Micro scale Chemistry Experiments

 Yes, Imam just that kind of nerd.  I’m already planning for Fall. Pleasing Precipitation Performances has some great ideas for home-schoolers and Co-op classrooms.  This lab uses drops of solutions on clear, acetate, report sleeves, plastic transfer pipettes, and toothpicks.  We put the drops on acetate folders which can cover the worksheet and mix the chemicals with toothpicks.   Many of the chemicals used in this lab are household chemicals.  (Silver nitrate and barium nitrate are expensive and nitric acid and NaOH, sodium hydroxide are very corrosive and caustic.  Skip these chemicals.)  Here is an article from Home Science Tools about making solutions.  Below are several household chemicals and their formulas.

Copper II Chloride, Iron II Sulfate, Copper II sulfate, and Potassium nitrate can be ordered from Home Science Tools, or through Amazon.  

Calcium carbonate is in Washing Soda.  (Sodium bicarbonate is baking soda.)

Sodium chloride is table salt.  (Use de-iodized salt for labs.  The iodine can interfere with reactions.)

Magnesium sulfate is Epsom salts.  

Ammonia is the same ammonia from the cleaning aisle of the grocery store.  

 

Mad Science Camp: Flyers

 Today is a post with a round-up of flying toys.  First up is NASA’s First Flyers for grades K-4.  The lesson has a brief history and photo instructions for several flyers, with templates.  NASA (Grades 3-8) has Make Your Own X-59 with a template and   3-2-1 Take off! With a template.  Lastly, here  is an online tutorial for four basic types of aircraft.

JUST KIDDING,!  Here and here are instructions from NASA’s JPL lab for straw rockets.

Marine Corps Museum STEM

 We live near the Quantico Marine Base.  The National Museum of the Marine Corps is nearby, too.  The museum hosts science days for home-school families; they have online resources, too.  Here are educational videos.  Here are more resources for families.  If you live nearby, get the newsletter.  The museum hosts camps and events, which are free.  It’s always fun to visit.

Mad Science Camp: Paper Airplane Launchers

A paper airplane video appeared on my social media feed.  So I looked for variations of paper airplane launchers to use for camp.  Naturally, Frugal Fun has an excellent article with clear directions using a file folder.  This cardboard launcher has clear step by step instructions.  This article has ideas to build a launcher with wood, legos, or cardboard.  Here is a wooden paper airplane launcher from Frugal Fun.  Our plan is to compare cardboard, file folder, and card stock airplane launchers at camp.  If we can pick up some scrap wood, we might try wooden launchers.

Chemistry on a Budget

Can you teach Chemistry in a budget?  Absolutely!  First, invest in safety glasses  or safety goggles.  My teens make these Element Cards as a summer assignment.  Flinn has these free Chemistry experiments.  These chemical reactions use household chemicals, such as Epsom salts.  Another favorite lab, Reaction in a Bag is the first lab we do in class.  Take a look at Mass the Gas, this Precipitate lab with ammonia and Epsom salts, and Copper II Sulfate and Ammonia.  See?

Here is a post about creating chemistry kits and doing experiments at home.  During COVID lockdown, the Chemistry class met remotely and performed over thirty labs at home.  Here, here, and here are more posts with even more links with experiments.  Here is the slideshow, What’s in the Chemistry Kit? I bet you’ll see lab equipment, such as craft sticks, q-tips, tooth picks, and funnels you already have.  Basic labware or recycled yogurt cups, paint palettes (reaction plates), a digital scale, and medicine droppers, and a thermometer  comprise most of the equipment.  If you have a digital scale for baking, just use that one.  We use cupcake papers and coffee filters as weigh paper.  Home Science Tools has a thermometer, a graduated cylinder, spot plate, and droppers priced for any budget.  First shop your house and the Dollar Tree.

Biology on a Budget

 I belong to a few science groups on social media.  Teachers frequently moan about their lack of resources to do labs.  Nonsense!  Yes, kits and models are nice.  But you can teach Biology on a budget.  The most expensive line item in my biology budget is for dissection specimens.  (Alright, we do a number of candy labs, which can run into some money.). Start with the labs described in the Exploring Creation with Biology from Apologia.  Apart from the dissection specimens and microscope slides, the Lab Supplies include household items, such as medicine droppers, or grocery store supplies, such as split peas and meat tenderizer for the DNA lab.  Here are several labs apart from the experiments in the Apologia textbook which do not require expensive equipment.

Ecology: The Lynx eats the Hare, Mark and Recapture, Create a Food Web, Collect and Identify Leaves, Rainforest Biodiversity, and Bottle Biology.

Cells: Cell Membrane Bubble Lab, Peroxisomes Lab, Make Cell Models, Gummy Bear Osmosis, Cell Size Lab (with different sized boxes to make calculations and comparisons), and Cell Size.

Macromolecules: Food Tests, DIY Molecules, Clay Molecules, and Biomolecules.  Use clay molecules you make yourself.

See?  You are well on your way to create a robust Biology class on a budget.

Don’t forget to check the shipping!

 Prices on used goods, like prices on everything are rising.  Good Will online and eBay offer excellent deals on science equipment.  Right now, Good Will has Steve Spangler and Carolina Biological kits.  The kits are great.  However, spreader check the shipping!  Look carefully.  Some Good Will shops inflate the actual weight or tack on substantial handling fees, which increases the shipping costs.  Moreover, Carolina Biological sells Young Scientist Frog Dissection kits for $13.50 plus shipping.  What is an even better deal?  Buy one frog and one dissection guide from  Home Science tools, as part of a larger science order.  

HASPI Chemistry Labs

 Whenever I encounter an unfamiliar resource, I do a bit of research.  Right now the trend in public schools is to use the NGSS standards across the science subjects.  HASPI, The Health and Science Pipeline Initiative promotes health and medical sciences.  I registered to get access to all of the curricula.  I think many of these labs are germane to the Human Biology class I teach occasionally.  There are interesting topics, such as Lactose Intolerance or Macromolecules and Digestion, with unusual tests: amylase, lipase, and protease, in addition to standard Identifying Macromolecules in Nutrients Lab.  

Here is the Chemistry lab hand-book.  The labs, such as Pennium, have a brief ‘career spotlight’.. Pennium is an isotope lab; the ‘career spotlight’ for this lab is about a ‘nuclear medicine technologist’.  Here is MS Medical Life Science, or Middle School level Biology.  Here is a lab sample for HASPI Medical Biology Lab.  See what you think.

Biology Root Words

 Okay, this is probably more useful for next Fall.  Flinn has root words from Latin and Greek.  Here is another hand-out with the root words, definitions, and examples.  These prefixes, Greek, and Latin terms pop up frequently in Biology.  I took Latin in high school.  I found Latin to be very useful for science in general.  But, this list is extremely useful as teens study Biology.

Mad Science Camp Resources: The Dad Lab

 I’m reviewing my plans for a summer science camp.  I ordered a copy of The Dad Lab. It’s not a bad science resource book.  First, the experiments use simple, household materials.  The experiments range from a Ketchup Packet Cartesian Diver to Foam blower.  The experiments have clear explanations and drawings.  Some of the experiments are more demonstrations or tricks, such as the leak proof bag.  I’m collecting several paperback experiment books to show the kids as we do the activities.  I also need extra activities on hand when the kids blow through everything Inhad planned.  This experiment book fills the bill.

Coloring Pages and Sketches for Dissections

 I used the Zoology Coloring book for the seven representative animals: earthworm and crayfish,   The kids made detailed sketches of the exteriors of their dissection specimens.

Frog Dissection

 Update: Open up the stomach of the frog.  Often there are whole flies and beetles.

Four of the kids are far ahead of the others; they are finishing the dissection series and will complete their tests on Thursday.  Here are good images and explanations for the external parts of the frog.  The kids are using these dissection guides and this photo atlas for the frog dissection .  Take a look.

Crayfish and Perch Dissections

 Some of the teens in the Biology Co-op class will finish their dissections this week.  Today, everyone was dissecting either the crayfish or the perch.  I ordered dissection guides from Home Science Tools for the perch and frog.  The dissection guides in the Apologia Biology textbook are fine.  However, I don’t like to chance getting anything on their textbooks.  So, the kids use guides, photo atlases, and dissection instructions I provide.  Take a look.

Gummy Bear Dissection

 Along with dissecting the perch and frog, the kids are dissecting gummy bears.  Here is one set of instructions.  Here is the student lab worksheet.  Here is the answer key.  My kids are using the key to label the positions, planes and directions, much like the teens did here.  This would be a good lab to start dissections.  Sadly I hadn’t found the lab until we were well along with dissections.

Summer Chemistry Assignment

 My kids make Periodic Table Cards based on this article with the original project.  It gives the teens an opportunity to learn some of the elements before beginning class.  Below is the assignment posted in Google Classroom.

Different Chemistry Curricula

Update: I just ran across another new model for teaching: The Gradual Release of Responsibility Model.  As a home-school parent, I bet you have already used this model on tough topics with your family.  The model is common sense.  When I have a tough Chemistry concept, I show the teens the steps.  We do a few together in class.  Next, the kids work in pairs, and finally alone.  I bet you have used this for math problems.

 The Next Generation Science Standards, NGSS, have opened the doors to a host of new Chemistry curricula.  In the past, the U.S. didn’t have a national curriculum for Chemistry (or any subject).  However, teachers used textbooks; essentially, the textbooks had the same basic outline of topics: Atomic theory, Moles, Gas Laws, Reactions, Stoichiometry, Nomenclature, the Periodic Table, Acids and Bases, Solutions, Thermodynamics, Kinetics, Equilibrium, and Redox, or Oxidation-Reduction.  As long as you taught from  a standard Chemistry textbook, teachers following a national curriculum.  Here, here, and here are table of contents, with the titles of each unit or topic.  

Take a look at the new line-up of Chemistry curricula: iHub or inquiryHub, Savvas Chemistry Program, STEMscopes, Argument Driven Inquiry, Inspire Chemistry, HMH Science Dimensions, Patterns Chemistry, New Visions Chemistry, and  OpenSciEd, just to name a few.  Many teachers are buying classroom materials just to cope and comply with the new programs required by their school district.  

In another life I consulted and lead workshops promoting inquiry-based instruction.  I love hands-on labs, programs, such as POGIL, and approaches, such as Claim Evidence Reasoning, CER.

But, I use a textbook, Exploring Creation with Chemistry, by Apologia, which covers the basic topics in Chemistry, most importantly, from a Christian world view.  I’m confident that this textbook contains the fundamentals of a solid, high school, Chemistry program.  I love to look at different approaches; when it comes to delivering science, I want a solid, time-tested program. 

 

Virtual Dissections Update

 Don’t apologize if dissection specimens are too expensive for your budget.  Instead, why not create a detailed lapbook?  Include paper dissections and classification cards. Take a look at the National Park Service’s Vertebrate Grab Bag.

I’m updating the Virtual Dissection Round-up.  Some of the links are broken or no longer available.  The Science Bank has these links.  Great Houston Moms has another round-up on the blog.  Getting Nerdy’s Paper Dissections are superior; however, they are expensive. The Biology corner has these virtual dissections.  Have you though about making clay dissection models?  

Here is a post about making a Seafood Dinner Dissection.  Here is a fresh fish dissection guide.  Once, I visited a friend who teaches in Alaska.  A parent donated a large, whole salmon.  We made fish prints before we cut up the fish.  The only issue we had was the kids eating raw fish before we could name the part.  

Here are several video dissections.

Here is ‘My Friend the Frog’ paper dissection.

Here is a paper salmon dissection.

Here and here are gummy bear dissection worksheets.  Too fun!  Here is the gummy worm dissection.

Here is the link for Dissect-it Simulated dissection labs.

Slime Art

 I’m winding up Bio, planning for Chem in the Fall, and pulling supplies and ideas for Mad Science Camp in June.  Steve Spangler has this idea, Slime Art.  What about Slime Drawings?  Elmer’s Glue issued a What if Challenge. Look at this Giant Slime Art entry to the challenge.  Looks fun!

Get more from dissections!

 Update:  Have you seen Dissecting Organs from the Deli?  One time a parent had a butcher who gave her cow organs to dissect.  They are unusually large.

Specimens for dissection are expensive.  How do you get more from the dissections?  First, use coloring pages to examine the parts.  Here and here are sea star or starfish pages.  Use online images.  Make sketches of exterior and interior.  Label everything!  Talk about similarities and differences between the crayfish and grasshopper.  In fact, ideally dissect the crayfish and grasshopper side by side.  Label all of their appendages.  How are they similar?  Endoskeleton?  Carapace?  How do the appendages function?  The more details the better. 

Stoichiometry Project

I’m reorganizing my Chemistry class for next Fall.   I ran across Saved by an Air Bag and Design an Airbag.  Here is ChemedX teacher notes and student hand-out for the Airbag Challenge.  Best of all it uses vinegar and baking soda.  Here is Prezi student display.  I’m filing this project away for Stoichiometry.

Mad Science Camp: Slime

 I thought I had encountered every slime recipe imaginable.  I was looking for experiments which use xanthan gum.  I have a lot left from recent gluten-free cooking experiments.  Bubbling Slime uses xanthan gum and vinegar.  We might make gummy candies.  I have a lot of gelatin, too.

Chemistry Resources

 First, stick with your chemistry textbook!  I use the second edition of Exploring Creation with Chemistry. The kids get a sound foundation.  Now, I love hands-on activities and labs.  I’m an advocate for inquiry-based experiments.  In another life I was a consultant for inquiry-based education.  I’ve been studying The Next Generation Science Standards NGSS and following the Next Generation Science Storylines.  Many Chemistry teachers use Landmark Lesson Plans, Energy Foundations, and InquiryHub.  I like some of the ideas; however, I feel many lessons have been politicized.  Shocking.

Instead, stick with the curriculum from the textbook and add interesting labs.  I like many of the labs in Energy Foundations for High School Chemistry.  Look at Exothermic, Endothermic, and Chemical Change.  What a terrific lesson!  Look at all of the notes!  The labs use household chemicals.  (CaCl2, calcium chloride, is Driveway Heat.) Sub-zero is another energy lab with Calorimetry.  Coffee Cup Calorimetry has lengthy explanations.  (Here is a much briefer lab summary for the coffee cup lab.). 

Here is my point.  Stick with the core Chemistry topics as outlined in Apologia Chemistry.  Supplement as much as your heart desires.  Start with Reaction in a Bag.  Here is Baggie Chemistry with a NGSS spin.

Element Cards

My Chemistry Co-op class has a summer assignment: Periodic Table Cards. The link has more photos with examples.  There are five or six kids in the Bio class who stay behind while their siblings take Algebra II.  I gave this assignment to the kids who are taking Chemistry this Fall.  They’ll be ahead before class starts.  Adopt an Element cards are similar.  I have the kids make little sketches.  These cards help the kids learn the names of the elements.

Dissections: Clams and Earthworms

 I spent a few minutes explaining basic, anatomical directions or positions.  Here are verrrryyy detailed directions and positions.  I distributed lab manuals and two photo atlases to use.  BTW I allow kids to use gloves and masks if they are squeamish.  Additionally, our class runs 1 1/2 hours, plenty of time to read, sketch and dissect two specimens.  The specimens from Home Science Tools have very little odor.  But some teens loathe the smell.  The kids used the guides and their coloring pages, too to help identify the exteriors and interiors of both the clam and earthworm.  The kids were instructed to make sketches of both the exterior and interior of all the specimens.  This Co-op class is a good group.  Take a look!

Gas Law Foldable

 Here and here are links for a Gas Law Foldable.  Yes, I’m still prepping for Chem next year.  This looks like an excellent resource.

Dissection Tools

 Home Science Tools has excellent dissection kits.  The dissection tool sets and pans with gel pads are expensive.  If you teach in a Co-op or have a large family, investing in sets of dissection pans and tools makes sense.  Otherwise, just order the specimens.  You can dissect on a styrofoam or paper plate and manicure scissors.   Probes, t-pins, and scalpels are nice, but not essential.  Spend your money on the specimens instead.

Let’s Dissect!

 We are ready to dissect!  Let’s be real.  If I were staging these photos, the setting would not be my basement classroom.