Visualizing Chemical Change through Modeling

As stated by the authors there are three levels of understanding of chemical reactions – macroscopic, particle and symbolic. These authors help students through these levels using modeling ... See More

As stated by the authors there are three levels of understanding of chemical reactions – macroscopic, particle and symbolic. These authors help students through these levels using modeling clay as an instructional tool. The article explains how modeling clay is used to help students through the process of a chemical reaction and the Law of Conservation of Matter. A sample 5E lesson is also provided in the article to demonstrate how this modeling technique can be applied. This is a good way for student to visualize the process of chemical change on a particle level.

Good Starting Point

I really liked this article. It addresses a very difficult part of chemistry education. Some of the content knowledge can be relatively inaccessible to deep understanding for students that a... See More

I really liked this article. It addresses a very difficult part of chemistry education. Some of the content knowledge can be relatively inaccessible to deep understanding for students that aren't able to learn abstractly. It gives a 5E learning cycle based lesson plan, as well as reasoning for why each step is important. I would like to have seen a slightly more innovative example of a model, but understand that this example served to demonstrate the value of modeling more than provide entirely new ideas for the classroom.

Teaching Through Modeling

This journal talks a lot about learning chemistry through the senses. It is hard for a lot of students to visualize chemistry concepts. Because of this, the journal talks about using modelin... See More

This journal talks a lot about learning chemistry through the senses. It is hard for a lot of students to visualize chemistry concepts. Because of this, the journal talks about using modeling clay as an instructional tool. Students can then explain these concepts in physical explanations for certain chemical events. The article also uses the 5E model which is very important for students to be able to use this model in their day-to-day discoveries.

useful starting place

The article outlines the use of models in teaching students about writing and balancing chemical equations. I like that the authors address the need to discuss the limitations of the mod... See More

The article outlines the use of models in teaching students about writing and balancing chemical equations. I like that the authors address the need to discuss the limitations of the models with students, but several important examples are missing here. For instance, it would be important for students to realize that atoms of different elements would not be the same size.