Conceptual Chemistry

Avon Lake City Schools

Curriculum Framework

Chemistry in the Community

Course Overview:

Chemistry in the Community is a high-school general chemistry course. Its units cover a full scope of science content and process standards, developing major concepts with laboratory investigations, modeling activities, practice problems, and critical thinking exercises. ChemComm presents chemical principles on a need-to-know basis. Each unit opens with a real-world community issue, then introduces and develops chemical principles within this context. Each unit concludes with a consolidating activity requiring the application of all the tools and techniques learned throughout the unit. The student is responsible for a class notebook, a composition notebook with graph paper and a calculator. Prerequisites: Biology. This class meets one period daily for ½ unit of credit each semester. Fee: $25

Textbook (Title and Publishing Company):

Chemistry in the Community American Chemical Society

Assessments:

  • Midterm-project
  • Final exam - project

Content/Topics/Learning Goals

Subject to Pacing and Schedules

1st Quarter

WATER A: Sources and Uses of Water

  • Uses of water
  • Water use in the United States
  • Water Use Analysis

WATER B: Looking at Water and It’s Contaminants

  • Physical Properties of Water
  • Density
  • Mixtures and Solutions
  • Particulate view of water
  • Modeling matter - pictures in the mind, symbols, formulas, and equations
  • Skills - symbols, formulas, and equations
  • Electrical Nature of Matter
  • Ions and Ionic Compounds
  • Water Testing
  • Pure and IMpure Water
  • Environmental Clean-Up

2nd Quarter

WATER C: Investigating the Cause of the Fish Kill

  • Solubility of Solids in Water
  • Solubility and Solubility curves
  • Creating solubility curves
  • Dissolving ionic compounds
  • Solution Concentration
  • Describing Solution concentrations
  • Heavy-Metal Ion concentrations
  • pH levels
  • Molecular Substance Concentrations
  • Dissolved Oxygen levels
  • Temperature, Dissolved Oxygen, and Life

WATER D: Investigating the Cause of the Fish Kill

  • Natural Water Purification
  • Municipal Water Purification
  • Chlorination of Water
  • Chlorination and THM’s
  • Bottled Water Versus Tap Water
  • Water Softening
  • Water and water Softening
  • Purifying Water

FINAL PROJECT – Game board creations

3rd Quarter

FOOD A: Food as Energy

  • Food Groups
  • Diet and food groups
  • Snack food energy
  • Energy flow: from the sun to you
  • How does your garden grow?
  • Energy release and storage
  • Energy in action
  • Energy in, energy out
  • Gain some, lose some
  • Energy intake and expenditure

4th Quarter

FOOD B: Energy storage and use

  • Carbohydrates
  • Fats
  • Saturated and unsaturated fats
  • Calories from fat
  • Hydrogenation
  • Fats in the diet
  • Fat-free food?
  • Limiting reactants
  • Limiting reactants in chemical reactions
  • Analyzing fats and carbohydrates

GLOBAL WARMING

  • Carbon emissions
  • Carbon footprint
  • Greenhouse gasses
  • Renewable energy vs. non-renewable energy
  • Solar power
  • Solar Car Challenge PBL

Revised: Sedlick