Toxins: Molar Mass

Today’s work began with the ChemCatalyst from the Lesson 77 PowerPoint.  Students considered the question for a few minutes and were once again reminded how abstract the idea of the mole really is.  To help bring the concept of the mole to life, students worked through the Lesson 77 Worksheet.  The worksheet consisted of two parts, with Part 1 asking students to work through some of the math behind calculating molar mass.  Then in Part 2, students participated in a lab activity where they were able to actually measure out and visualize what one mole of various materials look like.  Students worked with water, table salt, aluminum, nickel, and iron.  For homework, students were assigned textbook questions 5-7.

Answers for Part 1 are shown below:

Evolution: The Beak of the Finch

After an eventful start to the day in which we briefly lost power at our school and our digital classroom wall clocks are hours off, we decided to start the class period with Jack Horner’s entertaining TED Talk in which he describes his research connecting dinosaurs and chickens.

After the video, we returned to our discussion of Darwin’s finches from yesterday’s lesson.  Students watched the HHMI video The Beak of the Finch (below) and then set to work on the accompanying worksheet packet.  We will continue our work tomorrow during the short Friday class period.  Students who finish early are encouraged to try the Finch Song Activity on the HHMI website.