Unit 1 Reflections Continued...

This is how I feel about my current chemistry classes:



"I take two steps forward, I take two steps back..."  <--- STORY OF CHEMISTRY THIS SEMESTER!  Just when I think we're beginning to make progress, my students lock up the brakes.

I don't want to blame my students per se... but they are beyond unmotivated.  Not poorly behaved, just unmotivated.  I cannot get any effort out of them.  They want to be spoon-fed the answers and that's it.

Friday beginning of the period:  we white-boarded Worksheet 3 Mass, Volume, and Density.  It shouldn't have been as hard for the students as it was, but they are still really struggling with the idea of a graphing mass vs. volume.  We've gone over line graphs, we've gone over slope, yet they still can't seem to make the connection that density = the slope of the line on a graph of mass over volume.

Friday/Monday:  We trudged ahead anyway and deployed our density model with two problems in the laboratory.  One was the thickness of a think layer of aluminum foil activity in the modeling curriculum:  students had to mathematically determine the height of the aluminum foil using the density.  The other problem was the creation of a "rainbow" using a density column of liquids.  I gave them 4 liquids and food coloring and told them I wanted a rainbow of red/yellow/green/blue.  For each problem, I gave them no procedure.  I had materials that may or may not be appropriate in the room, but they had to develop their own experimental plan to solve the problems.

Friday = brain dead students.  I got zero productivity out of them in time we worked on the activities.  Monday, on the other hand, they worked quite well.  I thought we made real progress and got some great results:

Part of one group's successful "rainbow" density column (missing the blue layer)

White-boarding the density column:  Verbal, Mathematical, and Particle Diagram.  I was pretty happy with this particle diagram-- while all the particles are the same size, they at least tried to show differences in spacing, showing some level of understanding.

White-boarding the thickness of a thin layer- I like how I just now noticed the error in their equation

I chose to skip over worksheet 4 due to time.  Today, we took Quiz #2 on density.  I haven't graded it yet.  I'm a little scared...

We also attempted to learn the factor-label method of metric conversions and dimensional analysis.  I skipped over Worksheet 5 due to lack of time, lack of computer availability, and troubles with the website it links to-- maybe that was a mistake...

Teaching unit conversions has never been my strong point... but talk about a colossal fail today.  Part of the reason was this dang sheet of notes:

While these nice, pre-made notes looked good in theory, I had a few issues with them.  Firstly, there's a typo I didn't catch on the example problem.  It should convert to meters, not centimeters.  Secondly, my students struggled with the factors being in scientific notation.  It was just too much for their math-phobic brains.

We only really used this sheet in my 1st class of the day.  In my other classes, I gave them the traditional equalities and showed them how to make conversion factors out of them. (1 kilo "unit" = 1000 "units", etc.)  That went slightly better.  Worksheet #6 was still too hard for my low-performing students to jump right into with all of the scientific notation.  Too much math for one day.  Next time, I definitely need more scaffolding.

Our Unit 1 test is supposed to be Thursday.  I may push it back to Friday, because we are NOT proficient in unit conversions.

Unit 1 Reflections: Mass & Volume

There comes a moment when I have to ask myself, is this really worth it?  The chemistry modeling curriculum is NOT going well so far.  While I don't want to scrap it completely, I am asking myself, "how much longer can I allow this continue?"

We have spent 2 days on Mass & Volume and still haven't even introduced the idea of density.  No freaking kidding.

It has been like pulling teeth.  It makes me want to quit my job and go flip burgers at McDonalds.

We cannot afford to waste so much time.  I'm ready to throw in the towel and wave the white flag.

Yesterday, we discussed Worksheet 2 Reading Scales, and students took Quiz 1 today.  The whole uncertainty and significant figures lessons were a disaster.

Then we did the Mass & Volume lab.  I inflicted bodily harm with a hacksaw to cut same size pieces of aluminum and steel:

Prior to the lab, we watched a quick video clip on Archimedes and read a short article on Archimedes Principle.  (On a side note, do you know how hard it is to find info on water displacement that doesn't include the world "density"?)  We then came up with a plan on how to determine the mass of a non-geometric object.

I told students the purpose of the lab was to determine if there is a relationship between mass and volume.  They were to measure the length, the mass, and the volume of each of the 6 pieces of metal.  They were then to create a graph of grams over mL with two lines:  one for steel, one for aluminum.  They needed to determine the slope of each line (we don't have computers or Vernier software to do it for them).

In the lab, they did fine.  They worked well, although they got terrible data and did not measure with correct uncertainty and number of sig figs:

When it came time for our white boards, they just plain sucked:

The only white board I got a picture of today

Today, we were to white board after the quiz, then do Worksheet 3.  We never got to Worksheet 3.  We never even finished our notes on density in two of my classes.  It was the biggest waste of time on the planet.  Students have zero conclusion on anything after today.

I am so freaking frustrated.  My students just keep getting worse and worse every day.  Behaviors and attitudes are terrible.  I am hating every single day I am doing this.

We cannot go on like this.

How on earth do you get students to think?  That's half the problem.

I think tomorrow, we're going back to a PowerPoint on density, then doing Worksheet #3.

As of right now, I'm thinking I may have to scrap board meetings temporarily until I can earn some student buy-in.