Anne 

Chemistry

Essential math/moles unit:

In Chemistry before we can “play around with chemicals” we have to learn the basics of it i.e. the math of chemistry and the basic principles. The purpose of this unit was to prepare us so that may be successful in chemistry. The process for learning this unit was simple. We started by learning the types of matter that would allow us to build on as we progress through the year. Nest leading to accuracy and precision of number and significant figures (or digits), which allowed us to build to the next section with dimensional analysis. Dimensional analysis is basically converting something to another in terms of units. This lead to moles which is the molar mass for a chemical (the weight). Which then lead to percent composition so we could figure out how much of what was in a compound. And lastly, the molecular and empirical formula which give the formula of a compound. Through all of this we took notes in our notebook, completed lots of homework assignments for understanding and practice, completed labs, and took quizzes. In this learning endeavor I was quite frequently absent do to medical issues with my head which made it hard to come to school. I overcame this challenge by talking with my teacher and peers, to get up to speed on everything we did and how it needs to be applied to each and every assignment. This meant when I was able to be present, I used my second period as a “study hall” and caught up and talked with my peers to make sure I could understand what was going on.

In Chemistry we use our notebook to organize our learning. This clearly show the story of this learning process because it shows how I took my notes in order to be able to catch up to my peers and learn the content in an organized way.  This section in the notebook shows you the notes I took during “Measuring Numbers”, “Significant Digits (sig figs), and “Moles”. Through this you see how to differentiate measured numbers and exact numbers, how to determine significant digits, and what moles are and how they are used. In these notes I have the definitions, examples, notes, and practice problems that clearly show how I worked through this learning to gain an understanding.

Another artifact of my learning is the assignment (lab) “The Strange Case of Mole Airlines Flight 1023”. This clearly shows the story of this learning process because it is a lab that has a culmination of moles, dimensional analysis, numbers, and deductive reasoning so I could do the crime scene analysis. This artifact clearly shows classroom content as in order to complete this assignment (lab) you need to be able to understand what moles are in the use of percent composition to turn those numbers to the empirical formula to determine the chemical compound present. This then was used to determine which victim was who based on their story and chemical compound present on their body.

The biggest academic things I took away from this unit was the use of math in chemistry. Though I was kind of grumpy of having to use math in chemistry at first, it is very useful tool to be able to determine how much of what is in a compound and to be able to determine the formula. These are skills we will use in chemistry for the rest of the year and it will impact how I see things in terms of chemicals in the future. The thing I had to focus the most on in this unit was being able to self-learn the content at home. Because of how my sickness affected my attendance, I was forced to be able to go over the content from Pilot and apply it to my learning so I would be able to stay close to where my peers were in content. Though I may have lacked some days, I tried my hardest to keep up and self-monitor my progress. Which worked pretty well since I can say I understand the content from my learning at home using the resources from the teacher.