How do you heat solutions in Chemistry lab without a gas burner?

 When I taught professionally, I had Bunsen burners.  Like my colleagues, we used them as seldom as possible.  (The gas has a switch behind a panel, which remains locked.)  Have you seen 40 kids doing lab in a classroom?  It’s terrifying!  We all used sets of electric burners whenever possible.  It makes an excellent source of heat—especially if you aren’t wild about using your kitchen stove.  I’m not a fan of alcohol burners.  Too often a kiddos knocks them over and produces a waterfall of fire.  Yikes!

I use an electric kettle to heat water for hot water baths, too.

Whenever possible, we use tea candles.  They are safer and cheaper—my favorite type of equipment!  You can use tea candles with a small, camp stove.  The pellets sold for camp stoves burns very hot!  I prefer tea candles.  I like to use a cutting board, cork coaster, or bread stone with any heat source.

  

Lastly, we use Sterno for some labs such as the flame test lab.

Yes, there are portable burners.  Good grief!  Look at the prices!

Lastly, I want to try microburners in lab.  They do use alcohol, but fit into a combination, reaction plate.  The microburner and combination plate are in RADMASTE kits.  The tiny burners use only a small amount of alcohol and are secured in the reaction plate.  I’m willing to try—under close supervision.  I found a lot of RADMASTE kits online.  They are scarce in the U.S.  Flinn sells microscale equipment.  However, you need to call customer service and have materials sent to a business. They have mailed to the church office before.  

Snap Circuits!

 Rob, my husband, teaches Physics.  He loves Snap Circuits.  Did you know Good Will lists sets of Snap Circuits regularly?  They do!  

You are going to need a few replacement parts; kiddos burn out the fan motor and lose the fans.  Ask me how I know.

Rob starts with Snap Circuits when he teaches Electricity. The instruction manual has circuit diagram symbols and tiered activities designed to introduce kiddos to the fundamentals of electrical circuits. Here are teacher and student guides.  Here is a teacher’s guide, designed for grades 3-5, although suitable for older kiddos, too.  Elenco has  a YouTube Channel. (This slide deck about Snap Circuits, is intended for students with special needs.)  Electricity 101 is a home guide.  Your child assembles the Snap Circuits and answers questions. Honestly, Rob pulls the Snap Circuits kits, distributes guides, and lets the teens play with circuits—ideally doing some of the projects.  It’s a great way to introduce circuits.

Instant Science: LEGO Klutz Kit

 This past summer, I gave the kiddos Klutz Chain Reaction kits.  They were a hit!  Chain Reactions, Gadgets, and Gear Bots come with a set of LEGOs and an instructional book.  My target price is about $5 a set.  Look at this blog post and this blog post.  Both mirror my experience.  The kiddos had all the right parts and easy to follow instructions—even six year olds!  This is one of my favorite types of informal instruction.  Give your kiddos a kit and let them play.  They’re engineering!  

Nuclear Energy

 The WSJ just posted an article, The Public Backs Nuclear Energy.  I’m a fan of nuclear energy.  Years ago I took a teacher program.  Subsequently, I’ve taught aspects of Nuclear Energy whenever I can squeeze it in.  Are there issues?  Of course!  But, remember there are pros and cons to every type of energy resource; apart from radiation risks, the big issue with nuclear energy is long-term waste storage.  Below are resources.  

1. Outline History of Nuclear Energy is a good place to start.  Create a giant timeline!  Include key scientists or focus on a chronology of events.

2. inquiryHub Chemistry has a Nuclear Energy unit, intended for classrooms. (High School Chemistry classrooms often use this iHub curriculum with phenomena and storylines.) The lessons use in-vogue techniques designed for large classrooms.  I find some of the techniques hokey.   However, it gives you a complete framework.

3.  I think the Middle-School level program, The Harnessed Atom (teacher’s guide) is worthwhile.  Here is the student’s guide.  There are more links here at the Nuclear Museum’s webpage.

4.  For years I used Science, Society, and America’s Nuclear.  (Here are recent policy recommendations for nuclear waste.). I still like the program and ideas.  The NRC Lessons and Activties are quite similar.  Be sure to calculate your annual dose of radiation.  The results may surprise you.  Another of my favorites is Radioactive Decay Chains.  The Mousetrap Chain Reaction is the classic demo for an uncontrolled, nuclear, chain reaction.  

5.  Did you know tourists can visit Chernobyl and Fukushima?  Chernobyl is currently closed owing to the war in Ukraine.  Would you want to visit the site of a nuclear disaster?  Hard pass, for me.  I am fascinated by the idea of touring Chernobyl.

Let’s talk about lab reports!

We’re in the countdown to a new school year.  Let’s discuss lab reports.   The last time I taught Biology, the group was particularly needy; several kids had learning differences.  Others just required more attention.  Rob and I taught together—just to handle the numbers.  I got an email from a mom in January asking about formal lab reports.  This had never happened before.  I was so engaged in keeping the kids on task, behaving, and up to date in assignments I hadn’t assigned any lab reports.  At all.  Guess what?  We wrote a batch.  You can, too.  Pick four rigorous labs, do them, and write the reports all at once.  Heresy!  It’s practical.  Science one week will be labs and reports.  

Here is my lab report rubric.  The Co-op science classes (typically) assign four, formally written, lab reports for each course.  Several students are enrolled in Kolbe, Seton, or Mother of Divine Grace; they require four lab reports. Fine.  Did you know Apologia has a guide, How To Write A Lab Report?  Germanna is the local community college network; their Writing a Formal Lab Report is excellent.  BTW not every lab has a hypothesis; more often a lab has a purpose.  For example, the first lab in Chemistry is a density lab; the purpose is to review metric measures.  I loathe if/then statements.  My teens include the purpose in the background section.

There are many ways to assess labs, in addition to reports.  What else do we do?  We collect and analyze data in a spreadsheet, or this density spreadsheet.  Students may complete calculations in data sheets, such as in the Specific Heat of Metals lab, Density Lab, or the Flame Test Kit.  I have had students prepare videos explaining labs they completed, such as this example, Chemistry Experiment 5.1.  Students with learning differences often answer questions orally.  I’m assessing what they gained from the lab.  Every lab is different.  Quick labs, such as Reaction in a Bag, have observations and questions to answer.  My teens dilute Kool-Aid and submit their calculations.  See?  There are loads of effective ways to assess, some of which includes formal lab reports.

Why do I do so many labs?

 Did you ever wonder where all the pristine, used  kits available on eBay or at Good Will originate?  In some cases, families switched courses after ordering a kit; other, expensive kits may have been presents.  Sometimes, the family just decides to skip the labs and focus on the science textbooks.  Do the labs!  For the longest time, I prioritized the textbook and lecture over the labs.  (Sure we did some.)  I was teaching professionally and encountered the most difficult chemistry students in my career, a Conceptual Chemistry class.  They kiddos had behavioral issues.  Many had profound learning differences.  So many of my teaching tools didn’t work.  Guess what worked?  Hands-on labs.  I loaded up labs.  One student had a close friend in one of my college-bound chemistry classes.  She asked why her class seldom did labs?  The Conceptual class did fun things all the time!  I had an epiphany!  If more labs worked with the most difficult teens I had ever encountered, wouldn’t more labs work with any kid?  

More often than not, I start with a lab or hands-on activity.  Sure, I have an overview or brief introduction.  But, I launch the lab ASAP.  Why?  Once the teens do the lab we can talk about the concept.  I can use the equipment as props to discuss the underlying science.  I added C-E-R , Concept Maps , and hands-on replacements for nomenclature, such as Putting Ions in Their Hands.  Eventually, I did some consulting on ways to integrate more hands-on instruction in science classes.  I never looked back.  Do my classes read their textbooks?  Of course!  However, the content in the textbook, just like the direct instruction, is more meaningful after a lab, a demo, or a hands-on activity.  Don’t skip the lab.  Try doing the experiment first!  What do you have to lose?  You may see that the kiddos come away with a deeper understanding.  I do!

Tips to make labs safer

 Are you worried about the safety of labs?  I’ve taught 40 kiddos using gas jets.  Terrifying. There was always one lab group I had to police closely.  (By closely I mean sit at the lab station, threaten them, and critique their lab techniques sharply.)  What can you do to keep labs safe?  

1. Review Lab Safety.  Establish consequences.  My kiddos must wear safety glasses during any lab.  Period.  If I catch you removing your safety glasses, you clean all of the lab stations for every group.  Kiddos hate to clean.  My teens have worn their safety glasses home.

2.  Stick with the labs in the textbook.  These labs are written for kiddos doing labs at home. Wear your safety glasses!

3. Read and follow directions exactly.  Don’t skip or substitute steps.  Do the lab as written.

4.  Go microscale.  Microscale uses drops instead of milliliters or liters of chemicals.  The pipettes hold a max of three milliliters.  Even more dangerous chemicals, such as HCl or NaOH are safer when dealing with a few drops.  Smaller amounts are safer—even with the one kiddo who insists on mixing all of the solutions or squirts a little on his lab partner.  

5.  Dilute all chemicals. Initially, all of the labs use highly diluted solutions.  If the lab calls for 0.1 M chemicals, mine are 0.01 M.  I very seldom use 1 M concentrations at all.  

Maintain strict lab procedures.  Use the least amount of chemicals possible.  Follow directions explicitly.  Whenever possible, use household chemicals (not ammonia and bleach). Skip any lab which requires lye or ammonium nitrate.  Let’s pray for safe labs and kiddos who follow directions.

Chose Apologia!

 Years and years ago I chose Apologia’s textbooks for the Co-op Science classes.  Why?  Initially, the family friends who had asked me to teach Co-op classes all used Apologia.  I found the textbooks to be sound pedagogically.  The textbooks put God at the center of creation. What a great combination! Apologia’s textbooks are free from much of the propaganda or controversial issues pervading many commercial, science textbooks.  (I do steer clear of evolution or human reproduction in Biology and Human Biology.  Both issues are treated sensitively; however, I want the Co-op families’ trust.  Parents teach these two topics at home when they see fit.)  Do I add? Yes, I do add material, activities, and labs.  But, the kiddos have everything they need academically in the Apologia science textbooks.  I just have a few more ideas to make classes more engaging or techniques proven to help students understand concepts more readily.  Apologia is a company you can trust!  Did you know there is an Apologia Facebook group?  Yes, many of the posts are science textbooks for listings.  However, some families post questions, too.  Consider joining!

Things you never knew you needed……

 There are so many things listed as either scientific or educational you never knew you needed!  I learn a lot browsing Good Will online.   I am very tempted by the IV kits.  I had an emergency appendectomy where the nurse fished for several minutes trying to insert a IV until my husband who was watching passed out.  Phlebotomy seems like a useful skill.  Good Will has a nice assortment of items.  Just look at those teeth!

Do you have plans to monetize your site?

 Nope, I am not going to monetize this blog.  Why?  I am tired of having to create a subscription to access an interesting idea or experiment.  Too many TPT labs already exist.  Should you pay for a demo or lab which has been around for many, many years?  I think not.  And ads?  Some sites are so cluttered with ads it’s hard to read the content.  Let’s go old-school and keep it free!  (BTW I work with VBS, a Faith Camp, and religious education classes.  I am happy to pay for a project or patterns  an individual has created.)   I’ll continue to hunt down free sources of interesting activities or labs which really have been around forever—no strings attached!

Why do I blog?

 I’ve blogged for a long time.  Originally, I started a blog to document labs.  I had had some push back from an online class.  Was the class lab-based?  Really.  So I posted pix from every lab.  When I got more of a challenge, I provided the blog link, along with my credentials.   I just got in the habit of writing.  I used the blog to organize lessons.  It was a tool for parents.  What did we do in class?  Annually, I provided the blog link to the online schools and posted it to my resume.  

The question is, ‘Why do I continue to blog?’  I remember how isolated I was when I first started to teach.  For many, many years, I was the only Chem teacher.  I can only imagine what a parent or Co-op teacher feels when they encounter a Bio or Chem class for the first time (or only time). Who is there for you?  I love different ideas!  I want to share them with you!  Who knows what may resonate.  Also, I like to track down resources which are free and share them with them.  I find it annoying to see an experiment and then learn the person wants to sell it.  Boooo!  Most of the time, the experiment, demo, or activity is NOT original.  I like to track down the original.  Most of the reason I continue to write is to share ideas—all while remaining accountable for my classes.  When I find a good idea, frequently I revise my own lessons.  I need to document labs projects, and reports.  Who knows when one of the online schools is going to give me a hard time about my Co-op classes.  Again.