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Talking Chemistry with Oprah

Time Frame

1 class periods of 90 minutes each

Group Size

Small Groups

Authors

Utah LessonPlans

Summary

This activity involves students responding to a writing prompt written in a RAFT activity format.


Materials

  • paper
  • pencil
  • chemistry textbook


Instructional Procedures

  1. Ask students if they have ever watched a daytime talk show. Of course , they have. Ask about what subjects the shows generally feature. Roleplay a short segment to build students' interest. For example:

    YOU: Hello (name), I hear you are a student at (school). What do you learn there?
    STUDENT: We learn exciting information everyday. We study hard at night so we can be better prepared the next day.
    YOU: (smiling with amazement) Can you specifically describe something you learned yesterday?
    STUDENT: well………
  2. Give student the following information and let them work in groups of two or three to develop the dialog.
  3. Groups must first pick an element and document it's properties. They must find a compound or compounds that the element forms and incorporate the properties of both the element and it's compounds into the dialog.
  4. The Assignment:

    Role: A guest on a daytime talk show. The student is a specific atom of an element. The guest may bring the other element or elements that form the molecule under discussion.
    Audience: Studio audience on talk show.
    Format: Dialog between host and elements.
    Topic: How bonding with the other atom(s) has changed his/her properties.
  5. Allow students time to research and write their dialog. Give them an example of the format for the writing that you wish. It should be similar to the example given.
  6. Give students copies of the rubric and go over before they begin writing.
  7. Allow student 2-3 minutes to present their dialogs to the class or have them work in groups with 4 or 5 other groups and present to the larger groups. The best from the larger groups can be presented to class as a whole.


Assessment Plan

Attachments

Use this scoring rubric:


Bibliography

Lesson Design by Jordan School District Teachers and Staff.


Created: 12/12/2014
Updated: 02/03/2018
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