Chemical Changes Collection
Fri, Nov 15, 2013 4:25 PM
Review
I decided to review Kristine Perez’s collection called Chemical Changes. I was interested in reviewing this collection because I had to develop a lesson on the subject for one of my classes. To add, I love science, but the subject that is hardest to me is Chemistry, so I think I can benefit from reading this collection. The first thing I noticed about her collection is the variety of resources she added to it. I saw that she had book chapters, journal articles, and science objects. I liked the science object selected because it gives teachers a wide variety of activities to base their lessons on. To add, the main purpose of it is to help teachers understand the topic they will teach using an online interactive inquiry-based science object. I believe that sometimes teachers don’t know what they have to teach and just read the textbook and cover the material barely getting through the important parts. This science object allows teachers to see chemical reactions that occur all over us in real life such as while cooking or with automobiles. If teachers are able to see how deep the subject goes into and how they can apply it to real life not just science experiments, they can help the students a lot more. The first book chapter “Butter Battle: Physical Changes Versus Chemical Changes” the author explains how teachers can teach students a different way of seeing a physical change. I remember that for my lesson I also used the common example of ice melting, but this article shows us how melting butter is a great way of showing students a different physical reaction. Finally, what I really liked was that Kristine included an article on classroom management. This article is called “Classroom Management and Inquiry-Based Learning: Finding the Balance” I thought this was very neat because sometimes teachers do not know how to include inquiry based activities into their science lessons. Even though it is important to use them with everything, I believe that it is crucial when doing experiments. Adding this article helps a teacher realize what and how they can use inquiry in their lessons. I think that this was a very complete collection with a wide variety of resources to help a teacher plan a lesson on chemical reactions.