Blog Post 8

I decided to make my lesson about chemical reactions. I would put all of these reactions on the board and have the students balance them. 

6 CO2 + 6 H2O + light → C6H12O6 + 6 O2     Photosynthesis

C6H12O6 + 6O2 → 6CO2 + 6H2O + Energy  Cellular Respiration

C6H12O6 → 2C2H5OH + 2CO2 + Energy Anaerobic Respiration

C3H8 + 5O2 → 4H2O + 3CO2 + Energy  Combustion

Fe + O2 + H2O → Fe2O3. XH2O Rusting

            I think when Bill Ayers talks about “building bridges” he wants to display the idea that it is the teacher’s responsibility to take the information they are teaching and first off gear it toward things students are interested and second make the information applicable to the real world.

            After all of the equations were balanced I would tell them what each reaction was and what it was used for in the real world. This is how I would bridge the information to the real world. This would show them the importance of chemical reactions and why it is important to learn about them and understand them. Being able to balance chemical reactions is a very important skill to master early on in chemistry, but a lot of student struggle to understand why they are doing the balancing.

Ideas to keep in mind when planning/doing this lesson:

             

1. The purpose of this lesson is to teach a basic chemistry skill and to show the students why it needs to balanced and what results from the balanced equation in the real world. I will need to keep in mind that as new chemistry students they probably are not interested in balancing a chemical reaction this idea originates with Freire’s Banking Concept of Education, where he advocates for teachers to be more than just people who deposit information into their students. If the students can apply the skill to the real world they won't just be a depository.

2.  DiGiulio explains the effectiveness of relating the material to what students already know. Everyone learns about photosynthesis in middle school science and by providing the chemistry behind the process is just broadening the students knowledge about a topic they already know stuff about.

3. Ayers explains that good teachers put the needs of their students first. I would have the students try to balance these on their own, and then discuss them with the people around them. If I noticed that this system was not working for a student I would go individually help them and change my plan of letting the students working it out on their own.

4.  Ohanian emphasizes the importance of making lessons meaningful to the students being taught. All students know how important photosynthesis and the other reactions are they might have just never knew the chemistry behind it. Photosynthesis is the way plants provide us with oxygen and I think being able to breathe is meaningful to all humans.