CHEMISTRY   

Newington High School has adopted the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) that has set forth a vision that all students achieve scientific literacy for the 21st century. If we want students to think, act and learn like scientists, then we have to make sure they obtain a conceptual understanding of the NGSS that is usable and applicable to real-life. This course is designed for students to learn by understanding structure and function, cause and effect, scale, proportion and quantity, stability and change, patterns etc. through model building, investigating, asking questions, engaging in argument and other practices. NGSS is rooted in the seamless blending of Science and Engineering Practices (SEPs), Disciplinary Core Ideas (DCIs) of physical science, and Crosscutting Concepts (CCCs). The “core ideas” are what we are going to learn, the “practices” are how we are going to learn, and the “cross-cutting concepts” are how the way we learn is connected to the rest of science. Topics such as the periodic table, structure of the atom, chemical reactions, nuclear chemistry, stoichiometry, bonding, and thermodynamics will be taught using various phenomena. Some of the phenomena include investigating food chemistry, cleaning products , toxic waste and using Zeer pots for refrigeration.