HS. PS1-1: Use the periodic table to predict relative properties of elements based on patterns.
Phase Lab Lesson Plan
Prior Knowledge
The first two days of this lesson take care of prior knowledge needed. To be more specific, students need to understand basics of solids, liquids, gasses, and how their phases change under the addition of heat.
Materials/Resources/Technology: The materials are as follows: -500-mL beaker • clock or watch with second hand • crushed ice • test tube of lauric acid with thermometer • thermometer • glass stirring rod • hot plate • graph paper
Start of Class:
This lesson will begin with a bell ringer. Since the last day’s class was a lot of content, this bell ringer will help with refreshing the material and to make sure they remembered it from the previous day. The questions should be as follows: -What is the difference between a chemical and a physical change?Give 2 examples for each -Draw a phase diagram and label the solid, liquid, gas, critical point, and its appropriate axis.
At the end of this bell ringer, go over it with the class, and ask them for their own examples and make a chart on the board so they can visual see them (in a T chart).
Introduction of Lesson: The lesson will be introduced by the instructor through explaining the lab sheet. Ask for a volunteer to pass out sheets, and as the sheets are being passed out, explain how the lab will be performed. For example, the different liquids wil be filled with ice and then heated. It would be easier to designate a specific task to each member in the lab, such as a temperature person, a timer, and a recorder. Explaining the steps of heating will allow for the lab to go more smoothly. The instructor will furthermore be required to show them the steps in the lab through a quick demonstration, but it will be explained in the instruction. It would be benefitial to have all the material next to you and easily just show them them basic procedures. These students should be aware that this lab is to relate phase changes and to observe/create their own phase diagrams.
Lesson Instruction:
This activity is to relate the information they learned on day 1 and about phase diagrams to create their own phase shift diagram. It will demonstrate to them just how these trends happen, and how the energy can only be used to change the phase or the temperature. The instructor will take the following lab sheet:
This lab should be explained as described above, and should provide an explanation for the lab also.. For instance, I will point out which beakers to use (the 500mL beaker), how exactly to measure out the designated amount, and how to heat the solution, and proper techniques in actually taking the solution’s temperature. I will then split up the class through numbers, as mentioned above. The class will then split into lab groups of 4-5 and perform the lab based on the above sheet’s instructions. The lab sheet requires that they hand draw a graph to see the trend. The students will be asked to further fill in the phases on their graph. Furthermore, I will be expecting the students to include the following terms on their graph paper: sublimation, melting and freezing, melting and freezing point, vaporization or condensation, etc.
I will remind them that these terms are in their notebook, and that they can reference that if they have any questions. While they are performing the lab, I will walk around the classroom and make sure thing are running smoothly, and that everything is running smoothly.
Assessments/Checks for Understanding:
In the beginning of this lesson, there is a bell ringer that will be completed. This will serve as a great way for me to see if the students were remembering the material presented from the previous day’s lesson. One major part of the bell ringer is the phase diagram reconstruction. This is important because the students should remember what the phase diagram looked like since it will apply directly to the lab being performed today. Furthermore, the lab sheet and the graph they construct will serve as a good indicator if they performed the lab well. Since it will be collected at the end of the lab, it can be graded and checked for correct answers. This will be a good indicator if the students know the material and if they performed the lab correctly. During the lab time, I can walk around to every individual group and ask them questions about their data at certain points to see if they can explain the information back to me. This will assess if they actually learned anything in the lesson, and if they are applying the right concepts to the lab.
Closure/Wrap-Up/Review:
The class will wrap up with me going over what sort of trend they should have seen, and why this is the case. Their ticket out the door will be their lab, but I will make an emphasis on the fact that energy can only go into changing the phase or to heat the solution (raising its temperature). This is the overarching concept, and I will have this lesson dove tail and give reference very briefly to the next sub-unit which will be chemical reactions.