Description
A video of magnesium ribbon being dropped into a solution of hydrochloric acid is the investigative phenomenon. Students use manipulatives to model how to balance chemical equations and understand the law of conservation of mass.
These tools help students visualize the number of atoms participating in each side of a chemical reaction by modeling the reactants and products. They make sense of the phenomenon and discover the answer to the driving question, “How do you write a chemical equation so that the number and type of atoms on the reactant and product sides are balanced?”
Time Requirement
Total, 100 minutes. Teacher prep, 20 minutes. Pre-lab, 20 minutes. Investigation, 40 minutes. Assessment, 20 minutes.
Digital Resources
Includes 1-year access to digital resources that support 3-dimensional instruction for NGSS. Digital resources may include a teacher’s manual and student guide, pre-lab activities and setup videos, phenomenon videos, simulations, and post-lab analysis and assessments.
Performance Expectation(s)
HS-PS1-2
HS-PS1-7
Crosscutting Concepts
Energy and Matter
Disciplinary Core Ideas
PS1.B: Chemical Reactions
Science and Engineering Practices
Using Mathematics and Computational Thinking
Learning Objectives
- Use a manipulative to model a chemical reaction and represent a balanced chemical equation.
- Differentiate between coefficients and subscripts in chemical equations.
- Explain the meaning of the law of conservation of mass as it relates to chemical equations.
- Prerequisite Knowledge and Skills
- Students need a knowledge of elements and the periodic table, chemical and physical changes, writing chemical formulas and the meaning of subscripts, and finding the lowest common denominator.