Big Ideas
Big Ideas
Atoms and molecules are building blocks of matter.
- Sample questions to support inquiry with students:
- How does the quantum mechanical model extend our understanding of the atom?
- Why is fluorine the most electronegative element?
Organic chemistry and its applications have significant implications for human health, society, and the environment.
- Sample questions to support inquiry with students:
- How do organic compounds differ in structure and properties?
- How is carbon the basis for all living things?
- How do the structure and geometry of organic compounds contribute to their usefulness in medicine?
The mole is a quantity used to make atoms and molecules measurable.
- Sample questions to support inquiry with students:
- How could you demonstrate Avogadro’s hypothesis?
- How does a mole compare to other units of measure?
Matter and energy are conserved in chemical reactions.
- Sample questions to support inquiry with students:
- How could you measure negative and/or positive impacts of chemical reactions on human health, society, and the environment in your local community?
- How can you observe the conservation of mass and energy in chemical reactions you encounter in your everyday life?
- How do lab techniques contribute to safety?
Solubility within a solution is determined by the nature of the solute and the solvent.
- Sample questions to support inquiry with students:
- How does the bent shape of the water molecule cause polarity?
- Why do some materials dissolve in water or other liquids, but others do not?
Content
Learning Standards
Content
quantum mechanical model and electron configuration
molecular geometry, valence shell electron pair repulsion (VSEPR) theory
valence electrons and Lewis structures
chemical bonding
Lewis structures of compounds, polarity
based on electronegativity
bonds/forces
- covalent bond
- hydrogen bond
- intra- and intermolecular forces
- impact on properties
organic compounds
- names, structures, geometry
applications of organic chemistry
- First Peoples traditional practices (e.g., medicines), pharmaceuticals, petrochemicals, polymers, cosmetics, metabolism, agriculture, food, biotechnology
the mole
dimensional analysis
- factor-label method (unit-analysis method)
- calculation of mass and molar quantities (using significant figures)
reactions
- predicting products, reactants and energy changes (ΔH)
stoichiometric calculations using significant figures
- mass
- number of molecules
- gas volumes
- molar quantities
- excess and limiting reactants
local and other chemical processes
- First Peoples traditional practices (e.g., tanning hides; preparation of food, soap, and natural bleach), smelting, pulp and paper production, food chemistry, photosynthesis and cellular respiration, development of petrochemical smog
green chemistry
- development of sustainable processes and technologies that reduce negative impacts on the environment (e.g., reducing toxicity, designing benign solvents, increasing energy efficiency)
solubility of molecular and ionic compounds
- dissociation of ions, dissociation equation
stoichiometric calculations in aqueous solutions
- molarity
- dilution effect
- concentration of ions in solution when two solutions are mixed
analysis techniques
- e.g., dissolved oxygen, pH, nitrates, phosphorus
Curricular Competency
Learning Standards
Curricular Competency
Questioning and predicting
Questioning and predicting
- Sample opportunities to support student inquiry:
- How does organic chemistry apply to your life (e.g., plastics, medicine, nutrition, cosmetics, transportation)?
- What are some applications of chemical reactions within your local community (e.g., smelting, pulp and paper industry, food chemistry, petrochemical smog)?
- How does the solubility of carbon dioxide in the oceans contribute to climate change?
Demonstrate a sustained intellectual curiosity about a scientific topic or problem of personal, local, or global interest
Make observations aimed at identifying their own questions, including increasingly abstract ones, about the natural world
Formulate multiple hypotheses and predict multiple outcomes
Planning and conducting
Planning and conducting
- Sample opportunities to support student inquiry:
- How do spectral lines relate to the quantum mechanical model?
- How would you measure negative and positive impacts of chemical reactions on human health, society or the environment in your local community?
- How would you safely prepare and collect a gas (e.g., collection of hydrogen from the single displacement reaction of Zn and HCl displacing water from a tube)?
- How could you use solution chemistry analysis techniques to investigate local water or soil samples?
- Demonstrate Avogadro’s hypothesis (e.g., Zn and HCl to produce a mole of H2 gas).
- Use a solubility chart to predict whether ions can be separated from a solution through precipitation and outline an experimental procedure that includes the compound added, precipitate formed, and method of separation.
- How would you estimate the uncertainty in a measurement, and how does using significant figures communicate uncertainty?
Collaboratively and individually plan, select, and use appropriate investigation methods, including field work and lab experiments, to collect reliable data (qualitative and quantitative)
Assess risks and address ethical, cultural, and/or environmental issues associated with their proposed methods
Use appropriate SI units and appropriate equipment, including digital technologies, to systematically and accurately collect and record data
Apply the concepts of accuracy and precision to experimental procedures and data:
- significant figures
- uncertainty
- scientific notation
Processing and analyzing data and information
Processing and analyzing data and information
- Sample opportunities to support student inquiry:
- How is the solubility of ions related to their position on the periodic table?
- What variables affect solubility, concentration (molarity), and conductivity?
- Construct, analyze, and interpret graphs of electronegativity, atomic radii, and ionic radii.
Experience and interpret the local environment
Apply First Peoples perspectives and knowledge, other ways of knowing, and local knowledge as sources of information
Seek and analyze patterns, trends, and connections in data, including describing relationships between variables, performing calculations, and identifying inconsistencies
Construct, analyze, and interpret graphs, models, and/or diagrams
Use knowledge of scientific concepts to draw conclusions that are consistent with evidence
Analyze cause-and-effect relationships
Evaluating
Evaluating
- Sample opportunities to support student inquiry:
- Calculate uncertainty in derived values.
- How has technology played a role in the evolution of the model of the atom?
Evaluate their methods and experimental conditions, including identifying sources of error or uncertainty, confounding variables, and possible alternative explanations and conclusions
Describe specific ways to improve their investigation methods and the quality of their data
Evaluate the validity and limitations of a model or analogy in relation to the phenomenon modelled
Demonstrate an awareness of assumptions, question information given, and identify bias in their own work and in primary and secondary sources
Consider the changes in knowledge over time as tools and technologies have developed
Connect scientific explorations to careers in science
Exercise a healthy, informed skepticism and use scientific knowledge and findings to form their own investigations to evaluate claims in primary and secondary sources
Consider social, ethical, and environmental implications of the findings from their own and others’ investigations
Critically analyze the validity of information in primary and secondary sources and evaluate the approaches used to solve problems
Assess risks in the context of personal safety and social responsibility
Applying and innovating
Applying and innovating
- Sample opportunities to support student inquiry:
- What solutions would you propose to address concerns about carbon dioxide in the environment?
- Using knowledge shared by First Peoples, explore the uses of traditional medicines. What medicines have been used? Which particular health conditions are/were they used for?
- Having been hired by the local government in your community to consult on the chemistry of fireworks, what suggestions would you provide for a spectacular yet safe show?
Contribute to care for self, others, community, and world through individual or collaborative approaches
Co-operatively design projects with local and/or global connections and applications
Contribute to finding solutions to problems at a local and/or global level through inquiry
Implement multiple strategies to solve problems in real-life, applied, and conceptual situations
Consider the role of scientists in innovation
Communicating
Communicating
- Sample opportunity to support student inquiry:
- During a meeting of various stakeholders, how would you best present your solutions to a local, chemistry-related problem?
Formulate physical or mental theoretical models to describe a phenomenon
Communicate scientific ideas and information, and perhaps a suggested course of action, for a specific purpose and audience, constructing evidence-based arguments and using appropriate scientific language, conventions, and representations
Express and reflect on a variety of experiences, perspectives, and worldviews through place
Place is any environment, locality, or context with which people interact to learn, create memory, reflect on history, connect with culture, and establish identity. The connection between people and place is foundational to First Peoples perspectives.