Writing+&+Balancing+Equations


 * Writing & Balancing Equations**



E. Hall - Students cut out cards, then arrange them into 10 balanced chemical equations. Good to use as an introduction to balancing and a general "problem solving" kind of activity.

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)

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