Mini Project 2
CURRICULUM MAP
Ed Psy 490ASA
Leonard Fretzin
The purpose of revising the Chemistry curriculum is to improve its relevance and effectiveness in providing a usable and meaningful introduction to Chemistry for regular track students. I began questioning the relevance of the current curriculum first because regular track students were having so much difficulty learning subjects like electron configurations which is essentially quantum mechanics, viz. a very highly theoretical branch of nuclear physics.
They also have
great difficulty with solving mass-mass stoichiometric problems. These are problems in which students are
given the amount (usually as a weight) of one substance in a chemical reaction
and are required to calculate the amount of another substance necessary to
react completely with the given substance, or be the amount of substance
produced. Regular kids have a terrible
time doing the mathematics for this even though I teach it in the simplest
ratio method for solving these problems.
These topics are in every high school chemistry book and take up a
goodly part of the curriculum of chemistry.
Most regular track students will not continue in a science oriented major in College, but they do need to obtain a sound introduction to science, whicht has so many implications and impact on our daily lives. If this can be accomplished by a revision of the curriculum, it will ground all students in a basic, meaningful understanding of the science and principles of Chemistry as used in our modern, 21st century world.
While teaching
the typical chemistry curriculum over the years I began to research the past by
looking at the way chemistry was taught prior to the 1960's. What I found was an emphasis, not on abstract
theoretical topics like those I have discussed above, but rather an emphasis in
the important products of the science of chemistry, as well as a surprising
topical integration of chemistry with broader environmental and industrial
topics. For example some of the topics
covered in the best of older text books, which are absent or scantily treated
in our modern texts are such topics as:
The history of
Chemistry, the percent composition of the earth, seas, and atmosphere, the use
of oxygen in nature and industry, the Nitrogen cycle, the production of
hydrochloric, sulfuric, and nitric acids, the purification of water, the uses
of chlorine and its compounds, the uses of sodium chloride in man, society, and
industry, the manufacture of glass, fertilizers, explosives, atmospheric gasses
and their production, carbon dioxide and global warming, the industrial uses of
ammonia and ammonium salts, important forms of carbon, carbon compounds and
their use, the thermite reaction in the railroad and shipbuilding industries,
iron and copper production, poisonous substances, and medicine, to name a few.
Decisions relating to Chemistry occur almost daily in our modern society, and students of all backgrounds and interests need a sound and practical understanding of the subject to maintain or improve the quality of their lives in our modern world.
Traditionally, students take a Chemistry curriculum, which is largely based on theories to explain the actions of chemicals and states of matter under varying conditions or concentrations. Students are assessed with written tests and engage in a great deal of mathematical and algebraic problem solving relating to solving these theoretical problems which chemistry poses. The reorientation of the curriculum will emphasize the practical side of chemistry and involve learning about the industrial processes that create the many miracle substances that the science produces. The concurrent problems of the chemical industry in causing pollution of the environment and health problems in the people who must be specially protected to work with these substances, must also be explored. Mathematical problem solving will be kept at a minimum, and students will be required to develop portfolios and cooperative projects with other students in the class, and other schools on the internet.
I intend to do
this by developing a modern textbook oriented as practical texts of the past
were. I am already proceeding in this
direction. The units of text that I have
developed to date can be found on my website at:
http://home.att.net/~lfretzin/indexChem/past.html
Assessment will
be by these two means principally, and will make use of a KWL chart throughout
the school year. The 'know' column will be assessed by using
tests related to the new curriculum orientation. These tests will use more essay questions
than questions involving calculation and problem solving. Some of the type of questions can be found in
my assessment assignments for this course.
The want to learn column will be based on surveying students' opinions, wishes, and ideas on the subject that arouse their curiosity, and the learned column will be filled in as the school year proceeds and the direction of student centered learning is documented.
KWL CHART FOR A NEW CHEMISTRY
|
Questions - What needs to be researched in project |
Know - What the students already know about the questions |
Want to Learn - What kinds of inquiry do the students want to make |
|
The traditional
subject matter of high school chemistry needs to be challenged for the
regular track student. The
effectiveness of teaching chemistry through more relevant subject matter will
be researched in a series of projects.
All of the projects will focus on group activities and student initiated
study to verify if the approach is effective in instructing students in a
sufficient degree of theoretical understanding. The comprehension of the role of chemistry
in industry, society, and the economy, as well as its dark side, viz. roles
as a pollution source and use in military weapons will be explored as well. |
It is of particular importance to have means available to accurately gauge the degree of the extant of student knowledge about chemistry, as well as their understanding and abilities in mathematics, which is associated with any science. Knowledge will be obtained directly from student inquiry and other input methods such as informal essays written during class as an daily assignment, rather than as research papers. The building of a curriculum that
will be effective can be best achieved when the required necessity for
reiterative teaching is determined beforehand. |
I will have to be especially sensitive to the needs and leaning of my students to correctly determine the kinds of inquiry they want to make. From my experience, students like hands-on work like laboratories if the work can be related by them with other things they know concerning everyday chemistry, or if the laboratory results are interesting to them or exciting (like making 'goop' or golden pennies.) Students like to
work in groups on different types of projects, especially when they have some
input on the subject matter and general approach. |
CURRICULUM MAP
The
The first number of the CAS is the STATE GOAL
|
S E P T E M B E R 2 0 0 1 |
CONTENT Laboratory safety requirements and laboratory equipment (13D1) The metric system readings and lecture. History of Chemistry readings Density and derived units - lecture and assigned readings.
(13A7) Elemental composition of the earth. Names and Symbols of Elements (11B1) |
ACTIVITIES Identifying equipment Problem solving with significant digits Internet
interactive (11A2) Laboratory bending glass (13B2) History of chemistry minor project (11B12) Groups solve density problems for various liquids and
solids. (13A7) Laboratory activity separating a mysterious mixture of
substances (11B1) Internet interactive game on element names and symbols |
ASSESSMENT Fill in the blank quiz with pictures of equipment Problem solving metric conversions in groups (11A2) Presentation of history of chemistry minor project Presentation of density reports and class critique. Quiz on element symbols and names |
|
O C T O B E R 2 0 0 1 |
Chemical changes (12C2) Physical and chemical changes in chemistry. The states of matter and the distillation of water (11B7) Lecture and readings on atomic theory (12F1) Radioactivity lecture, demonstrations, and readings (12C1) |
Students laboratory changes pennies to 'silver' and 'gold' by chemical changes (11B5) Internet study groups write paper on the 'water cycle' in nature. Internet simulation of Crooke's Cathode Ray Tube (12C1) Internet simulation
of |
Student selected miniproject on a selected chemical change used in industry. Essay type quiz. Student timeline project on the progress of atomic theory from ancient times (13C1) |
|
N O V E M B E R 2 0 0 1 |
The electromagnetic spectrum and emission spectra of the elements - lecture and readings (11B6) Chemical compounds (12C4) The names of compounds and formulas in inorganic chemistry (12C1) Formula weight and percent composition (12C4) lecture and readings The Mole in chemistry lecture and readings (13C1) |
Laboratory activity "flashin' atomic colors" use of spectrum to analyze (11B7) Specters in the Dark laboratory to use spectroscopes (11B15) Compound formulas card game challenge of groups (13A7) Binary and Ternary compound formula games on the Internet Getting the water out lab; determines the amount of water in some hydrated chemical compounds (12C4) |
Essay quiz on the spectrum and how it can be used Writing compound formulas for common compounds Writing the names of chemicals from their formulas Calculating formula weights from chemical formulas |
|
D E C E M B E R 2 0 0 1 |
The electrolysis of water (12E2) lecture and demonstration. Production of Hydrogen Fuel cells and electricity production. Water and its purification. (13A7) The composition of water and hydrogen peroxide - the Law of Multiple proportions (11B14) |
Internet research on the discovery and production of Hydrogen Laboratory production of hydrogen from zinc and acid (12B6) Research groups on municipal water topics (12C4) Determining the composition of water by weight |
Student group project select of choose a subject about hydrogen and its uses in the past and future (13C3) Selected topic on water purification methods, world wide conservation and needs assessment |