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In the latest push for "STEM" type curriculum, I've noticed that my physics class has all kinds of big creative ptojects like rube Goldberg machines and creating musically accurate instruments from scratch. . . All of which require research, experimentation, problem-solving, all that good stuff . . .But I have no such creative extensive endeavors in chemistry. How does one include such endeavors and still get through the expected material? Anyone have any particularly inventive chemistry projects? I want my students leaving my class with more than chemistry facts.

Did you ever come up with some good ideas for creative chemistry projects? I was thinking of doing an ethical debate where the students would have to look up a topic related to chemistry with an ethical theme. Mostly I was thinking of something to do with unwanted/dangerous chemicals in foods due to lax regulations or with some medical treatments or drugs that are controversial, etc. But I would also love to hear if anyone else got back to you with a creative idea or two. I'm always looking for more interesting things to do for my students too.

Emily, I did something like that in college. And no, I haven't come up with anything creative for chemistry. Most of my brain power has been devoted to tweaking a standards based system for my courses. And I started too late. I'll have to plan for next year :-)

Hi Meredith, Our chemistry curriculum group came up with this chemistry project last school year and we have been tweaking it since then. We called it Chemistry at Work Project. It is basically about doing research on the chemistry behind a product of their choice. It can be a personal hygiene product, household cleaning product, beauty, automotive, food, or health product, OR a product used in one of their hobbies OR their future career choice. They have to do research on any five ingredients of their product which includes chemical formulas and names, groups/families, purpose of including that ingredient, chemical and physical properties, hazards or cautions of the ingredient, manufacturer of product and location. We also have the students find a professional resource person to interview about their product who either works with or makes their product. This year we included business letter writing (letter of request and thank you note). The final product of this project is a 5-minute iMovie or video to share all their findings to the class. The video must contain the interview with a professional. We shared these videos to parents during showcase night.

At our high school, students in Chemistry or Culinary classes take part in an extensive Molecular Gastronomy (MG) project. Drawing inspiration from chefs Alton Brown ("Good Eats") and Marcel ("Marcel's Quantum Kitchen"), as well as newly developing creative menus at restaurants, students work in groups of two or three to select a dish to re-innovate. MG basically transforms "ordinary" food into something different and creative; for example, turning a sauce into a gelatin, or producing flavor-filled spheres. The project takes place in the second half of the semester and spans almost two months, culminating in a school-wide food fair/contest. Past dishes include the following: Fruit Spaghetti -- Students created long strands of fruit-juice gelatin (they utilized long, thin tubing) and served it with strawberry cream sauce, garnished with fresh mint leaves. Deep-fried Coca Cola Balls -- Students created a Coca Cola sphere, dipped it in pancake batter, and deep-fried it. Bananas Foamster -- Students played up the traditional dessert by creating a foam sauce. The Chemistry and Culinary students work together to teach other tricks of their respective trades: Culinary students learn the science behind gels, foams, spheres and Science students learn about food presentation and sanitation. This is a popular project at our school. Students become really invested in their dishes and spend lots of time after class perfecting their gels or spheres. The chemistry behind MG is fascinating. For example, spheres can be made by combining a sauce or puree with calcium chloride and sodium alginate; these serve as stabilizing and thickening agents. Gels arise by mixing Knox gelatin in the right amount with a liquid. The MG project is time- and supply-intensive, but I think it's an effective (and delicious!) way to connect Chemistry to everyday things, and it's definitely a way for students to practice science hands on.

One way of connecting chemistry and nanotechnology is to do a project with self-assembly. There are lots of ways you can introduce this, but the basic concept is intermolecular forces and molecular shapes. Molecular Workbench has a great series of simulations to show how some common molecules are made using self assembly. I start off by telling my students that at the end of the unit they will need to design their own self assembling product. They can design whatever they want as long as they can describe the chemical principles governing the assembly of their product. My general chemistry class is completing a project in which they have to "green" the process of making a biofuel. They need to understand the principles of green chemistry (you can find them on acs.org), stoichiometry, calorimetry and saponification. You can have students try to optimize the yield of a reaction. For example, this year one of my "teams" decided they would test the %yield of aspirin synthesis. They each chose a variable to test and then compiled their research to make recommendations as to the best conditions for synthesizing aspirin. These are just a few I can think of off the top of my head.

All May I suggest that ya'll (I can say this I am from Texas - translated plural of you) subscribe to Science Tuesday http://www.youtube.com/show/scientifictuesdays?s=1 A new great idea every Tuesday You MUST try the magnetic fluid demonstration http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vsQh1AT6qUE

Hi, I am a middle school science teacher and interested in finding the ideas from which I can learn and guide my students for science fair project. We officially started to participate in the science fair project from last year and spent a lot of class hours to support their project. Many of my students are interested in doing investigative project involving chemistry concepts. I am hoping this is a right place for my purpose and I can gain to lead and guide my students through this thread.

Tomonori The American Chemical Society has a fabulous website for middle school chemistry. I think you should be able to find some creative ideas amid the content provided. http://www.middleschoolchemistry.com/ NSTA has featured these middle school lessons in several webinars. http://learningcenter.nsta.org/products/web_seminar_archive_sponsor.aspx Pam

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Talk to you students about problems that may occur when someone consumes alcohol or takes drugs—either legal or illegal—and then gets behind the wheel. Emphazise the importance of driving responsibly—even if that means choosing not to drive when impaired or not to get into a car with a driver who isn't clearheaded. The AAS has a collection of resources explaining science behind alcohol with a focus on chemistry and neuroscience. The Science Inside Alcohol Project E-Book guides students through the effects of alcohol on the body and some of the physical and social consequences of underage drinking. Hear about teen brains and binge drinking, explore the social ramifications of alcohol abuse, and get advice on talking to kids about drinking. We also offer a number of resources related to impaired driving, including Driving and Talking, Cell Phones & Driving, Talking & Driving, and Driving while Distracted.

I did a project with my students titled, "Explain it to a 5th grader." To review for their final exam, I had my students design a book that explains Chemistry topics to a fifth grader. I included a list of the topics that needed to be discussed and explained to them that the vocabulary needed to be adjusted for a fifth grade students. This forced my students to take High school Chemistry topics and use pictures and easier vocabulary to explain them. I then talked to a few of our elementary schools and agreed to bring it to them for the students to see. I found that my students worked harder when they knew that they would actually be looked at and read and they made sure the topics made sense. I saw a sense of pride in the completed books I hadn't seen before and it helped them to review for their exam. Some of the fifth grade teachers even had their students write thank you letters.

I like to give students a chance to take home their chemistry experiments: they use red cabbage juice to find the pH of acids and bases around the house, for example. It is amazing the creativity that they show in finding new things to test. (I have learned about the pH of quite a few household items that I would not have thought to test.) I would like more ideas in this vein. It is true that chemistry labs tend to be more "cookbook" than physics labs. It is something that I struggle with and other than a few at-home experiments by which I have been pleasantly surprised, I am lacking for ideas. :) Kalee

I make the books like the post above (explain it to a 5th grader). I have songs they make and magazine pages on elements and compounds. It is really cool to see them get creative. Plus it helps them to get interested in the topics. Thanks to the post about the drunk driving lab ideas. Those are great and super relevant.

Meredith asked, 'Anyone have any particularly inventive chemistry projects? I want my students leaving my class with more than chemistry facts.'

Meredith, I used to have my students create their own Periodic Tables of Something. I would get Periodic Tables of Cookies, sports teams, State Capitals, Disney characters, you name it, may students have thought of it and made a periodic table of the elements. They would have to have rows and columns that made sense for their 'elements' and they would have to make an element tag for each item just like on a real periodic table. The kids really got into this assignment and loved doing it.
Tomonori, there are a few discussion threads on science fair projects within the Learning Center Community Forums. You might find some ideas by reading through a couple of them. Here is one of them: Science Fair Topics

Another excellent source for STEM projects in Chemistry is the Siemens STEM Academy website. You can filter by grade level and content area. I love all the resources available to teachers on this site!
Carolyn

Have you tried a pH project? A great deal of thinking and the journaling you could do, amazing.

Kids love slime too, so many different forms of slime that you can create. I personally love oobleck, you can even go back to primary grades and utilize the Dr. Seuss book, in addition you can throw in states of matter.

Kalee above has done the pH, great cheap activity.

I have just read your article. It was amazing. It made me think of something I have read previously.

There are some great ideas on this thread. I'm looking forward to looking into the Drinking and Driving resources - definitely relevant to my student's lives. I have midterms coming up a couple weeks after winter break ends, I think I may have to implement the 'Are you smarter than a 5th grader' chemistry book as a review project.

Off the top of my head here are some creative chemistry projects Density challenge: I tell students they have been hired by criminals to smuggle "stuff" across the boarder with out sinking their ship. - Flinn Stoichiometry rockets- Flinn build your own battery- make your own indicator average atomic mass of M & M s The one I am currently working on is a green chemistry project where students create a green cleaner, biofuel, bioplastic, paint, glue, soap, basically anything related to green chemistry. It is great because students use readily available less toxic chemicals. At the end of the project students make a commercial "selling" their project. If you can give me a specific unit or topic I might have more.

Winter Olympic Chemistry http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8BaOR6I-Yl8

Such Great Ideas!!

Such Great Ideas!Cannnot Wait to use them!

Hi, Students can make do an element project. Every student are assigned to which element to research on. Teacher can provide guided questions to promote learning the element. (How is the element used, how does look in an atom form, what form of state is it, etc.) After, students are to create an atom model. I hope this help!

Depending on what standards in chemistry you are teaching, I have had students design an airbag using stoichiometry and the Ideal gas law. If you would like a copy of this please email me at [email protected]

Hi people l have to come up with 3 possible projects l could do for my final Advanced level exams ....l loved the green chemistry one...please help

A friend of mine had her students research making hand cream and lotion.  It is a popular to make your own.  This involves making sure the pH is correct, and finding the right combination of ingredients to make the emolsion the right consistancy. Students seemed to like the products and enjoy the project. 

Testing local water and soils for polutants is also something that kids think is important.  We found lead in dust on houses near our school.

I had students testing rice for arsnic - it was a citizen science project and we were all surprised by the results.  We also tried washing the rice to see if we could lower the levels significantly because we found a source that sugested that would help.  We plotted where the rice was grown and looked at price to see if cost or location grown was related to levels of toxin. 

I often got ideas from citizen scientist and sometimes they will even supply materials for doing the tests if you agree to send results to the researcher.