So you’re a chemistry teacher. Bravo! Welcome to teaching a subject that most people do not like. I don’t say this to upset you. It’s just that, in my experience, the majority of people do not like chemistry. They have this crazy idea that it’s super hard.
Have you heard this one yet: “Wow, you must be really smart.” What about “Yuck, I hated chemistry.” Well, get ready for “Mr(s) X, you’re great, but chemistry sucks!” I don’t hear these things all the time, and neither will you- but you’ll hear them enough. It may inspire you to try to switch things up a bit.
Me? Hearing these things in my first couple of years of teaching made me take stock and reevaluate my goals. Why am I a chemistry teacher? What do I want my students to leave with? I cannot, honestly, remember learning anything besides stoichiometry in my high school chemistry class. Is that what I want for my students? No!
I want my students to leave my classroom with a better grasp of scientific inquiry. I want my students to be curious. And while I don’t necessarily care if they leave loving chemistry, I want them to appreciate it. I want them to leave knowing I loved them enough to help them build their scientific skills through chemical practices.
My Chemistry Lesson Plans
Here are my plans for each unit I teach. They include the materials I use, links, and some alternatives. I hope you find them helpful!
Check back often for updates!
- Intro to Chemistry
- Math & Measurement
- Matter
- The Atom
- Nuclear Chemistry
- Electrons
- Periodic Table
- Bonding
- Organic Chemistry
- Reactions
- The Mole
- Stoichiometry
- Kinetic Molecular Theory (states of matter)
- Gas Laws
- Thermochemistry
- Solutions
- Reaction Rates Mini-Unit
- Equilibrium
- Acids and Bases
How do I put together these chemistry lesson plans? Let me show you!
Introductory Labs
I prefer using labs to introduce a topic whenever I can. It allows students to explore (yay inquiry) and grounds our later discussions. I’m able to refer back to observations they’ve already made. This builds their confidence in their own observation skills.
What they should be focused on is recording detailed observations. My students know that we will discuss these observations after the lab, and I will ask them what they mean. What did they learn? How does this new information impact and build upon what we already know?
Sometimes they are right and sometimes they are wrong. That’s totally ok! We’re just getting our feet wet and reinforcing the scientific inquiry process. We’re building confidence, communication skills, and a positive classroom culture!
Notes that focus on Particle Diagrams
Yep. I think lecturing is important. I have tried getting rid of notes in favor of more student-centered learning. For example, I’ve tried a flipped approach, where students watch videos and take notes at home. But… I don’t believe in homework, so why would I give them schoolwork to do at home? I’ve tried just doing labs and class discussions. While my students’ understanding seemed to improve, they didn’t trust themselves because they didn’t have anything to refer back to or study from.
So I’ve opted to create notes that are short and sweet. I use them after the inquiry lab, so we have something to refer back to during our notes and practice sessions. My notes tend to focus on the particle nature of matter.
POGIL
POGIL Activities for High School Chemistry
POGIL Activities for AP Chemistry
Process Oriented Guided Inquiry Learning offers great resources that are for inquiry-based group learning. Students are presented with models and guided through a new concept. It is really important to give students time to process new chemical ideas. POGIL is a wonderful program. While I don’t use every single POGIL, I do use many of them. They are a great tool to get your students thinking and communicating.
I have used them in both my general high school chemistry class as well as my AP chemistry classes. Sometimes I’ll use the AP level in the gen ed class as enrichment, or I’ll just take one model from the set to discuss.
Again, this is a really great tool to have at your disposal. Each takes about a period (45-50 minutes) to complete. You can buy them on the Flinn Scientific website but I highly encourage you to take a peek at the POGIL website as well.
Class Discussions
It’s super important to me that my students discuss what they are learning with me and their classmates. We discuss our experimental observations, vocabulary, bell work, everything! I like having open communication with my students. The more we speak together as a class and in small groups, the more comfortable my students become with asking questions. They don’t mind being wrong in front of the class because they know we’re all rooting for them! We want everyone to succeed together. I have some colleagues that skip class discussions. I wouldn’t say my students perform better than theirs do on our common assessments, but my students are way more comfortable in my classroom.
And let me tell you, this gets around. Students from other chemistry classes come to me for help. Not all the time. There is not a mad rush to get into my classroom in the morning before school starts. But about once or twice a month a student from another class will come in and say something like “So-and-so told me you could help me with XYZ..?” It makes me proud to know that my students know, without needing to ask, that I’m willing to help any student, even when they are not mine, work through class material.
I should mention, all of my fellow chemistry teachers (there are 5 of us) are willing to help all of our students. Mine are just the ones actively encouraging their friends to seek me out. Use your resources, am I right?
Vocabulary Practice
I want my students to practice vocabulary because it’s so important to the study of science. I give my students a list of vocabulary words at the beginning of a unit. They are responsible for knowing these terms by their assessment. I have a variety of activities available for them, but they are optional. Students can use my vocabulary sets, Quizlet, they can write lists, use graphic organizers, make flashcards. Really, they can use whatever method helps them the most.
Optional/Additional Activities
The above four I use when planning every single unit, but I also include a ton of other activities. The activities I choose depend on the unit itself and what I think will work best for my current students. Here’s an example of what I might include in my plans:
- task cards
- pHet Simulations
- “cookbook” labs
- coloring pages
- mazes
- ck12 online practice
- traditional review/study guides
- problem trails
- articles
- webquests
- youtube videos
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