Elementary School Chemistry Curriculum
Purpose:
Chemistry is often covered only briefly in Elementary School, and when it is, the concept of atoms and reactions often blows their minds. Sometimes blown minds can be a good thing, but not on the basic fundamentals of the universe. The assignment was to create a hypothetical curriculum that would be taught over the course of two weeks and teach fifth graders the basics of chemistry in a fun way that they would understand. We decided the best way to get through to small children was to do so with food. That is what we did. All of our labs and curriculum elements are based around the chemistry of cooking, perhaps leading to more engaged students.
Chemistry is often covered only briefly in Elementary School, and when it is, the concept of atoms and reactions often blows their minds. Sometimes blown minds can be a good thing, but not on the basic fundamentals of the universe. The assignment was to create a hypothetical curriculum that would be taught over the course of two weeks and teach fifth graders the basics of chemistry in a fun way that they would understand. We decided the best way to get through to small children was to do so with food. That is what we did. All of our labs and curriculum elements are based around the chemistry of cooking, perhaps leading to more engaged students.
Conclusion
There were good areas about this project and some that needed improvement. One thing I liked was that as the small children learned about chemistry, we learned about the educational system and what students are required to learn. It also served as a good review for us, having to actually teach the material. On the other hand, we didn't really learn anything about chemistry. All of the information that went into our curriculum was material we already knew. Even researching the curriculum requirement, we didn't find any useful information regarding our curriculum in high school. That being said, I still had fun with this project because our group was engaged and worked well together. Most of our work was subdivided, and everyone did their part. The final result is one that we are proud of (though we may have misspelled 'curriculum' on several slides')
There were good areas about this project and some that needed improvement. One thing I liked was that as the small children learned about chemistry, we learned about the educational system and what students are required to learn. It also served as a good review for us, having to actually teach the material. On the other hand, we didn't really learn anything about chemistry. All of the information that went into our curriculum was material we already knew. Even researching the curriculum requirement, we didn't find any useful information regarding our curriculum in high school. That being said, I still had fun with this project because our group was engaged and worked well together. Most of our work was subdivided, and everyone did their part. The final result is one that we are proud of (though we may have misspelled 'curriculum' on several slides')