The Chemistry Capstone Essay is a way to introduce or assess students' knowledge and understanding of a variety of science texts and their understanding of chemical theories and applications taught during the year. Students demonstrate knowledge by having to be concise and distill down complex ideas and connections from a variety of different texts.

Chemistry Education Research and Practice (CERP) is the journal for teachers, researchers and other practitioners at all levels of chemistry education. It is published free of charge, electronically, four times a year; coverage includes the following:

-Research, and reviews of research, in chemistry education
-Evaluations of effective innovative practice in the teaching of chemistry
-In-depth analyses of issues of direct relevance to chemistry education

The objectives of the journal follow:

-To provide researchers with the means to publish their work in full in a journal exclusively dedicated to chemistry education
-To offer teachers of chemistry at all levels a place where they can share effective ideas and methods for the teaching and learning of chemistry
-Most importantly, to bridge the gap between the two groups so that researchers will have their results seen by those who could benefit from using them, and practitioners will gain from encountering the ideas and results of those who have made a particular study of the learning process

A work in progress, CK-12 Chemistry Teacher's Edition supports its Chemistry book covering: Matter; Atomic Structure; The Elements; Stoichiometry; Chemical Kinetics; Physical States of Matter; Thermodynamics; Nuclear and Organic Chemistry.

Working in engineering project teams, students evaluate sites for the construction of a pyramid. They base their decision on site features as provided by a surveyor's report; distance from the quarry, river and palace; and other factors they deem important to the project based on their team's values and priorities.

To increase students' awareness of possible invisible pollutants in drinking water sources, students perform an exciting lab requiring them to think about how solutions and mixtures exist even in unsuspecting places such as ink. They use alcohol and chromatography paper to separate the components of black and colored marker ink. Students witness first-hand how components of a solution can be separated, even when those individual components are not visible in solution.

Students often need space to discuss the issues that face them on their developmental journey as they grapple with a range of emotions, navigate peer challenges, and consider their place in the world. No matter the content area, teachers can support productive whole-class discussions by establishing a practice of Class Circles or Class Council. In Class Council or Class Circle, students sit in a circle, pass around a talking piece, and respond to questions posed by the teacher. This community-building practice can help students address hypothetical conflicts in a safe space, explore encounters and moments that stem from class conflict, and reflect on shared and personal experiences.

Teachers can also use circles for academic content by eliciting prior knowledge when launching a unit or reflecting on a new class practice. As students become comfortable with Class Council or Class Circle, teachers can gradually release control of the circle to students, identifying peer leaders who eventually facilitate the circle and contribute topics and questions.

Students are introduced to several key concepts of electronic circuits. They learn about some of the physics behind circuits, the key components in a circuit and their pervasiveness in our homes and everyday lives. Students learn about Ohm's Law and how it is used to analyze circuits.

Students use the same method as in the activity from lesson 2 of this unit to explore the magnetism due to electric current instead of a permanent magnet. Students use a compass and circuit to trace the magnetic field lines induced by the electric current moving through the wire. Students develop an understanding of the effect of the electrical current on the compass needle through the induced magnetic field and understand the complexity of a three dimensional field system.

Students learn that ordinary citizens, including students like themselves, can make meaningful contributions to science through the concept of "citizen science." First, students learn some examples of ongoing citizen science projects that are common around the world, such as medical research, medication testing and donating idle computer time to perform scientific calculations. Then they explore Zooniverse, an interactive website that shows how research in areas from marine biology to astronomy leverage the power of the Internet to use the assistance of non-scientists to classify large amounts of data that is unclassifiable by machines for various reasons. To conclude, student groups act as engineering teams to brainstorm projects ideas for their own town that could benefit from community help, then design conceptual interactive websites that could organize and support the projects.

The City X Project is an international educational workshop for 8-12 year-old students that teaches creative problem solving using 3D printing technologies and the design process. This 6-10 hour workshop is designed for 3rd-6th grade classrooms but can be adapted to fit a variety of environments. Read a full overview of the experience here: http://www.cityxproject.com/workshop/

Learn about the techniques gold miners used to collect gold ore from the area around South Pass City, as well as the hazards they faced during the mining process.

In the accompany lesson plan (found in the Support Materials), students will watch a video that explains the mining process and hazards, and then create caution signs to show their understanding of the challenges the miners faced. Finally, the students will take part in a collaborative STEM challenge to build a working hoist using a limited amount of supplies.

LEARNING OBJECTIVES:

Students will develop grade level appropriate speaking and listening skills, as described by the standards.
Students will understand how technology impacted the mining process of early gold miners, as well as the hazards the miners faced.
Students will define a design problem and use limited resources to solve it.

Science Content Storyline: Simple MachinesBriefly write the content story for the topic: PS2.A Forces and Motion Disciplinary Core Ideas: Each force acts on one particular object and has both strength and a direction. An object at rest typically has multiple forces acting on it, but they add to give zero net force on the object. Forces that do not sum to zero can cause changes in the object’s speed or direction of motion. (3-PS2-1). The patterns of an object’s motion in various situations can be observed and measured; when that past motion exhibits a regular pattern, future motion can be predicted from it.(3-PS2-2)Educational StandardsNGSS: 3-PS2-1. Plan and conduct an investigation to provide evidence of the effects of balanced and unbalanced forces on the motion of an object. [Clarification Statement: Examples could include an unbalanced force on one side of a ball can make it start moving; and, balanced forces pushing on a box from both sides will not produce any motion at all.] [Assessment Boundary: Assessment is limited to one variable at a time: number, size,or direction of forces. The assessment does not include quantitative force size, only qualitative and relative. Assessment is limited to gravity being addressed as a force that pulls objects down.]3-PS2-2. Make observations and/or measurements of an object’s motion to provide evidence that a pattern can be used to predict future motion. [Clarification Statement: Examples of motion with a predictable pattern could include a child swinging in a swing, a ball rolling back and forth in a bowl, and two children on a see-saw.] [Assessment Boundary: Assessment does not include technical terms such as period and frequency.]Summary: Machines make work easier. Levers, inclined planes, and pulleys are simple machines that help us to do work. Work is moving something across a distance using force. Force is a push or a pull. Machines help us to do work by reducing the force needed or changing the direction of the force. There is a trade-off between the amount of effort and distance. (You can’t something for nothing!) 

Science Content Storyline: Simple MachinesBriefly write the content story for the topic: PS2.A Forces and Motion Disciplinary Core Ideas: Each force acts on one particular object and has both strength and a direction. An object at rest typically has multiple forces acting on it, but they add to give zero net force on the object. Forces that do not sum to zero can cause changes in the object’s speed or direction of motion. (3-PS2-1). The patterns of an object’s motion in various situations can be observed and measured; when that past motion exhibits a regular pattern, future motion can be predicted from it.(3-PS2-2)Educational StandardsNGSS: 3-PS2-1. Plan and conduct an investigation to provide evidence of the effects of balanced and unbalanced forces on the motion of an object. [Clarification Statement: Examples could include an unbalanced force on one side of a ball can make it start moving; and, balanced forces pushing on a box from both sides will not produce any motion at all.] [Assessment Boundary: Assessment is limited to one variable at a time: number, size,or direction of forces. The assessment does not include quantitative force size, only qualitative and relative. Assessment is limited to gravity being addressed as a force that pulls objects down.]3-PS2-2. Make observations and/or measurements of an object’s motion to provide evidence that a pattern can be used to predict future motion. [Clarification Statement: Examples of motion with a predictable pattern could include a child swinging in a swing, a ball rolling back and forth in a bowl, and two children on a see-saw.] [Assessment Boundary: Assessment does not include technical terms such as period and frequency.]Summary: Machines make work easier. Levers, inclined planes, and pulleys are simple machines that help us to do work. Work is moving something across a distance using force. Force is a push or a pull. Machines help us to do work by reducing the force needed or changing the direction of the force. There is a trade-off between the amount of effort and distance. (You can’t something for nothing!) 

Students use bearing measurements to triangulate and determine objects' locations. Working in teams of two or three, they must put on their investigative hats as they take bearing measurements to specified landmarks in their classroom (or other rooms in the school) from a "mystery location." With the extension activity, students are challenged with creating their own maps of the classroom or other school location and comparing them with their classmates' efforts.

Students use a small quantity of modeling clay to make boats that float in a tub of water. The object is to build boats that hold as much weight as possible without sinking. In the process of designing and testing their prototype creations, students discover some of the basic principles of boat design, gain first-hand experience with concepts such as buoyancy and density, and experience the steps of the engineering design process.

Hydropower generation is introduced to students as a common purpose and benefit of constructing dams. Through an introduction to kinetic and potential energy, students come to understand how a dam creates electricity. They also learn the difference between renewable and non-renewable energy.

Students act as engineers contracted by NASA to create water filtration devices that clean visible particulates from teacher-prepared "dirty water." They learn about the worldwide need for potable water and gain appreciation for why water quality is an important issue for people on Earth as well as on the International Space Station. Working in groups, students experience the entire engineering design process, including a read-aloud book about the water cycle; a visiting water engineer presentation; their own online research about filter methods and designs; group brainstorming of designs (using ordinary household materials); filter construction and testing; redesign and retesting; lab book documentation of their notes, research, plans and results; and a summary poster presentation at a mini-engineering fair. Two design planning worksheets, a poster layout suggestion sheet and a grading rubric are provided.

Students are challenged to design a method for separating steel from aluminum based on magnetic properties as is frequently done in recycling operations. To complicate the challenge, the magnet used to separate the steel must be able to be switched off to allow for the recollection of the steel. Students must ultimately design, test, and present an effective electromagnet.