Chemistry
Course Description
Teaching AP* Chemistry today is a challenge, both because of limited budgets, and time constraints. Schools are also under the gun to have rigorous, challenging academic classes available for students. This course will allow you to meet those challenges head on.
This course will prepare you to better serve the needs of AP* students, with or without prior chemistry experience. You will spend extensive time learning about small-scale chemistry laboratory techniques, and other laboratory hints that will make teaching AP* Chemistry a more hands-on experience for the students and the teachers. You will be able to concentrate on the content of the course, rather than on extensive laboratory preparation. Participants will experience a mock reading of the AP* exam to better get the feel of how the AP* exam is assessed. We will also discuss how to fit the extensive curriculum into a regular schedule. Time will also be allotted for participant sharing of a favorite laboratory idea or presentation idea. There will also be a discussion on how the AP* Chemistry curriculum addresses the new California Science Content Standards.
Objectives:
At the end of the course participants will have learned:
- To make the most of their limited, valuable teaching time.
- To enhance student learning of the AP* curriculum through laboratory.
- To use the laboratory in a way that minimizes teacher preparation time and maximizes student learning time.
- To teach students how to solve sophisticated AP* problems, and how the AP* exam is written and scored.
This will be a busy and worthwhile week for all of us. In the time allotted for this workshop it is impossible to cover all areas and all labs which our students should perform. We will, however, cover a large amount of material. The schedule will run approximately as follows:
9:00 – 12:30 P.M. Theory, problem solving, demonstrations, AP* Exam, preparation and group discussions with a refreshment break at 10:30.
1:30 – 3:30 P.M. A Laboratory session with one or two labs. Demonstrations may follow the laboratories if time permits.
In terms of subject matter, the week will roughly follow the schedule below:
Monday: States of matter and stoichiometry. The labs will be the Empirical Formula of Copper Iodide and Net Ionic Reactions.
Tuesday: Periodicity and gas laws. The lab will be: Calorimetry (part of this lab includes doing solution stoichiometry).
Wednesday: Lewis structures (VSEPR Theory) and Thermodynamics. Laboratories will be model making of structures and making a titration curve of a monoprotic weak acid.
Thursday: Kinetics, equilibrium, acids and bases. Laboratory will be the Kinetics of Crystal Violet decomposition and an electrochemistry lab involving the building of a mini Hoffman apparatus and teh examination of the decomposition of water.
Friday: (8:30 A.M. – 12:30 P.M. only) A.P. Exam strategies, how the exam is graded, ideas for helping your students pass the exam. Participants are welcome to show the group their favorite demonstrations during this session. The institute ends at 12:30 P.M. with a final lunch.
We also may have time for a spectrophotometry lab, involving creating a calibration curve of a red dye.
There will be a number of make and take activities in the laboratory session which you can use in your own programs. It is my goal that each participant will take away many new ideas that they will be able to use to enrich their program, be it AP* Chemistry or any other level of chemistry. We are here to share ideas and strategies with each other so that we are prepared for the big job which awaits us in the fall.
NOTE TO AP* CHEMISTRY WORKSHOP PARTICIPANTS
Please bring some ideas for demonstrations which you do in your own classroom. Also, be prepared to share with the group your method of presenting a particular topic (it can be any topic you choose – one you feel comfortable doing). Publishers will most likely be giving us books which are now commonly used as AP* Chemistry texts. You will end up taking a lot of free materials home with you. The institute will provide all materials for the laboratory, safety glasses, etc. It should be a very exciting week.
GOALS OF THE CHEMISTRY ADVANCED PLACEMENT SESSION
- To acquaint beginning and experienced AP* Chemistry teachers with a breadth of content, which they will have to cover in order to "do the job”. Also to learn new ideas for demonstrations and exam preparation.
- To perform at least five AP* level laboratories during the afternoon sessions, with time for critical analysis on each of the activities.
- To share ideas about classroom time management and the time frame necessary in order to get through the material by the test date in May. Plainly spoken, how rigorous do I have to make this course so that students have a reasonable chance of passing the exam?
- To familiarize participants with textbooks, study materials and teaching ideas, which will make them more effectiv in September.
- To create an Esprit de Corps among the group which will allow them to feel comfortable enough to share ideas on teaching techniques, and new ideas for performing demonstrations.
