Chemistry Lesson Plan

Title: Introduction to Chemical Reactions The Balancing Act Description: Students will be put into a lab experience that will require them to actually build the molecules they were seeing in the chemical equations. This experience helps students put together the ideas from previous chapters together in such a way that they will begin to understand how chemical equations can be used to explain the reactions we see occurring in nature. Subject: Chemistry Balancing Equations, Reaction Types Instruction time: Two 45-minute class periods Students level by grade: 10th -12th Students with at least Algebra I class credit and one year of general science. Standard(s) to be addressed: I. IA-CC.SCI.10-12.D: Students can understand concepts and relationships in physical science. II. IA-CC.SCI.10-12.D.3: Students can analyze and evaluate the adequacy and accuracy of information. III. IA-CC.SCI.10-12: Students will understand and apply knowledge of chemical reactions. Enduring Understandings/Essential Questions targeted in this lesson: How can a chemical reaction be described? o Balanced equations tell us much of what we need to know about the reaction depicted by the reaction equation Why is balancing an equation so important? o The Law of conservation of mass states that no mass will be created or destroyed.

Learning Objectives for this lesson: Students will begin to recognize the patterns that will help them make sense of the content we are beginning to learn. Students will begin to develop an understanding of how the previous topics fit together.

Identified student needs and plans for differentiation: Students will be given a concrete experience that they can look back on to help with the abstract content that they will be moving into. Reflective questions of different difficulty would be asked of students with different needs. A student with higher ability will be put in a group with a peer of average, and lower ability in an attempt to help each student learn students with higher/average ability would be able to help a student of average/lower ability see the patterns. Specific resources needed for this lesson: Teacher: The Balancing Act Lab Instructions The Balancing Act Drawing sheets Ball-and-stick Model Kits Crayons/colored pencils/markers Trays for the different chemical equation set-ups

Students: Writing tools Notebooks for notes Lab instructions Drawing sheets Instructional method(s) used in this lesson: Lab Investigation Reflective/Thought-provoking lines of questioning Group Discussion Lesson Sequence: Day 1: Focus Lesson: (Meet them at the door with the sheet they should read) Good morning, here is an intro to the activities we will be doing today. Have a seat and start reading through it. After a couple minutes: call attention back to front. What are we going to be doing today? (Students should have read the page, then realized that we are going to be balancing equations) Direct Instruction/Modeling: We are going to be balancing equations today, but heres the twist back around the lab are several stations. At these stations there are several models that have correspond to the equations that you have on the sheets that you have been given. Your task is to build and draw each of the reactants listed in the reaction. Then using the same atoms that you built the reactants with (and others if necessary) build and draw the products. Number off 1-5 around the room: (start in the front right of the room) These are the people that you will work with during this activity. Split them according to which group goes to which kit. Collaborative Group Work: After ~5-7 minutes (less if work quickly)(but before they switch) get everybodys attention to ask: How does the law of conservation of mass apply to what we are doing? (wait, then have them talk to their partners about it, then write down what they were thinking). (3 min. pause) Have them share a couple of ideas with the whole class, and then have them switch (if they arent ready, let them continue to work on the kit they were). After another ~5-7 minutes (less if work quickly)call them together again. Ask: Think about the rules for algebra for as secondhow is what we are doing like doing an algebra problem? (if you have to add something to one side, you have to add it to the other talk to partners, then write out what they came to as a group, share some ideas. Lead them to the understanding just stated.) (3 min pause) Switch kits again, if they are ready, or give them a little bit of time to work on the same one again. When they finish the next one, have them switch to one that they havent done yet. After another ~5-7 minutes (less if work quickly) call them together again. Ask, why do you think this step is important?(wait, then have them talk to their partners about it, then write down what they were thinking). (3 min. pause) (have them keep ahold of the papers and ideas that they wrote down) Check for Understanding: I will be walking around the room asking students to explain what it is that they are going through as they work through the activity, and how they came to the conclusion that they did.

Closure of Lesson/Bridge To Next Lesson: We will be finishing up these reaction drawings tomorrow. If you feel up to the challenge, try to balance the last couple of equations on your own tonight. Then, see if you figured them out tomorrow while we are working on these kits again.

Day 2: Focus Lesson: Bell ringer: Based on the law of conservation of mass, explain what we have to do to make sure that a reaction works? Go through what they think before starting the last of the balancing. Collaborative Group Work: Have them get back into their groups, go back to last kit that they are working on, let them work on this one for ~5-7 minutes (less if work quickly) call them together again. Ask: What patterns do you notice yourselves doing when you work through balancing these equations? (wait, then have them talk to their partners about it, then write down what they were thinking, share with the class). (3 min. pause) Switch kits, if they are ready, or give them a little bit of time to work on the same one again. When they finish the next one, have them switch to one that they havent done yet. After another ~5-7 minutes (less if work quickly)call them together again. Ask: So far weve just been looking at the atoms that are in the reaction, what other kinds of groups could we look at and how could those be helpful? (If you have to add something to one side, you have to add it to the other talk to partners, and then write out what they came to as a group, share some ideas. Lead them to the understanding just stated.) (3 min pause) Check for Understanding: I will be walking around the room asking students to explain what it is that they are going through as they work through the activity, and how they came to the conclusion that they did. As they are finishing up the activity have them move back to their seats. Direct Instruction/Modeling: Present several tips as questions: How would it be easier to do this balance this equation? Work through an equation with them, for each of the hints that are on the hint sheet. Have them write notes about these strategies, in such a way that they can understand them. o Ask: What made that activity difficult? (wait for responses, after each response see if they could think of an idea that could have helped alleviate that problem). After we get through the strategies (most of them), class should be about over. Independent Practice: Several practice problems that have students work through the process of balancing equations, that will allow them to practice the strategies that we went through in class. A reading assignment will also be assigned: using the first section of the chapter in their chemistry book, students will perform an SQ3R in order to get the general background for what it means to balance an equation. Closure of Lesson/Bridge To Next Lesson: Alert the students to the homework problems and reading assignment that is due the next day of class. Were going to start talking about the different types of chemical reactions, and some ways that will be helpful to you as you go about balancing each type. The firs type of reaction that we will see will be the Double Displacement Reaction.

How will you modify or adjust this lesson in the future? One thing I would change is the difficulty of the reactions I am going to use for this activity that way students will have to work through them more, rather than just giving answers. As I was implementing this I had students take apart the reactants and use those pieces to build the products, in the future I think I would have students build both reactants and products at the same time, and then try to even out the number of atoms on both sides. This was the one part of the activity that almost every student was having trouble with. Starting with the question about algebra would help students think about the problem in front of them in a way that is familiar to them. Then it would set up the connection to the to the Law of Conservation of Mass.