Sample: Chemistry Academy

The Classifying Matter data collection video follows the instructors as they explore everyday changes in matter using candles, chemicals, and scrambled eggs. Throughout the video, students are asked to record their own observations and hypotheses about whether the changes they’re observing are physical or chemical in nature. Student instructions and answer worksheets are provided below.

This topic is supported by Chapter 3 in Essential Chemistry. The following curriculum references are included for your convenience.

• Section 3-1 provides a light introduction to the periodic table with an assignment to help students begin building their knowledge of how to gain information about atoms from the periodic table.
• Page 61 provides the first introduction to the Molecule Viewer simulation.
• Section 3-2 advances the concept of individual atoms to how they come together in compounds.
• In Section 3-3 students learn to distinguish between pure substances and mixtures, with extra practice from the Classifying Matter assignment.
• Section 3-4 describes physical and chemical changes.
• Check out the "more" paragraph on page 83 for an animated gif that shows the insoluble silver chloride precipitate that forms when silver nitrate and sodium chloride combine.
• The Phases of Matter simulation on page 84 reinforces the physical nature of changes of state at the particle level.