Lesson 4: Flame Test Lab

Learning Goals: Students will investigate the chemical reactions of elements. (B2.3)

Hook: To introduce the topic of flame tests, you can show students a video by NOVA entitled "Fireworks!" It is a video that presents the history of pyrotechnics and reveals how hi-tech firing systems are used. This will allow students to begin to think about how elements have many uses, including fireworks. The accompanying NOVA website can be found here.
Action: Students will work in groups of 3-4 to complete the flame test lab. The following is a link to a lab outline that includes questions and work that should be submitted for grading. This lab was developed by Aaron Keller and can be found here. Another lab outline that can be used was found on a teacher's personal wikispace. The link to the lab outline can be found here.
Consolidation: To consolidate the flame test lab with students, show them the following YouTube video about flame tests. This video will show them the correct lab results in the event that their experiments did not work correctly.

Figure B.16: Fireworks

This lab report can be collected and used as a summative assessment.