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Unit 4.2 Chemical Systems in
Everyday Life
In this unit teachers are shown using concrete examples
and everyday events to teach about problem solving and the
concept of a chemical system like equilibrium.
Video program cues: 5:30 — 14:35
Chemical systems
Students’ ideas
"I guess if it’s a system and it’s
a chemical system, it’s got chemistry in it and, depending
on what that system is, there are various aspects and usually
there’s a cyclic flow to it, like in the carbon cycle."
"A chemical system…well, I really don’t know,
but it could be the combining of one chemical with another,
to make something, combining these two things might be a
chemical system, to make something reactive or something
new."
"And if you ever want to make something you have to
know about chemistry in order to put things together, to
create something totally new, you can create, I’ll
make up a word for it, you know, to create electro-magno-pluto
…that’s something weird, you could give it any
name you want."
Reading
Rossi, F. M. (1997)' Writing in an Advanced Undergraduate
Chemistry Course: An Assignment Exploring the Development
of Scientific Ideas, 'Journal of Chemical Education,
Vol. 74, No. 4, pp: 395-396.
Chemistry in everyday life
"Every thing we wear is touched by the
hands of the chemist. The music we hear is touched by the
hand of the chemist. The perfume in the air in Washington
cocktail parties is all chemicals. Chemistry is not going
to go away. What we do have to do is to make sure that both
chemists and non-chemists know a responsible way of working
with chemistry and everything that it can do for us."
Sylvia Ware
American Chemical Society, Washington, D.C.
Teaching based on the familiar
Teachers’ forum
"I think you have to relate it to what
they are used to. Students are used to, for example, chemical
reactions. If you can relate it to dating, which is something
that they’re all very familiar with, different types
of reactions, different couples in a relationship. And when
we do that, the students are very interested in that because
that’s something that they are very interested in.
So I think it’s coming back to their everyday lives."
Kelly Rottman
Watkins Mill High School, Maryland
Reading
Parrill, Abby L. (2000)' Everyday Chemical Reactions: A
Writing Assignment to Promote Synthesis of Concepts and
Relevance in Chemistry, 'Journal of Chemical Education
Vol. 77, No. 10, pp: 1303-1305.
Water softening laboratory
Isoke Baptiste’s students observe that rsoap doesn't
lather up in hard water due to the presence of Mg+2
and Ca+2 ions.
Activity
Reading
Ceretti, H., Hughes, E. A., Zalts, A. (1999)' The Softening
of Hard Water and Complexometric Titrations: An Undergraduate
Experiment Journal of Chemical Education, Vol. 76,
No. 10, pp: 1420.
| Proceed
to Unit 4.3 |
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