Apologia Chemistry: Accuracy and Precision and Conversions Module 1

Do you remember when I said that Day One lasts a month?  It did.  Actually, we are still working through Module 1 topics.  What is the difference?  I am adding some rigor.  I spent Week 1 doing graphing calculator exercises---something I might do in the spring.  So where are we now?

I left the calculations for Bowling for Density from yesterday's video on the board for all of the kids to copy.  They have a take-home quiz for Tuesday.  Each child has a different bowling ball weight and must calculate its density.  I made up weights 11.5--14.5. 

Then we did an accuracy and precision lab.  (This is the make-up lab for anyone absent.)  The lab we did uses a sponge, Solo cup, water, and a ruler.  First we defined and differentiated accuracy and precision.  The lab we use has the kids drop a wet sponge into a Solo cup.  We dropped the sponge 30 times.  I have the kids calculate mean, median, and  mode and summarize accuracy and precision.  Then, the kids graph the data in graphing calculators and calculate the one variable stats.  I have them write the calculations in their notebooks and just check they did the calculations correctly, and entered the data correctly.  Basically, it was a quick review of the graphing calculator, too.  (One group of three had three different answers.)

The last thing we did was start the Kool-aid lab.  Each kid gets a different flavor of Koolaid.  They have to do the conversions to make a three ounce cup of Kool-aid.  The units of measure are in grams and milliliters.  They need the conversion from quarts to liters, the number of grams of sugar in a cup, the volume in mL of a 3 ounce cup, and the mass in grams of the Kool-aid on the package.  We'll work on this next week in class.