When you hear the word "chemistry", what do you think of?

We began the lesson by asking students to visually depict, either on paper, through clay, or writing, what they think of when they think of “chemistry.” This was to explore the various ways the students think, while encouraging them to think creatively freely about what chemistry means to them.

"We also discussed protons, neutrons, electrons, electron shells, and the octet rule in order to set up our discussion about bonding and reactions, which will occur over the next couple sessions"

After, we examined a mystery solid (which was dry ice). In this experiment we wanted the students to not base their thinking on assumptions, but rather, to take what they observe and have previous knowledge of in order to think more critically as scientists and as students. In this way, the students were able to explore a variety of possibilities about the solid in order to deduce that it is dry ice.

Finally, we explored the periodic table and atomic structure to create a foundation for much of our future lessons. In order to understand the periodic table and how it is read, the students conducted a game where they created their name using any elements in the periodic table. We also discussed protons, neutrons, electrons, electron shells, and the octet rule in order to set up our discussion about bonding and reactions, which will occur over the next couple sessions. 😀