Chemistry
The following projects were created by UTeach PBI students following content guidelines of either the second or fifth 6th weeks of the Austin Independent School District's scope and sequence.
***Scuba Diving: This project-based lesson has students creating their own route of an undersea scuba diving trip. Students will choose which destinations they want to visit and plan out a route so that the pressure in their air tank does not go outside the recommended pressure from the company. This will be based on the number of moles and the temperature since the volume is constant.
http://scubadivingpbiunit.weebly.com/
**** Energy after a Disaster:
This unit teaches various forms of energy and conversion between them. While this unit introduces a variety of types of energy and the conversions, students will primarily investigate three main types:
chemical energy via calorimetry,
mechanical energy by collecting data from moving objects using Photogates
electrical energy by building series and parallel circuits and evaluating the transfer of electrical energy in those circuits and a variety of conductive materials.
http://pbienergyplanfall2015.weebly.com/
***Design an Energy Bar: The students will present a design for an energy bar and its wrapper for Nike’s energy bar branch that meets the company’s criteria. This artifact will give students an idea of what goes on during the production and design process of a product. It will allow students to learn within a context about broad subjects in geometry, algebra, chemistry, and biology (area, solving simple equations, calorimetry, chemical reactions, metabolism of humans, etc.).
http://createyourenergybarpbif2014.weebly.com/
***Molecular Geometry-Impact on Drug Interaction:
The purpose of the project is for students in these chemistry and geometry classes to explore how molecular geometry influences drug development by exploring and learning certain content in both classes simultaneously. This allows them to draw connections between two very important subjects. The content in geometry includes: solid geometry, nets, surface area, volume, orthographic views, and isometric views. On the other hand, the content in chemistry includes: electron dot structures, the nature of bonding, Valence Shell Electron Pair Repulsion Theory (VSEPR), and molecular shapes. The end product deliverable will require students to build upon and utilize the skills learned from the content mentioned to recreate a drug molecule and present them using knowledge gained. The purpose of this project is to not simply look at molecules or solid shapes and memorize them, but to understand their importance in each content area. This will be presented in hopes that students recall valuable information and understand the material for long term retention.
https://sites.google.com/a/utexas.edu/pbimedicinalgeometry20132/
***How Cool Are We?
Students will learn thermochemical concepts by studying air conditioners and their effects on Austin. Students will prepare a written proposal detailing a recommendation for their school's air conditioner usage as well as an oral presentation to a panel of school administrators and scientists.
https://sites.google.com/site/pbihowcoolarewe20129/home
***Nuclear Chemistry and Exponentials/Logarithms "Does radiation therapy really help or harm our patients?"
Students will be exploring nuclear chemistry and mathematical applications through the preparation and presentation of a cancer informative pamphlet that will have easily understood information about radiation therapy, it's side effects, it's duration, and process of decay. Throughout the majority of this project, students will be learning chemistry and math content in the context of nuclear chemistry.
https://sites.google.com/a/utexas.edu/pbicancerandradiation20129/
*** Fantastic Voyage:
The students will go on a "Fantastic Voyage" through a chemical compound in order to discover the different properties of atoms as well as bonding.
https://sites.google.com/site/pbifantasticvoyage20102/
*** How can we use chemical reactions to help us recover from sports injuries?
Students explore exothermic and endothermic reactions to understand heating and cooling pack.
https://sites.google.com/site/pbichemistryinsports20109
*** Why do we need protection from the Sun?
In this project, students will evaluate claims made by sunscreen manufacturers and act as consumer advocates by presenting their findings to the school community.
https://sites.google.com/site/pbiconsumeradvocates20112/home
*** Can my tap water make me sick?
This is a project-based lesson for high school Biology or Chemistry students. Students will use the knowledge they gain in this project to create a proposal to the city to support the use of one or more filtration methods to remove contaminants from drinking water for the county they live in.