Rockets

 We keep a bucket with Pump Rockets and foam rockets in the basement for play emergencies. You can make Foam Rocket  toys. (Here is a similar design with a paper protractor, should you want to estimate the range.)  Wear safety glasses or goggles whenever you launch rockets!  We keep a large bin in the basement, too.

Make a Stomp Rocket.  

We love the water rocket toy, too!

We just bought the toy.  The Science Toymaker has made the Overhead Water Rocket Launcher into a project.

Have you made Straw Rockets?

Another classic rocket is the Film Canister Rocket.  Put 1/4th of an Alka-seltzer tablet into a film canister, fill with water, snap on the top, and run.  Next try a 1/2 tablet.  Usually a whole tablet reacts so quickly you can’t snap on the top before it erupts.  We perform rocket trials at the cul-de-sac down the street, away  from the neighbors.  Below, we tried the Exploding Art rockets on the sidewalk.  It was pink for weeks.

K20 Learn

 The University of Oklahoma has produced a website, K20 Learn, full of resources.  First, all of this is free,  largely under a Creative Commons License.  K20 has popped up in recent searches.  Let’s give it a look!

Look at Goodness Gracious, Great Balls of Fire! In order to access all of the materials I need to use the videos on the website and download the files to Google Drive.  The lesson is highly scripted.  (While I want to drive a fork into my eye whenever I read through scripted lessons, they are useful if you are unfamiliar with the material.) I like to stay on top of educational practices.  It doesn’t mean I adopt them.  I want to see what the method is, first.  I cannot see myself using Chain Notes.  When I taught I found Bell Ringers and Exit Notes anathema.  (I needed every minute of class time to teach!  Attendance takes about one minute.  If Admin insisted on Bell Ringers, we began with a question or problem germane to the lesson.)  The K20 science lessons are in 5E lessons.  (BSCS developed this model in the 1980s.  It’s a good approach!)    

Back to Great Balls of Fire and evaluating K20 Learn resources.  For whatever reason, the Lesson Slides are located on the website’s page at the bottom.  In the lesson slides are pictures of the videos, rather than embedded videos.  The teacher uses the script, video links, and resource links to teach.  This can be confusing.  Instead, let’s look at the resources.  Here is the background, Card Sort,   Card Sort Hand-out, Chat Station hand-out, and Chat Station Cards.  These resources and the video below are all useful.  What about the rest?  Not so much.  However, I don’t consider this sort of evaluation  a waste of time.  I hadn’t heard about S-I-T: Surprising, Interesting, Troubling.  Will I use it?  Doubtful.  I’m only interested in the materials which promote a lesson and help kiddos understand.  I’m willing to try the card sort and chat station to see if these help kiddos understand reactions and reaction types.  It’s also why I won’t immediately dismiss a new resource, even one chock-full of educational jargon and strategies.

Chemistry: Card Sorts

I test regularly; I assess all the time!  What’s the difference?  A test or quiz can be recorded and saved.  Assessment can be informal.  I want to gauge understanding.  This past year, we reviewed the names of the bones, muscles, and lobes regularly.  I was assessing whether or not the kiddos still knew the names.  One tool I use for assessment is a card sort.  A card sort is different from a Concept Map, which helps me see if a student understands both the terms and the relationships among the terms or concepts.

Card sorts are quick.  For example, right after a lesson, you can do a card sort.  The first time or two I do a sort as a group, especially with younger kiddos.  Go over the answers together.  If there are many mistakes, there is still confusion about the topic.  You can stop and address the problem immediately.  I see assessment as part of instruction. Below are card sorts with lesson material.

Solids Liquids and Gases is designed for younger kiddos.  Another good source are the Scientific Classification three-part, Montessori cards. Here is the basic why and how of three-part cards.

Physical or Chemical Properties: BiteSize Lesson and Physical and Chemical Properties Card Sort

Physical or Chemical Change: BiteSize Lesson  and Card Sort

Classify Chemical Equations: Types of Chemical Reactions lesson, Card Sort (no answer key), Card Sort 2 (Slide Deck with answer key)

Acid-Bases: Video and Card Sort using a Venn Diagram.

Gas Laws: Use the paper card sort (or just use the electronic gif) with Card Sort Hacks.  Keep the original card sort copy as an answer key.  Cut up the paper copy to use as a card sort.

It’s annoying to see that even card sorts are sold on TPT or Etsy.  Come on!  

Hot Hands Lab

 Walmart had HotHands on clearance at $0.50 for a two-pack.  I bought a bunch for Chemistry labs.  The younger kiddos can measure the temperatures of hot and cold packs directly with thermometers.  The high school class will do thermochemical labs and use the instant packs for comparison with their results.  If one of the teens is miles ahead of the class, he or she can try to devise a hot or cold pack.  Now I need a good deal on cold packs, too.  I just noticed the hot packs are adhesive backed.  I’ll have to watch where the kiddos stick them.

1. Designing a Hand Warmer is intended to AP Chemistry classes, as a project.  Make an Instant Cold Pack is easier; most cold packs have urea, ammonium nitrate or calcium ammonium nitrate as ingredients,  I like to have commercial products to make comparisons.  This version is more of a straight-forward calorimetry lab.  

2. Use the heat packs to measure the number of calories; Calories From a Heat Pack has a video and a lesson on calorimetry.  Use the same method to determine the number of calories in an instant cold pack.

3.  Hot & Cold Packs (1987) is a Chemmatters article, which explains the underlying chemical reactions.  Hot and Cold Packs tests exothermic and endothermic reactions.  My class will compare results with the instant packs.  Spoiler alert!  The commercial products are both hotter and colder for much longer periods of time.  Here is an instant cold pack lab.

Kitchen Pantry Magic Tricks

My home-school friends are basically done with school for the summer.  Many continue reading, gardening, field trips, etc over the summer, at a slower pace.  Guess what?  The kids start to get bored.  Write ideas in craft sticks and save them in a bin.  (Add easy ideas such as chalking outside, jumping rope, too.  Add chores!  The toilet can always be cleaned.)  I’m on the hunt for science ideas which are easy and interesting. Many kiddos love a magic trick.  Here are a few.  Make a stop at the library for a book of magic tricks to try, too!

1. Straw Through Potato has instructions, a video, and an explanation.

2. Floating Rice Bottle, like the Straw Through Potato experiment seems like a magic trick.  

3. It’s All About Air Pressure uses a cup, water, and an index card.  Do this trick outside or over the sink.  

4. Baggie and Pencil is sophisticated science.  The plastic polymers seal around the pencil.  

5.  Remote Control Roller is about static electricity, using an aluminum can and a balloon.  Do this on a day which is NOT humid.  Rib the balloon on your hair until your hair stands up.

Why am I going less digital?

 I posted Make Your Own Instructional Kits two days ago.  I am going more analog than ever this year.  Why?  There is more and more evidence that kids get too much tech in their instruction and that kiddos are using AI as a crutch (or to cheat).  Like you, my goal is for teens to understand and demonstrate their mastery of a topic—not their ability to use AI.  Sure, we’ll have the class organize their data on spreadsheets and write summaries with a device.  However, I’m going changing my approach.

As an example, there are many Concept Mapping Tools. I’m not using any of them, despite using them in the past.  Instead we’re all using index cards. Here is a site with a video explaining the process.  I write terms on to index cards.  How do these concepts relate to one another?  Can you group some of these terms?  Why did you select these groupings?  Teens tend to put cards into one of these four types of concept maps—especially hierarchical concept maps.  I made several sets of index cards for teams of students to use and produce a concept map on the table top—not a screen.

I’m going to be even stricter about devices and enlist parents to help.  Even in Co-op, some teens cheat.  I plan to insist that lab reports be hand written, not typed.  Too many kids can’t resist the siren song of AI.  Others are just too free about cutting and pasting material into their report.  (I don’t have a problem with kiddo using MLA online to cite their textbook or a website.)  My kiddos need more practice writing anyway.  

I made the mistake of letting the Advanced Biology class use Google Slides for their presentations.  The slide decks were beautiful; the content and understanding was not.  If we do any presentations, we’ll use trifold presentation boards instead.  I’m going to do more brain-storming this summer to find ways to minimize AI and promote meaningful instruction.

TI 83/84 Software Apps for Chemistry

 Texas Instruments (TI) has loads of apps for TI 83/84 calculators, which are widely used in math and science classes across the country.  Here are some of the apps for Chemistry.  Browse the activities and educators tab, too.  One of the most useful apps is Science Tools or SciTools.  It has unit conversions.  I teach the kiddos how to convert before I show them the app in the calculator.  The Periodic Table app has information to use when plotting Periodic Trends.  (Teens find tables of information to be easier to use than the calculator.)

TI graphing calculators are not intuitive.  Downloading or transferring data can be confusing.  The easiest method is to use a unit to unit transfer cable which works with TI 83 or TI 84 calculators.  Use a mini USB transfer cable for a transfer between TI 84 to TI 84 calculators.  (The method in the video is the same for TI 84 calculators.)  This process works if one calculator has the desired app and another doesn’t.  

I have run into compatibility issues.  For example, a TI 83 plus will send to a TI 83; a TI 84 can send to a TI 83–but not vice versa.  What if you don’t know someone with a graphing calculator already loaded with apps?  You can download data from a laptop to the graphing calculator with a TI Connectivity Kit.  

The TI 84 can also use this USB Computer Cable.  Be warned!  Downloading an app from TI is a production whenever you install programs from the computer.  Teens borrow my cable and download games.  Once one kiddo has the program, they use the mini-link to transfer apps to each other’s calculators.

Apart from SciTools, my favorite app is the Easy Data app, which is preloaded on TI 84 calculators.  As soon as you plug in the probe, the Easy Data software loads and recognizes the probe.

I invest time teaching the Chem class how to convert before introductions SciTools.  Most of the time, it’s handy to convert units in the middle of a problem—especially pressure units in gas law problems.  When I taught in public school, I had to watch teens to be sure they weren’t playing a game on their calculator—much like they do on their cell phones. I’m prepared to take away calculators or cell phones if they become a problem.  

I have GraphNCalc83 app on my iPads.  The format looks a bit different on an iPad from the calculator.  It is now free!  The Chemistry apps have Periodic Table properties, but not SciTools or Easy Data.

Why do I like TI 84 Graphing Calculators?

 Hey!  I have held off from writing about graphing calculators for awhile!  Summer is a good time to bid on calculators at Good Will.  (Frankly, I have had good luck with TI 83 and TI 84 calculators I bought from Good Will, but not those from eBay or Amazon.  Try to bid on those which power on and do NOT have any screen marks.)

Why do I like TI 84 models?  They are compatible with  Vernier’s EasyTemp probes and EasyLink interface. You can connect the EasyTemp  probe directly to the TI 84 graphing calculator.  The calculator comes with the EasyData software preloaded on the calculator.  The EasyLink interface allows a student to connect other Vernier probes, such as the pH probe to the calculator; not all probes connect.  Mainly I use the temperature and pH probes for Chemistry classes.  I love that my kiddos can use digital probes.

The probes, like the TI 84 calculators are sturdy.  One caveat: when the probes are connected they eat batteries.  BTW the EasyData software loads on the calculator automatically when a probe connects.  It recognizes the probe, too.  I think the EasyData quick guide is fairly clear.  You might have trouble locating the data collected; it saves data in the STAT file.  Most of the time, the teens just record the data from the screen.

The reason I like the TI 84 so much is that my kiddos have a fancy digital thermometer or pH probe right in their hands.  We do some calculator exercises in Math and Chemistry, too.  I want the home-school students to be familiar with graphing calculators before they go to college.

Why do I promote STEM?

 One of the main reasons I promote STEM so much is to keep home-school families from thinking their kiddos are somehow missing out from a valid science experience.  When I taught in private or public schools, I made it my mission to provide as many labs and hands-on activities as possible.  When I started to work with Co-ops, I continued to set a minimum of 30 labs per course, with a goal of 50 activities.  Yes, we often do two or three hands-on activities or labs per class.  Even when I lecture, I still have at least one mini-lab.  

Like you, I have heard a great deal of criticism about home-school math and science.  I am trying to deflect some of the criticism about science instruction.  (Private school teachers get a lot of disparaging remarks about math and science, too.) Ask families with children in public or private schools to tell you how many labs they do in their science classes.  You may be surprised.  As home-schoolers, we do have to over-deliver.

My mission with this blog is to both encourage you to do science and to find affordable labs and activities.  I do my best to locate labs which use household chemicals.  However HST usually has specialty chemicals  for some of the labs I cite in blog posts.  Do as many labs or hands-on activities as you can stomach!  Document your efforts.  Keep records!  Write formal lab reports.  Keep a portfolio for your transcript.  Let’s combat this misconception that we are somehow short changing our kiddos in science.

National Museum of the Marine Corps

Our family is in the middle of our May family and friend blitz.  When our son, Fr. Josh, is home we try to visit and host as many people as possible.  On our way home from Rock Hall, MD, we stopped at the Marine Corps Museum.  The museum has loads of docent-volunteers.  You can ask anything you’d like about the planes, guns, or Marine history.  Their Distant Learning Program has Mission MRE.  Go to the NMMC for the history, rather than STEM. The docents will do their best!   However, they do assist scouts with the Aviation Badge and host Virtual Programming.  (Scroll down to see Virtual workshops in September for pre-schoolers and K-2 grades.). NMMC has four STEM Videos.  Watch the calendar for home-school events and virtual programs.  The museum is a great way to celebrate the 250th anniversary of our nation.  Get ready for a great experience when you visit.

American Girl Doll STEM

 I have some young friends who adore their American Girl dolls.  (BTW I have had a blast sewing outfits.)  The little girls meet after Mass in the Fellowship Hall to play with their dolls together.  My friend, Jen, is using the American Girl History books to design unit studies for her daughter, Sophie.  There is so much literature available for these history studies, such as the Little House series.  So fun!

Is there STEM?  It turns out there is Doll STEM.  I think this is fabulous!  

Lottie Dolls has some fun ideas, such as taking the doll with you to a science museum.  (I made Sophie an American Heritage Uniform for her doll.  She took her in uniform on a field trip.)  You could find doll accessories and sew a lab coat. Make a pair of safety goggles.  (Yes, she could wear her glasses or sunnies!)  Set the doll up at the counter while your daughter does experiments.  Better yet, have your little girl do the experiment and make a video for her doll to watch and review when they home-school.  (BTW your little girl might need a slate).  

Summer Food Science

 Okay, let’s explore the whole gamut of summer, food science.  Sure, Ice Cream in a Bag, mini-ice cream, or Slushies are obvious summer hits, along with DIY Solar Oven S’mores, all standards.   Write those ideas on craft sticks for your coffee can bin of ideas when kiddos whinge they are bored.  But, I’m talking about some serious science, such as Making Ice Cream or Vanilla  from Chemmatters.  The ideas below are all engaging.  Who doesn’t like practical science applications?

1. Bread: Chapter on Yeast Dough has different dough methods such as straight dough method or sponge method.  The excerpt is from a textbook.  It’s a great place to start to experiment with different doughs.  Comparing Flours is a mini lesson with some terms to learn and basic labs.   Did you know that when you make DIY sourdough starter you are capturing wild yeast?  You can use any flour to make sour dough starter.  (I buy instant sour dough yeast and make a boule; I don’t want another pet.)  Test your DIY starter with different flours, such as rye, whole wheat, or bread flour.  Friends with gluten sensitivities may be able to tolerate spelt bread.  Bread can be an elective over the summer.  Learn all about different flours, doughs, yeasts, and methods, and the science of enriched breads.  (Can you tell I’m on a low carb diet?)

2. Canning: The 4-H Food Preservation Unit from Mississippi is all about canning vegetables.  Start here with the basics.  Consult the Water-Bath Canning guide, too.  This is a good guide describing which foods can be canned in a boiling water bath and which must be pressure-cooked.  Try Jam first; it’s pretty forgiving.  If you’re uneasy about the canning method your teen used to make the jam, you can just refrigerate it and eat it immediately, safely. (Yes, I do have experience with kiddos!)

3. Our household likes to make instant Christmas presents, such as home-made extracts.  Extracts take minutes to make and need weeks to months to flavor the vodka. Voila! Instant Christmas presents to make ahead in the summer.   I put extra bottles on the shelf with dated labels.  I buy glass bottles at IKEA.  (Yes, you may garner strange looks at the liquor store when you buy a huge bottle of vodka and don’t look like you drink alcohol.  Ask me how I know.)  There is science in vanilla extract.  I want to try almond extract. Coffee Extract is another hit as a present.  Flavorful Food is from Chemmatters; 

4.  What about an entire food curriculum? 4-H Food Science, 4-H Exploring Food Science, At Home Healthy Eating Guide, and Kitchen Science all have great ideas to extend your food research.  Do you want more Vitamins? Protein? Carbs?  Let your child take the lead.

Start with one animal to make a food web.

 Now is the time to get ready for Biology in the fall.  Start with one animal!  Ideally, I encourage my students to select species which are native to Virginia.  Kiddos can look outside to see local species of wildlife and plants.  Here is how to create a food web.  First begin with one animal.  Let’s start with a cardinal.  What does it eat?  Where does it nest?  With whom does it compete for resources?  What animals eat cardinals?  This leads to more species of both plants and wildlife.  Add to the list. For example, squirrels eat baby cardinals.  Add squirrels to the list.  What do they eat, in addition to acorns?  (Add acorns, too!) In which trees to they prefer to nest?  What animals prey on their young?  Be sure to add plan species.  Include lichens, Virginia creeper, and poison ivy.  See how much the list has grown?  Once the kiddos is stumped for a new animal, make a few suggestions, such as bats or brown bears.  (As a parent, it’s not cheating to do a Google search.  You are a busy person!)  Each new animal should lead to any number of insect, plant, and animal species.  Once the kiddos is has 100 species, look up their scientific names.  I suggest a spreadsheet.  Now, it’s time to organize the species into a food web. Here are brief instructions.

Science can be low key!

In our family, we are all animal lovers.  Right now, my son is home.  Fr. Josh is a Catholic priest, currently with the Military Archdiocese, in the Air Force, as a chaplain.  There is a week-long retreat in Tampa.  The past two years, we met my family to spend a week-end together in Tampa, after his retreat..  While we have visited Lowry Park Zoo, (now Zoo Tampa) we didn’t this time.  Instead, we like to watch any animals we happen to see—even roosters out for a stroll!  Okay, when we visit family in Ocala, I do want to see the monkeys at Silver Spring Park.  (BTW, the glass bottom boat usually has an expert scientist on board.)  Here is an article about the monkeys.  Sorry, the egrets and herons just aren’t as fun as watching monkeys.

Yes, my family is scattered like shrapnel.  We’re off to visit more family in a tiny town, Rock Hall, Md.   Near Rock Hall, is the Eastern Neck National Wildlife Refuge.  Here are some of the species.  Look for the osprey nests in tall platforms.  The Lawrence Wetlands Preserve is in Chestertown, Md.  We can go for a walk and see shore birds.  Rock Hall is located right along the Chesapeake Bay.  Like your family, travel often means visiting relatives.  Take a walk!  Hike a trail!  Science doesn’t have to be all tech or STEM.  What are the plants and wildlife like in the area you’re visiting?

Collect photos of bridges!

 There are people who collect bridges they see or drive over.  Some collect covered bridges or historic bridges.  You could take photos of different types of bridges.  Now it’s STEM-related!  We go back and forth over the Chesapeake Bay Bridge a duel-span suspension bridge, on our route to visit family in Rock Hall, MD.  I can ride over the bridge; I am one of those people Afraid to Drive Over the Bridge.  I’ve made it across hyperventilating a few times.  Once, I couldn’t maintain speed;  I never exceeded about 20 mph.  You can imagine the cars beeping their frustrations.  Surprise!  The additional pressure made it even harder to put my foot on the gas.  Yes, I have had a driver take me over several times.   The bridge crew would like advance notice.  I prayed my way over the Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel, a trestle bridge, exactly once. There are any number of cool bridges: New River Gorge, an open-spandrel arch bridge,  Mackinac Bridge, another suspension bridge, Steubenville, Ohio and Sunshine Skyway Bridge , both cable-stayed bridges, the Peace Bridge, unusual truss span, Pittsburgh (143 bridges), NYC—especially the Brooklyn Bridge, a hybrid, Golden Gate, a suspension bridge, to name a few.  The American Society of Civil Engineers list The top 5 bridges 2026, Eight Standout Steel Bridges, Top Five Longest Bridges in the USA, and 20 Iconic Bridges.  Take photos and research the bridge type,.  You may need a spreadsheet.  I doubt I’ll collect bridges—but I may consider it.  There are so many beautiful bridges.  Since I’m teaching Physical Science I should include bridges.

Civil Engineering: Build Bridges and Towers

Kiwi Co has a Civil Engineer Starter Kit. (Good Will has one listed.). You definitely don’t need a kit!  Most bridge and tower challenges use paper, straws, or craft sticks.  You can use blocks with tiny kiddos.

Civil engineers build bridges and towers.  This British version, Civil Engineering Challenge, is written for Girl Guides.  The language in the text can be confusing.  Jelly is Jello.  What’s a chocolate twirl?  The material in the booklet is different from most bridge challenges I’ve seen which focus on the bridge or tower, not the soil or foundation.  Below are conventional bridge and tower challenges, lessons, and activities.  Add ‘build a bridge or tower’ to your summer can of ideas on craft sticks to do when the kiddos are bored.

1. Bridge Up! is a complete curriculum with different lessons for grades K-12.  The links all work.  There are novel activities, such as Making Concrete. (I noticed some of the links are Wikipedia, which some teachers and families find anathema. I don’t.  I know people who have strong opinions about Wikipedia.)

2.  The Center for Architecture has a number of Teacher Resource Packets; sometimes museums expect teachers to provide some basic instruction before the tour.  Look at Building Bridges; the flash cards are terrific!  

3.  Designing Bridges is a unit study before you try a Toothpick Bridge, Popsicle Bridge, Coffee Stirrers, or Straw Bridge.

4. Towers fit into Civil Engineering, too.  Nature Play Tours has natural tower ideas with pix.  Tall Tower Challenge uses straws.  Dot Tours uses index cards. Windy City Towers uses paper and has pictures—in case you’ve never done a paper tower challenge.  They used to be popular ice-breakers at conferences, along with Spaghetti Towers.  

5.  Try these 5 Engineering Challenges.

Make your own instructional kits.

 As a Co-op instructor, I teach the science classes, some of them on repeat, such as Chemistry.  Therefore, I make instructional kits.  I’ve seen beautiful binders with sheet protectors used to organize and save all of the lessons and materials.  Since I am more of a pile-file organizer, my system is different.  Some materials are boxed—not the DIY kits. 

What works for me is a giant mailing envelope with the instructions, an answer key, and bags or envelopes for the students.  These kits are jammed on a shelf in the basement, making them easy to locate.  Below are a few of my kits.

Basement Pile Shelf

POGIL Dimensional Analysis and practice cards

It’s in the Cards

Plotting Trends

Putting Ions in Their Hands (printed on colored card stock)

Periodic Table Cards and PT Table to memorize elements

Sets of vocabulary terms for students to create concept maps.

Let’s plant!

 I’ve been making a daily inspection of the plants at our house.  Last summer, we hired a neighbor kid to clean out the iris bed.  We gave away at least 40, replanted a bunch in the back, and finally had Tyler dump the dirt with bulbs and roots in the back yard.  Surprise!  We have loads of irises. Sadly, we don’t have a lovely, manicured yard—just loads of irises.  The small porch and back deck are crowded with pots and planters.

 I have had success with amaryllis bulbs, snake plants, and Purple Heart plants.  I over-winter a bunch of plants and have had good results getting orchids to rebloom.  No, I don’t have a green thumb. Aside from the orchids, most of my plants thrive on neglect.  

Now is supposed to be a good time to propagate plants.  We’ve been propagating Purple Heart every spring for years.  How?  We cut back the plant and put the cuttings in soil and  keep them moist for a few weeks.  

I’m trying this method with Kalanchoe.  I cut off some pieces and jammed them in moist soil.  Period.

I like to start herbs from seeds.  I plant seeds outside in boxes and keep them moist.

I bought bag of begonia and canna bulbs.  The canna are just starting to emerge; the begonias are coming in.

Ironically, this year, I’m struggling to get the zinnias to sprout.  Zinnias!  I bought a big, two-pound bag.  I’ve reseeded several pots three or four times!  

Did you know you can divide amaryllis bulbs?  Right now I have five bulbs, which re-bloom on their own. I may need another bag of soil.   (BTW we don’t keep all of these plants.  We give them away all the time.  Don’t forget your parting gift!)  

Use tech as a tool!

Did you see the WSJ article, How YouTube Took Over the American Classroom?  The article focuses on YouTube as a vehicle kiddos use to access all manner of tech.  But, many of us are concerned with tech, not just YouTube.  In the local district, most of the instruction occurs on Chromebooks.  Students don’t use textbooks.  Are the teachers getting ebooks as textbooks?  Do teacher piece together their courses with the Standards of Learning rather than a textbook?  Are the teachers relying on individual curricula, such as It’s Not Rocket Science or Amoeba Sisters?  I suspect too many districts have abandoned textbooks.  I want a textbook students can read.  Yes, many kiddos are scanning the textbook in search of answers to study guide questions.  Fine.  They are still using their books.  

I love to add a bit of tech.  My classes start with slide decks and discussions.  I rigged an old laptop and iPad with an old TV to use in the basement.

But, tech is a tool.  Do I use videos?  Sure, in Anatomy.  I made instructional videos for Chemistry, in case a kiddo is absent or gets stuck.  In reality, the student usually just stays after class for help.  We have lessons on using the graphing calculator or spreadsheets, especially with labs or math class.  (I show kiddos the SciTools app on the TI83/84 after I teach conversions.) I have an entire set of older PASCO SPARKvue.

What’s the difference in my approach to tech?  Apart from the slide decks, most of the tech I use or introduce is interactive.  They are tools for labs or activities.  Let the tech you use support the curriculum, not supplant the curriculum.  Sometimes teachers  manage classes without any direct instruction. Student watch a video, complete guided notes, and take a quiz.  I check in with young friends who attend the local, public schools.  They aren’t doing many hands-on labs or activities—even in their science classes.  If you are going it alone and trying to teach your teen physics, (or any subject outside your area) by all means, use every resources available.  But, have your child read and use the textbook.  Do hands-on labs.  Don’t let a video substitute for a lab.  Sure, kids could watch a demo in Chemistry, especially if the chemicals are expensive.  They will be better off doing their own lab using baking soda and citric acid.  Use tech judiciously, as an aid.

Types of Periodic Tables

 Chemistry requires several types of Periodic Tables.  Each one has a different purpose.  You may want to begin with Mendeleev’s Periodic Table and a brief history.  The Race to Invent the Periodic Table is only about five minutes.  Mendeleev’s table was accepted because he left gaps for new elements—which were discovered in his lifetime.  (It’s in the Cards is one of my favorite activities.)  Below are a bunch of different types.

1. One early activity is to Color Code the Periodic Table.  Here is a colorful version; however, I assigned specific colors to families of elements when the kiddos do the Periodic Table cards, a summer assignment.  I like to be consistent to help them associate a group with a color, to remember the group.

2. I use a stack of blank copies which only the symbols for quizzes.  My teens must memorize 1-50.

3. Additionally, I print copies with the names for quick reference.

4.  Usually, the Periodic Chart of Ions is printed double-sided with a table with names and symbols.

5.  When we do Periodic Trends, we use Electronegativities. Here is an interactive table with all sorts of I formation to use for trends: density, atomic radius, melting point, boiling point, and first ionization energy.  (Here is a 3D Periodic Trend lab.) Ironically, the kiddos model their trend, including electronegativity on a plain Periodic Table.

6.  IUPAC sets standards; here is the IUPAC Periodic Table.

7. I like Britannica’s PT with Roman numerals. Here is the explanation; the Roman numeral for the group represents the number of valence electrons, or number of electrons available for bonding.  (Don’t confuse this with the Stock System, the Roman numerals used when the element forms differently charged ions with different oxidation states.)

On another note, I added a few transition elements to my card deck.  For a few, I used Alchemical Symbols with their Latin names.