Ready to Drink the Kool Aid....

WHAT AM I DOING TO HELP KIDS ACHIEVE?

HOW DO I KNOW WHEN THEY ARE THERE?

WHAT IS THE EVIDENCE?

     So I did an inquiry lab on the fly.  I read a J. Chem. Ed article supplying evidence that it is a good idea to first start with the large scale and then model it on a small scale.  We did an evaporation lab where I had students get the data first, ask questions about what they would need to explain the data and then I showed them the particulate models.  We also did a "card sort" about types of intermolecular forces that provided me with information about what they did or did not know.  Finally, as part of the lab they had to predict how pentane would evaporate compared to everything else we did.  It went amazingly well and they did great on the test question about this lab.  I informally asked students what they thought about doing labs this way.  One student (who is really smart but rarely does homework) talked about how he liked "figuring things out".  Another student said she did not like it....it force her to think to hard (I'll take that criticism any day).  

     So what about this week?  I went to the Grand Valley State TIMU website and started downloading labs.  There are some great ones on particulate matter and chemical reactions that I am going to start doing with academic.  I also found better ways to use whiteboards...I will report to you next week.