Grant

Abstract

The purpose of this project is to teach students about the relationship between cars and chemistry in an engaging, meaningful way.  Whether itÍs a drive to school, work or to the grocery store, essentially all students and adults would agree that usage of a car is central to many peoplesÍ lives.  Therefore, this project will be beneficial to the student, teacher, parent and the community.

This project will be implemented by teaching lessons that are aimed at having the students construct their own knowledge as they learn new material.  To be specific, the lessons will require the students to perform hands-on lab activities, web simulations and to complete evaluations such as laboratory notebooks, quizzes and concept maps to learn the chemical principles of cars.

After completing this project, the students will leave the classroom with a deeper knowledge of the chemical concepts associated with cars.  Specifically, the students will be able to explain how a car battery and cooling system work, the processes of rusting

and corrosion and the relationship between car tires and gas laws.

Car Chemistry Rationale

            The discipline of chemistry is often presented as separate from the real world.  This misrepresentation causes many students to be uninterested.  A lack of student motivation shows up in poor performance on classroom assessments and standardized testing.  Much research has been conducted by the National Research Council on how to teach science.  In their publication, National Science Education Standards, they assert that connecting science to the real world should be one of the key goals of every science class. The book Generative Learning Model and its Implications for Science by Osborne and Wittrock echoes this concept by observing that when ñpupils genuinely feel that classroom learning is helping them make better sense of their world ƒthey are likely to be well motivatedî (75).  Fortunately chemistry is intricately woven into several areas of everyday life like synthetic fibers, water treatment, fuel sources, pharmaceuticals, and automobiles to name a few.

            A car and a driverÍs license are important things for most teenagers.  What better way to engage students in learning than by centering lessons on one of their favorite topics?  On the surface the chemistry of a car may seem trivial, yet the automobile provides a rich laboratory where several basic principles of chemistry are at work.  As students learn to explain how and why certain aspects of a car work through chemistry they will be encouraged to think about how the chemical principles work in other contexts.  The Car Chemistry Unit is designed to achieve two important goals: to provide a real world example of how chemistry is important and to engage students in learning chemistry.

Car Chemistry Description

The Car Chemistry Unit is separated into four sections: Tires, Metals, Cooling System, and Batteries.  Within each section different chemical principles are explored. 

            Tires investigate the relationship of pressure, volume, and temperature in gases.  Groups of students will be given tires, air pumps, pressure gauges, and a heat source.  The groups will first be given the opportunity to explore the relationships and make observations on their own. They will then present their findings to the rest of the class.   Towards the end of the unit the instructor will present the names for the relationships that have been discovered.  For example the inverse relationship of pressure and volume at a constant temperature is known as BoyleÍs Law.  This section is expected to span one and a half weeks.

            Metals explore the properties common to metals and the phenomena of rusting cars.  An interactive periodic table of the elements that presents short articles on all the metals (and all the elements) will be used as an introduction.  Once students are familiar with metallic properties they will again be split into groups to explore how rust and corrosion occur.  Group presentations on the topic of rusting and a quiz will close out this portion of the unit.  This section is expected to span one and a half weeks.

            Cooling System takes a look at the properties of water and how they make water an important fluid in automobiles.  The first portion is a series of small group discussions and investigations into the structure and physical properties of water.  Students will be able to view simulations of how water molecules act as a liquid and as a solid.  They will also mimic the manner in which scientists work out novel phenomena by brainstorming theories based on the information with which they are presented.  The section then moves on to the benefits of water versus other liquids like soap or juice.  Here students have an opportunity to consider alternatives and better understand why waterÍs chemistry makes it the best for cooling down automobiles.  The section winds down with a lesson on the chemical perspective of how antifreeze works and ends with an exam over water and its use in cars.  This section is expected to span two weeks.

            Batteries study the electrochemistry that creates the energy cars need.  The section begins with students creating a hypothesis of how a car battery works.  Student groups then investigate and measure the reactions that produce electricity.  Using this foundational knowledge groups are given the task of building a working battery.  Each student will document how their group battery was made, the logic behind choosing particular materials, and why the battery works in a laboratory report.  Once students understand how chemical reactions drive electricity, they will research how electricity can drive chemical reactions and how batteries are recharged.  Batteries will end with students writing a paper using detailed chemical explanations for how batteries work.  This section is expected to span two weeks.

            The high school chemistry classroom is equipped with basic glassware and chemicals, however materials like bicycle tires, car batteries, and special or large volumes of chemical reagents will have to be purchased.  The main idea of Car Chemistry is to center the lessons on parts or components of a car and extract the applicable chemical aspects.  There are some places where using an actual car artifacts is not practical so appropriate substitutions have been made.  For example students will be constructing small battery cells instead of actual car batteries for safety reasons. This unit also allows students to develop their communication skills by designing inquiries in group settings and offering a variety of assessments.  Presentations, lab reports and class discussions are used to assess learning as well as traditional quizzes and exams.

Project calendar for Car Chemistry

Part one: Gas Laws

Monday:

            Students will perform an engagement with balloons to explore pressure, volume relationship.

Tuesday:

            Students will work on a simulation that will help them understand gas laws:  BoyleÍs Law, CharlesÍ Law, and the Ideal Gas Law.

Wednesday:

            Students will continue working with the simulation and answering the questions embedded in the simulation activities.

Thursday:

            Assessment; students will draw concept maps of their understanding of the gas laws.  We will also discuss/address the concepts involved with gas laws such as tire pressure, an automobile engine, our lungs, and scuba divers.

Friday:

            Quiz over the gas laws.

Part 2:  Rusting

Monday:

            The topic of rust will be introduced with a game called Common and Unique that will serve as a checking of the students prior knowledge and as an engagement.  The topic will be introduced and weÍll have a small lecture on it.

Tuesday:

            Students will explore the effects of rusting in different environments.  (Like rainy, snowy, humid, salty, or chemical environments.)  The students will be encouraged to collaborate with other schools to complete this activity.

Wednesday:

Work on project.

Thursday:

            Work on project.

Friday:

            Work on project.

Monday:  Finish up projects/Prepare for presentations.

Tuesday:  Presentations for project.

Wednesday:  Quiz on rusting.

Part 3: Cooling System Ü Water Chemistry

Monday:

            Pre-assessment / Discussion on the use of water in the cars 

Tuesday:

            Benchmark Lesson 1:

Water: Structure, and its Polarity (Hydrogen bonding).

Show simulations on Hydrogen bonding:

Hydrogen Bonding in liquid water:

http://www.visionlearning.com/library/flash_viewer.php?oid=1380&mid=57

Hydrogen bonding in ice water:

http://www.visionlearning.com/library/flash_viewer.php?oid=1381&mid=57

Wednesday:

            Warm up:

Hydrogen bonding.

Brainstorm in groups:

How does hydrogen bonding explain the unique properties of water?

Thursday:

            Lab day:

Investigation to come up with the properties of water

e.g.

surface tension

density

boiling point

freezing point

universal solvent.

Friday:

Review/Discussion

Complete the lab reports.

Monday:

            Benchmark lesson 2:

Properties of water.

Tuesday:

            Discussion in groups/class:

Where we use water in cars? Why we use water?

Why canÍt we use soap, juice, salt water, etc instead of water?

Wednesday:

            Benchmark lesson 3:

Water as a coolant and ethylene glycol as antifreeze.

Thursday:

            Project day/Research on Internet or library.

Friday:

            Review/Discussion:

Question answer session.

Exam: Water and its use in cars.

Part 4:  Car Batteries Ü Electrochemistry

Monday

Pre-assessment - Essay Question: How does a car battery work?

-       use Internet, books, experts, imagination; site sources

Tuesday

Lecture or experiment - Movement of electrons and charge

Wednesday

Demonstration Ü How to do 1/2 reactions

            - materials, set up, measuring voltage, using potential tables, safety

Thurdsay

Lab Exploration Ü design and conduct 1/2 reactions

-       write equations and explain techniques for the reactions conducted

Friday

Continue Lab

Monday

Lab Exploration - Build a working wet battery

-       write a lab report and exain: how actual batteries work, what materials were used, the voltage output and 1/2 rxns involved, schematic of battery set up

Tuesday

Continue Lab

Wednesday

Lecture/ Demo  - How do car batteries last so long

-       recharging

-       voltaic vs. electrolytic cells

-       flow of electricity in a jumpstart

Thursday

Continue Lecture

 Friday

Assessment Ü How does a car battery work?

-       use info learned, lab experiences, etc.

BUDGET

** This budget is for a class of 20 students. **

TOTAL AMOUNT= $1,519.14

EVALUATION PLAN

            The success of this unit will be evaluated individually as well as a group of students. Students will be performing various labs in this unit and record their data and observations in their lab notebooks. The teacher will be keeping a record of their progress by assessing studentÍs work on regular basis. A quiz will be given at the end of each lab to evaluate students understanding of the lab. Quiz will have short answer questions to assess the studentÍs reasoning ability and multiple choice questions to assess studentÍs ability to recall some factual information or the definition of the terms. The questions are designed to help student think about a particular concept at three different levels of learning i.e. remembering, understanding, and application.     This unit also has benchmark lessons and the understanding of these lessons will be evaluated before as well as after the lesson is taught. The students will be required to make concept maps to show how a particular concept in chemistry works in a car engine. This assessment technique will facilitate the students to visualize their learning and apply their conceptual understanding to the engine of a car.