Rationale
I teach in a small inner city school district that has a demographic population of 1619 students which includes 878 in grades K-6 grade with 52% being low-income, 236 in middle school grades 7-8 with 14% being low-income, and 505 students in high school with 33% of low-income. Economically, 64% of our population qualifies for free or reduced lunch status, 19% of the total population requires special education services, and 3% are eligible for gifted services.
I plan to bridge the gap of what chemistry is by teaching what a battery is, what a battery is made of, what are its applications, and how to recycle a battery responsibly. With society so environmentally aware of potential hazards of materials that need to be recycled, it is imperative that I educate my students of about chemicals in batteries, why they are hazardous and why it is so dangerous to put them in our garbage cans to be hauled away to the local landfill.
As my knowledge of the components in a battery increases, it has have made me realize that simply tossing them in our local landfill will have a negative impact on our environment. I came to the realization that it is my role as a science teacher to educate my students and make them aware with facts, background, experiments, and investigations to adequately show them the misconceptions of recycling. I intend to emphasize recycling of not just paper, plastic, aluminum, and glass but of the batteries that we can't seem to live without to power our everyday devices. I hope to empower my students' interest in recycling in their homes, school, and neighborhoods and to have a positive influence to teach others in the process.
The lessons and activities have been designed to show them the simple concepts of electrochemistry of a lemon battery, the types of batteries and the pH test for the materials that leach from batteries. Thus, I intend to make my students environmentally conscious of what they throw away. The lessons will then show my students the impact that they can have and make them more environmentally aware. The students will have a true understanding of what recycling is. My students will be taught the background information to guide them in science investigations and inquiry experiments, which then will allow them to discover for themselves.
Comments: