Middle School Chemistry

  • Instructor Dr. David Purvis
  • Code CHM31-F24
  • Student Ages 11–14
  • Term Fall Semester 2024
  • Day Tuesday
  • Time 3:00 P.M.

THIS IS A ONE-SEMESTER COURSE.

Measurement and solution chemistry allows students to gain experience in practical chemistry and offers interesting hand-on demonstrations to observe. The focus of this course will be on atoms, elements, and the periodic table.

In this course, students will learn:

  • The structure of atoms and the fundamentals of measurement
  • The properties of the electron and their role in chemical reactions
  • The organization of the periodic table: metals and nonmetals
  • General trends and patterns of the periodic table
  • The elemental symbols of 30 elements
  • Electron orbitals and an introduction to quantum mechanics
  • The physical characteristics of water and other liquids
  • How solutions and supersaturated solutions are formed
  • Solubility graphs, solutes, and crystallization reactions
  • How concentration is measured and dilution series are performed
  • How molecules are formed and the difference between ionic and covalent bonds
  • The rules of subscripts and coefficients in chemical formulas

Along the way, students will be exposed to the scientific method, scientific measurement techniques using the metric system, and inquiry-based science. The live class meetings will include interesting demonstrations.

Class Meetings: Tuesdays, 3:00 p.m. Eastern Time
Dates: August 20 – December 17

Student Expectations: Each week, students will be provided with optional activities, readings, and experiments.

Student Support: The instructor is available via email.

Materials/Supplies: Students will need a notebook for assignments, activities, observations, and experiment results. Occasionally they will need certain easily obtainable materials that are available at most common local stores. For full participation, they will also need to purchase a few materials separately, including a couple of 100/50-ml graduated cylinders and a few plastic pipets. A balance would be nice but is not required. In addition, students will need to purchase a printable middle school chemistry workbook packet (the instructor will provide a link to this packet on the class web page).

Prerequisites: None

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