AACT

 Do you teach Chemistry to a Co-op group?  You may want to join the American Association of Chemistry Teachers (AACT).  I like the Chemmatters articles.  I also like to browse the teacher resources for ideas.  My husband, Rob, and I want to add more rigor to our science classes.  You can browse ‘unlocked’ resources to help you decide.  The annual membership for teachers is $45.  There are professional webinars, too.  Take a look!

Glencoe Small Scale Chemistry Lab Manual

 Small Scale or micro-scale Chemistry originally was a novel concept.  Some science textbooks produced lab manuals, such as Glencoe Small Scale Lab Manual.  Many science teacher, especially Chemistry teachers use small scale or micro-scale labs to save money and because they are safer.  Teens are using tiny amounts of chemicals.  Take a look at this lab manual.  I recommend saving the document to Google Drive for Fall.  Take a look!

More Chemistry on a Budget

 Have you heard of the World Bank MicroScience Project?  Much of the project is sponsored by Radmaste.  Take a look at the Radmaste MicroChem starter kits.  Look at the Primary MicroScience Experiments.  Scroll down to Chapter Four/ Grade 7/ Acids and Bases, pp. 127-145.  The lab has detailed instructions for a household chemistry acid-base lab using pipes and a reaction plate.  (You could use a spot plate or inexpensive, plastic, paint palette.). Keep scrolling!  Look at the detailed lessons on home-made indicators and sodium bicarbonate.  (Add a plastic syringe to your lab list.). The following two lessons are actually titrations.  My point is that here is another example of high quality micr-scale chemical labs which fit nearly any budget.  Absolutely, I’m using them this coming school year.

More Chemistry on a Budget

 I just finished a week of Mad Science Camp.  I was reminded of many micro-scale and low-cost experiments. Micro-scale labs use small amounts of chemicals; these labs are both safer and cheaper.   Yes, you can buy MicroChem kits.  They are expensive!  What do you need to start?  You’ll need reaction plates (or paint pallets), pipettes, (or a medicine dropper), craft sticks, cassette cases (to hold pipettes), film canisters, a thermometer, drinking straws, q-tips, funnels, 10 mL graduated cylinders, and a 50 mL beaker.  You can do sophisticated labs, such as these four labs.  What about this Alka-Seltzer lab?  (Later blast off some Alka-Seltzer rockets.). Use pipettes; put them in cassette cases for this lab.  Look at these Flinn Scientific Micro-scale kits.  Do a search for the lab instructions with Google.  For example, here is the Micro-mole lab.  Below are a few pix from Camp this week of simple, low-cost tools to do Chemistry.  Take a look.

Last Day of Camp!

 One last day!  We did a bunch of Physic tricks: Balancing Bird, (Here is a balancing bird you can make!), inverting pop tops, Straw Through Potato, Rocket Ball, and Jumping Pepper.  We made Rotocopters and Flipsticks.  We did Alka-Seltzer rockets, Exploding Baggies, Cartesian Divers, and Lava Lamps.  I sent home Vortex or Tornado tubes; we were short on bottles.  Finally, the kids made ice cream in a bag.  I only have a handful of pix.  Here you go!

Study Wildlife!

Have you considered a wildlife study?  Let me share a few links.  Here is Project Wild, GLOBE  and Biosphere, an Amphibian Study.  Here is an outline for a wildlife curriculum.  The Boy Scout Wildlife Badge requirements, which make a great guide for a wildlife study.  How about bats?  One more—Cornell has excellent resources to study birds.

Mad Science Camp: Edible Chemistry

 Edible Chemistry is probably the most popular activity at Camp.  You can buy the kit.  Save the small bottles and mini-scoop for reuse.  The chemicals in the kit are baking soda, citric acid, red cabbage powder,  sodium alginate and calcium lactate.  The kit has food-grade calcium acetate.  Calcium lactate substitutes well for calcium acetate.  Baking soda is basic; citric acid is acidic.  

 Here and here  are a few red cabbage experiments.  Here are instructions to make red cabbage indicator solution from a head of red cabbage---even cheaper!  Try Edible Water Bottles with the sodium alginate and calcium lactate.  Try GummyWorms; substitute food-grade calcium lactate for calcium chloride.  Here is food-grade calcium chloride.  I keep the little containers and refill them.  I made up science kits with cassette cases, mini-test tubes, plastic pipettes, and craft sticks.  Put the contents in a plastic coffee can with the instructions.  

Mad Science Camp: Horse Power

 We did a bunch of fun activities: CD Spinners, UV Beads, Bouncy Balls, Sound Tubes,  Solar Tubes, Boomwhackers,  Elephant March. And   Face the Cookie (again).  My husband, Rob, was in charge of  Human Horsepower.  The kids lined up to weigh themselves,  stormed the back steps, and repeated the whole exercise three times, while I timed trials.  We distributed calculators and helped everyone compute their respective horsepowers.  Again, this contrasts with my style.  Here are UV beads and pipe cleaners.  Make a bracelet and see what happens when you go outside.  We’ve been working on learning Eddy Koochie Catchinary with hand motions.  Three boys decided Eddy is a cult and hold an initiation.  (Please understand that we are all devote Catholics.  The boys are being funny!)  Take a look!  Tomorrow we have to make slime!

Catapults, Poppers, and Chain Reactions.

 Today’s homework is to practice Craft Stick Chain Reactions.  None of us got it!  We had more success with Poppers and catapults.  The wide craft sticks seem to work better than narrow craft sticks.  Walmart sells a box of 1000 of the smaller craft sticks for about $5.  Jumbo craft sticks are about $11 for a box of 500.  Between Camp, Physics, and VBS, we go through many craft sticks.  I even use them as stir sticks in Science and for Genetics activities in Biology.  I like a few activities which are inexpensive; the kids can experiment and make several catapults.  I ran out of eyeball ping pong balls.  We’ll have to use plain ping pong balls for rocket balls 

Friday.

Elephant’s Toothpaste

 The kids made elephant’s toothpaste today.  My husband loathes messy experiments—which is why he teaches Math and Physics, not Chemistry.  A few kids loved it so much I sent home supplies to experiment: hydrogen peroxide and yeast.  Add a liberal about of dish soap and yeast.  We like to run ribbons of food dye down the sides of graduated cyclinders.  Water or soda bottles work well, too.  Here are instructions from Scientific American.  Take a look!

Egg Toss!

 Yes, this is a science activity!  My husband, Rob, teaches Physics.  Here  is his post about tossing eggs.  He approaches every experiment methodically.  For the egg toss, he begins by practicing with a tennis ball.  Next, the kids practice tossing rags to each other.  Then, the kids lob eggs at a bed sheet.  Finally, they lob and catch eggs with a cookie sheet.  First. Rob instructs the kids as to the method;  they practice with tennis balls, and finally eggs.  My strategy is to distribute eggs and looser instructions.  Mainly the kids toss eggs at the bed sheet.  I am always surprised how much the kids like tossing eggs.

Mad Science Camp: Day One

 After Camp, I totally forgot to post pix yesterday.  Take a look!