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Teaching Chemical Elements Can Be Fun!

Adriane Musacchio

Hi everyone!, 

I am just wrapping up teaching Threshold #3: New Chemical Elements, in BHP. The very first time I taught this unit, I was a bit intimidated by the content and worried about student buy-in. However, after brushing up on a little chemistry and digging into the fun activities Unit 3 has to offer, my worries slowly slipped away. I have to shout out two really FUN activities from Unit 3, that make learning about chemical elements fun. The Super Hero Element Activity and Is It In There Activity are must teach activities that get the classroom buzzing with excitement. From using logic and inferencing to figure out what chemical elements are present in daily items to creating super heroes out of elements, there is bound to be a curiosity and enthusiasm boost in your room. 

What are your favorite Unit 3 BHP lessons that spark enthusiasm and joy in your classroom?

   

  • in reply to Bryan Dibble
    • This is a great check list,  ! Thank you for sharing ! This year I added a lesson prior to teaching the super hero element lesson. I had students research the pros and cons an element of their choosing has on human kind. They then decided if that chemical was more beneficial or harmful in a class discussion. 

  • If you can get one through a fundraiser or through your budget, I highly recommend securing a set of spectrum tubes and a viewing device that can illuminate them!  Then, you can have students compare the omission spectrums of different elements!  I have them annotate spectrums with the lines they are seeing so that they can see the "barcode of the universe" and better understand how we know what stars are made of!

  • in reply to Brad Vonck

    This is such a cool idea  ! I will definitely look into this. Wondering if any science teachers in my building might already have these materials. Will ask around. How many lessons / how much time do you typically spend on this activity? 

  • For me, The Super Hero Element Activity is the point of the year where students really start understanding history as a web and the big ideas in Big History.  Just for some added fun, I write the chemical symbols on starburst candies and then walk around the room and let students pick from a giant envelope with a star on it the element they will work with.  The idea is it'll help them remember that these elements (starbursts) come from an exploding star.  

    Also, the day before I do this project, I always share one of the videos on gold or silver and give them this handout to complete to understand the web of history. 

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  • in reply to Adriane Musacchio

    I did it in conjunction with the chermical element superhero project, so it was something that took a class period or so for us to get to view three different elements, one at a time, in groups of 3-4 or so and then mark their spectrum charts.  If you wanted to do more, you could do one element a day and probably do 15 minutes a day or so.  I didn't get to it this year but I was thinking of taking the majority of elements from the Sun and having students slowly view all of them....leading to the reveal that their spectrum chart matches the spectrum chart of the Sun!