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Chemical Reaction Reading

Time Frame

1 class periods of 45 minutes each

Group Size

Individual

Authors

Utah LessonPlans

Summary

Students will practice pulling out important ideas from the text. They will do this by highlighting things they think are important. Students will also become acquainted with the concepts of chemical reactions and the different features of a chemical reaction.


Materials

  • highlighters
  • photocopied section of textbook


Background for Teachers

Most text books go beyond the core in this area, so be careful about the readings you choose. One important fact to remember is that you want to make sure the readings are at the students reading level, and consider the vocabulary posted on the core.

Time Needed: 1 class period with possible 20 minute discussion extension.


Instructional Procedures

  1. Photocopy sections 8-1 and 8-2 from the Prentice Hall Exploring Physical Science book (pg 199-207) or the corresponding section in your own Physical Science book dealing with the features of a chemical reaction.
  2. For a class of 30 you will need 40 copies.
  3. Pass a photocopy to each student in the classroom
  4. Instruct them to take 20 minutes and highlight the 15 most important sentences they find in the text. Encourage them to read through once and then highlight the second time through.
  5. After the 20 minutes, divide the class into groups of 3 students. Give them one more copy of the reading. This time as a group they must decide together, in 10 minutes, what they think the 5 most important sentences.
  6. Have each group present what they highlighted and why.
  7. Give other groups the opportunity to question their reasoning.
  8. Put a transparency over your seating chart to check off those students who participate
  9. Finally have each student use a different colored highlighter and revise their original highlighting.

Discussion:

Accompanying Journal questions or Discussion questions:

Time Needed: 20 minutes

This should be done after the reading activity above. You may choose to have students write down key points brought out in this discussion.

  • Did you find this activity difficult or easy? Why?
  • Did you find that most people agreed on the most important points of the reading?
  • Do you think scientists always agree on the most important ideas to be stressed in science?
  • Is it okay that your ideas of what is important might be different than mine, or your classmates?
  • What clues did the textbook give you to identify important ideas?
  • What rules exist concerning the mass of substances in chemical reactions?
  • What are the different features of a chemical reaction?


Assessment Plan

Scoring Guide:
Student was on task and cooperative-10 points
Student participated in classroom discussion-5 points
Student participated in group discussions-10 points
Group was able to defend ideas-10 points


Bibliography

Lesson Design by Jordan School District Teachers and Staff.


Created: 10/10/2014
Updated: 02/04/2018
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