Seventh+Grade+-+Interactions+of+Matter+Discussions

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The attachment above is an early draft describing how I go about using RoseArt modeling clay as manipulatives to represent atoms/bonding/molecules/reactions. This document is not finished, but there is enough there to get you started. The whole point is to have atoms seem like real things, not just diagrams on a page. When math teachers have students use foam/plastic blocks to teach about place values and basic operations, they call their special toys "manipulatives". I guess that what these balls of clay are--atomic manipulatives. Over time I will be posting more stuff that I have created around this basic approach. (Byrnes at Hiatt)



The attachment above is a handout that I use when teaching about atoms/bonding/molecules/reactions by using RoseArt modeling clay cut into "atoms" of four different colors. I have laminated a classroom set of the attached file. It stays on the students' desks as they use clay to represent atoms/bonding/molecules/reactions. (Byrnes at Hiatt)



The attachment above shows nine compounds that can be built by students using "atoms of clay." Students are to write out the chemical formula within each box (e.g. "C 6 H 12 O 6 " for glucose) and they also "create" the compound using balls of RoseArt modeling clay. When a student (or pair of students) has done both of these things correctly for a compound, I highlight the name of the compound on their paper, indicating that they are done with this one and may move on to another one. (Byrnes at Hiatt)



The attachment above is part of a larger lesson using balls of RoseArt modeling clay which represent atoms. Students use the clay "atoms" to represent the reactants on the left. Then they pop the molecules apart and try to rearrange them into the products on the right. If they can use exactly the same "atoms" to represent the products--with none missing or left over--then the "reaction" is balanced. This is a good way to introduce Conservation of Matter. I say over and over again that in the real world, atoms do not appear, disappear or change their identities. (Byrnes at Hiatt)



The attachment above is used as an overhead transparency or an Elmo projection to set the "ground rules" of how we are to use RoseArt clay "atoms" in the classroom. Some preemptive warnings like this go a long ways! (Byrnes at Hiatt)



The attachment above is something I have created to summarize for students the forms of energy that can be understood by middle schoolers. When I researched "forms of energy" years ago, I found that there are many ways to skin the cat. What is shown in the attachment is the compromise that I use. The good news is that--with enough in-class experiences--students can understand this stuff! Even though such treatment of energy forms/transformations has not been an "official" part of the middle school curriculum, I find that it makes many other subjects more comprehensible to students. I use this attachment as an overhead transparency and as a handout for students to use as a reference page (kind of like the Periodic Table, only it's mainly about energy instead of matter). (Byrnes at Hiatt)



The attachment above is a worksheet that I made using ClipArt.com, which is free to DMPS teachers through Heartland AEA 11. If you haven't been to ClipArt.com yet, you are in for a treat. Using the "Forms of energy table" (see the post above), students write into each box all of the forms of energy they feel are represented in the picture. These are not "grade-able" per se, but make for great in-class discussions of what students "see" once they have learned about forms of energy. (Byrnes at Hiatt)



The attachment above is an article that elaborates on the "Forms of energy table" that is two posts above this one. (Byrnes at Hiatt)



The attachment above is a worksheet about how one form of energy can transform into another. (Byrnes at Hiatt)



The attachment above is used to get kids ready for an at-home experiment which they later present to their classmates. This year (08-09) it occurred to me that the experiments can be set up in the classroom on the last day before Winter Break, and they can then be checked on the first day back in January. The font is big because students use the completed page as a script when they present their findings in a presentation to their classmates. (Byrnes at Hiatt)



The attachment above is a fun/silly way of showing that atoms hang onto each other to form molecules. Note that this is a two-pager. I use it as an overhead transparency. (Byrnes at Hiatt)



The attachment above is something I use to have students learn where/how electrons fill "rows" or "lanes". It is simplified, and does not go into the 1s2-2s2-2p6 stuff. My aim with this is to have students understand valence, at least for the first 20 elements of the Periodic Table. Students not only draw in the electrons, but also highlight the valence row. Then they use various colors of colored pencil or crayon to outline columns, to cluster atoms with the same number of valence electrons. (Byrnes at Hiatt)



The attachment above is a continuation of the lesson that is above that. Instead of drawing/writing all electrons, they simplify their representations to show only the valence electrons--making Lewis Dot diagrams. As with the lesson above this one, students then use colors to outline columns, to cluster atoms with the same number of valence electrons. (Byrnes at Hiatt)



The attachment above is kind of weird. I tell students that I have gotten ahold of Rocky Balboa's secret training schedule from an unnamed online source. However, in the download process, the sequence of the training days was scrambled. The challenge to the students is to rearrange the training days into a "training calendar" based on any patterns they can find. This lesson is a lead-in to how Dmitri Mendeleev arranged the elements he knew about into a Periodic Table. Even the fact that some of the "missing data" can be inferred is similar to what was done by Mendeleev. (Byrnes at Hiatt)