Science Open Classroom

1. Synopsis

Topic: Identifying Anions in Salts through Investigative Practical Work

This lesson is targeted for the Sec 5 students. This is only their 3rd lesson on hands-on practical work. They have minimal practical skills knowledge but their first two practical lessons will have equipped them with sufficient skills to complete the tasks in this lesson.

They will be given unknown salt solutions and given a set of instructions, they will set out to carry out their investigation work. From the observations obtained they are supposed to identify the anions present in the unknown salt solutions and solve the mystery.

This lesson is part of the topic Qualitative Analysis, an important topic in the syllabus where they need to master the theory in order to carry out investigative work and from their observations identifying ions and gases produced from various chemical reactions.

3. Assessment for Learning

Checking for understanding by answering 3 questions using SLS platform

5. Reflection

I felt that the lesson went well with minor hiccups. I felt that I have prepared the lesson materials well too, from the preparation of demo materials, lesson worksheet and videos which were uploaded into SLS as well as quiz questions using the SLS platform as a form of assessment.

By inviting the teacher observers to the front of the lab to participate in the conduct of the “magic drinks” demo has definitely helped to engage the students and piqued their curiosity. The demo definitely is appealing to them and the use of “wine, milkshake, fizzy drinks” are personal and something they can relate to. The type of reactions taking place, precipitation reactions are relevant to the topic. Although I did mention that these “magic drinks” were the result of precipitation reactions, reactions that they have carried out in the previous practical lesson, I may have not specifically stated the aim of the investigation at the start of the investigation which is testing for Anions, hence this affect their ability to conclude their observations. Realising this halfway through the lesson, I directed their focus by mentioning the investigation is to identify the anions present in the unknown solutions X, Y and Z.

One or two pairs had the initial problem of logging into SLS but with the help of Mr Aliff, the issue was resolved and investigation continued on.

Another issue that may have slowed down the students in completing all 5 tasks in time is that, despite writing on the board the observation stems they can use when typing their observations, the students chose to type long observation stems that were unnecessary. So, I had to remind a few times though not many followed my instruction because they were engrossed in carrying out the investigation whilst juggling reading procedural steps from the laptop and then typing in the observations.

I do observe that the students discussed amongst themselves the observations they obtained and after viewing the videos on the tests for chloride, sulfate and carbonate, they were able to match the reactants added and observations to the anions present in the unknown solutions.

Some downside, although students were excited in carrying out the investigation using an online platform to record observations and self-discover the anions present in unknown solutions, only half the pair carried out the task of recording the observations hence only these students can view their observations. Hence, to ensure all students have a copy of observations, all students were given a hardcopy worksheet to copy down expected observations the next lesson. Also, not all students have completed task 4 which is their AFL in SLS. Still chasing all to complete the quiz.

In the future, I will make students record their observations on a hardcopy worksheet but they can still view the videos and do the AFL on SLS.

1. Synopsis

Topic: Premarital sex, pregnancy and STI

This lesson is designed to engage secondary two students through the use of play and media.

Students will be embarked to understand the concept of how Sexually Transmitted Infections (STIs) are transmitted using a simple investigative experiment (Play). They will carry out the experiment based on a given scenario at the SLS platform.

After which, the students will get into groups of four to debate on a controversial topic about abortion alongside topics on pre-marital sex and pregnancy based on a story of a fictitious character accompanied with a video titled: ‘16 and pregnant’(Media). Students will then state their views using the padlet for sharing purposes.

3. Assessment for Learning

Check for understanding through answering questions in SLS platform and stating their views on padlet

5. Reflection