Boy is this idea counter-intuitive! Often I start a lesson with a lab or an activity. Here is one example: Soda Can Calorimetry. (Video is below.) I show the kids how to set up the lab and how to collect the data. The kids perform the lab and save the data. Basically, they burn food and measure the change in the temperature of water in the soda can. After the lab, I explain just what calorimetry is and how to calculate the calories in the food they just burned. As we work though the data calculations, I ask the kids what calorimetry means, which food has more calories, just what is a calorie or a kilocalorie, and discuss sources of error. At the same time, I ask the kids how many calories are actually in a potato chip or an almond. I have them calculate percent error. The lion share of my instruction is done after the lab. I’ll use the soda can calorimetry apparatus as props.
You don’t need a background in Chemistry. Apologia’s Chemistry textbook has a specific heat of metals experiment in Module Two. (The second video explains how to set up the specific heat lab.) Do this experiment before you read the module. As your teen works through the experiment, ask what specific heat is, why do you heat the metal, and where does the heat go? Yes, open the textbook and look it up! What is the foddered email between heat and temperature? Start with the experiments and work backwards. Your teen will gain a greater understanding of each topic.
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