"Unit 8" and venting

I haven't had a lot to update lately because we've been in a furiously of trying to cover the standards before the EOC.

Last week, we did do the Describing Chemical Reactions Lab in Unit 7.  It's a good lab.  It went well.  I took zero pictures.

We sadly got to spend only a block and a half of on stoichiometry.  It wasn't enough, but we have so much more to cover.

We have now entered "Unit 8" which is not the same as Unit 8 in the modeling curriculum.  I've had to create "Unit 8- Models of the Atom" myself for all of those hodge podge of standards that we have yet to cover-- namely protons, neutrons, and electrons.  And unfortunately, we have zero time for inquiry.  It's been a hellacious week of direct teaching so far.  Yesterday we got through Rutherford and Bohr, with drawing Bohr models and determining valence electrons from the Bohr model.  Today, we learned Lewis diagrams and isotopes.  Tomorrow we'll finish up isotopes by talking about nuclear reactions (a HUGE chunk of standards for my state).  Thursday we'll do the quantum model of the atom and e-config (not.enough.time).  Friday we will begin practice testing/review.  Mon-Wed next week will be review days, although I am not guaranteed to that I will see all my students every day because of their other EOCs.  Thursday is our EOC.

Time to freak out?  Um... yeah.

I truly dislike Tennessee's state standards for chemistry.  I have not compared them to other state's standards, but I find them entirely too broad, yet detailed at the same time.  There is no possible way you can teach your average junior EVERYTHING in our chemistry standards to the level of mastery they expect in a single course.  They expect them to understand atomic theory in depth from Democritus thru the quantum model.  They expect them to draw Bohr models and understand, write, and identify electron configuration.  They expect them to know properties of matter, including properties of solutions, colligative properties, molarity, molality-- the later two they need to know how to calculate.  They are supposed to know thermochem and calorimetry-- including solving specific heat problems.  Heat of solvation, heat of reaction, heat of formation, and heat of phase change are all in the standards.  They expect them to understand the kinetic molecular theory of matter and solve gas law problems: combined gas law and ideal gas law.  They need to know about the arrangement of the periodic table.  They need to write the proper and common names of ionic and covalent compounds and understand the bonding.  They need to know polyatomic ions.  They need to be able to balance chemical and nuclear equations.  They need to be able to write net ionics and predict reaction products from the 5 main types of chemical reactions.  They need to know acid/base reactions, they need to use an activity series, they need to do stoichiometry problems.  They need to differentiate between alpha, beta, and gamma radiation and utilize half-lives.  They need to know about heat transfer in both chemical and nuclear reactions.  They need to differentiate between nuclear fission and fusion.  They're supposed to be able to argue the pros and cons of nuclear energy.  And I haven't even gotten to the math standards:  percent composition, percent yield, percent error, graphing, unit conversions, sig figs, accuracy/precision in measurements.  Then there's also inquiry standards and embedded engineering standards.  IT'S TOO MUCH!!!!!!

I have never been able to get through all of the chemistry standards in my entire career.  Most of my co-workers have the same problem.  The few that brag about easily completing all of the standards are the "textbook" teachers-- read a chapter, answer the questions, take a test.  They don't spend time on labs (which "perform and understand laboratory procedures" is indeed one of the inquiry standards).  At the end of the course, the students come away with nothing.

I'm not proud of how this semester has gone, but I still believe I can make the chemistry modeling curriculum work for me and my students with some tweaking.