From: Katie Johnson (johnson5@madison.k12.wi.us)
Date: Wed Mar 05 2003 - 17:12:59 EST
In response to sharing how we sequence the year.
The first week of school I give an overview of the year long course. It
revolves around 3 essential questions:
#1: How do I know WHAT chemical I have?
#2: If I put 2 chemicals together, can I predict how they will change
(what will form?, how much?, how fast?)
#3: Can I control the event? (the what, the how much and the rate)
Unit One: The Basics - Essential Question #1
How do I know WHAT I have?
i.e. physical and chemical properties
How do I know HOW MUCH I have?
i.e. measurment: meniscus, pan balance, significant digits
How do I know WHEN it has changed to something different?
i.e. clues to changes (dissolving does not equal melting, etc)
Unit Two: Basics #1 - more details about identifying WHAT chemical it is.
WHAT kind of substance?
i.e. element, compound, mixture
WHAT kind of particle?
i.e. atom, molecule, sub-atomic particle
WHAT do I call it?
i.e. rules for naming
Unit Three: Basics #2 - more details about HOW MUCH we have
There are 3 ways to measure HOW MUCH:
count particles, measure a volume, measure a mass
They are related by the concept of the MOLE
(here is where we deal with scientific notation)
Unit Four: Basics #3 - more details about CHANGES in a chemical
Patterns for simple reactions
We introduce REDOX here
Balancing reactions
Unit Five: Stoichiometry - Essential Question #2
Predicting reaction products including solubility rules
Predicting yield
% composition, empirical and molecular formulas
Unit Six: Energy Issues
endo and exothermic events
heat of reaction (and its synonyms: heat of solution, heat of combustion etc)
Heat and CHEMICAL changes
standard heats of formation and Hess's Law
Heat and PHYSICAL change
heating and cooling graphs
States of Matter
Unit Seven: The Gas Laws
(this is usually the beginning of 2nd semester)
Phase Change Diagrams
Gas Law Problems
Unit Eight: Periodicity
a closer look at the atom: electron configurations
spectroscopy
other periodic trends
Unit Nine: Bonding
Lewis structures, valence electrons
ionic, covalent and polar covalent bonding
simple molecular shapes, VSEPR
Unit Ten: Introduction to Organic Chem
(this unit is optional, I do it if I have time -- about 1 week)
the basics of naming hydrocarbons, functional groups and isomers
Unit Eleven: The chemistry of Mixtures
solutions, colloids, suspensions
solution concentration
colligative properties
strong and weak electrolytes
(Ksp if time)
Unit Twelve: Reaction Mechanics - Essential Question #3
factors affecting reaction rates
chemical equilibrium
driving forces: entropy and enthalpy
Gibbs Free energy
Unit Thirteen: Acids and Bases
indicators
pH
strong and weak acids/bases
Ka and Kb
buffers
I usually finish everything mentioned, some years we don't do much with
buffers.
Katherine Johnson
Chemistry Teacher
Madison East High School
Madison, Wisconsin
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