.ghostscience.net/

2009-09-10T15:48:00.000-07:00

OooHH Creepy Halloween Science. First some more science demos and tricks you can do to your holiday decor.

http://www.stevespanglerscience.com/experiment/00000152

http://chemistry.about.com/od/chemistryactivities/ss/scientistparty.htm Mad Scientist Party

http://chemistry.about.com/od/howthingswork/a/smokemachines.htm In order to score high points on the Halloween decorations, you need a smoke machine...

http://chemistry.about.com/od/halloweenchemistry/a/greenfirepunkin.htm Green fire is the coolest fire ever. Now put it in a cool Jac-O-Lantern.

Science Magic

2009-09-07T09:34:00.000-07:00

http://www.layhands.com/ScienceTricks/Index.htm

http://pbskids.org/zoom/activities/sci/

http://www.chymist.com/magic%20into%20science.html

http://www.magicexhibit.org/

http://www.me.sc.edu/fs/lyons/GK-12/stuff/science%20magic.htm

My friend Bill said his son enjoyed some of the links I posted, so I have some kid focused sites related to how I got interested in science, Magic Tricks! I hope you enjoy.

2009-09-02T05:01:00.001-07:00

http://docs.google.com/View?id=dcdwgxrx_3870gpzm5wgr

This is a blank Layered Curriculum Template that you can add your own content to.

2009-09-02T03:15:00.000-07:00

I am modifying many of my teaching units to use a layered style of grading.

Here is an example I am using for unit one Scientific Measurement and Method.

http://docs.google.com/View?id=dcdwgxrx_3162hs2f9xf6

2009-08-29T08:40:00.000-07:00

Science at HULU

http://www.hulu.com/design-e2

http://www.hulu.com/wired-science

http://www.hulu.com/nova

2009-08-29T08:34:00.000-07:00

Chemistry in the news

http://www.sciencedaily.com/news/matter_energy/chemistry/

http://www.rsc.org/Chemistryworld/

http://portal.acs.org/portal/acs/corg/content

http://www.chemspy.com/

http://www.scientificamerican.com/

http://www.hulu.com/scientific-american-frontiers

2009-08-29T07:11:00.000-07:00

http://www.tutor-homework.com/notes_exams_quizzes.html
Chemistry Cheat sheets for help on class topics. I like these so students can teach themselves as they need it.

2009-07-29T06:45:00.000-07:00

Experimental ideas
How long can you stretch a rubber band before it breaks
Is the Dixon Ticonderoga the strongest pencil?
What substances can control an iPod click wheel other than your finger?

Chemistry in 2 minutes

2009-07-29T05:17:00.000-07:00

http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/gcsebitesize/science/aqa/rocks/atomsact.shtml
Quarter 1-3 in about 2 minutes

Chemistry applets

2009-07-28T06:31:00.000-07:00

Good link for chemistry applets

http://www.dartmouth.edu/~chemlab/info/resources/applets.html

Biggest Chemical Companies in The World

2009-07-28T06:30:00.000-07:00

The biggest companies in chemical industry on Earth are listed with business volume in billions of Euros.

Badische Anilin- und Soda-Fabrik (BASF)(D) 28 (formerly IG-Farben)
Dow Chemical (USA) 27
DuPont (USA) 24
Bayer (D) 20 (formerly IG-Farben)
ExxonMobil Chemicals (USA) 20 (formerly Standard Oil)
Atofina (F) 20
BP Chemicals (GB) 13
Mitsubishi Chemicals (J) 12
Deutsche Gold- und Silber-Scheide-Anstalt (DEGUSSA)(D) 11(formerly IG-Farben)
Shell Chemicals (NL/GB) 11

links for me

2009-07-28T05:55:00.000-07:00

http://www.sciencegeek.net/Chemistry/Powerpoints.shtml Good PPTs tough to open

http://www.uky.edu/Projects/Chemcomics/ Comic Periodic Table

http://serendip.brynmawr.edu/sci_edu/chemsites.html Links

http://www.creative-chemistry.org.uk/ Excellent resources and Worksheets ready to go careful with print format to standard American printers

http://www.allatoms.com/ Site with lots of potential for online chemistry projects for laptops give this one some time and research It is just junk now!!!

Chemistry Videos? http://dvaction.northwestern.edu/index.html

know how to use and read correct measurements from laboratory equipment such as a triple beam balance, graduated cylinder, ruler, thermometer, temperature probe, and pH probe.

Links I would suggest for student laptops

2009-07-28T05:34:00.000-07:00

General Chemistry Online: Full of helpful tutorials and quizzes

Mr. Guch Explains: One of my favorite sites, here are some tutorials for extra help

Tutorial and Quiz on Significant Figures

2009-07-28T05:29:00.000-07:00

http://antoine.frostburg.edu/cgi-bin/senese/tutorials/sigfig/index.cgi

Chemistry Demos

lazy daze of summer

2009-07-06T14:31:00.000-07:00

New students for summer school then came home and took nap.

Summer School Prep Day

2009-07-02T19:25:00.001-07:00

Started working summer school today.
8-12

Fire up the Blog

2009-06-30T09:07:00.000-07:00

Starting to Make Blob for my classes, I mean like THE BLOB from the horror movie.
Should be quite the in class demo.
ANY How.
Summer school starts tomorrow for preparation.
I intend to work on making my lessons into a layered curriculum. I had much success
with a unit on stoichiometry during the spring 09 and would like to repeat the process
for other units.
I enjoy the one on one assessments and focus on learning not on completion.
Students work at their own pace and once my prep has been done ahead of time, I can focus
on student learning too.