My Students, School Requirements and Textbook
"I hate chemistry!" "Why do we have to learn this?" "I will never use this again as long as I live!" For many science teachers, these statements are all too common. My high school requires that all sophomores, regardless of educational background or experience, take chemistry. Most of them have only had Algebra I and are currently enrolled in geometry. In addition, many of my students show great deficiencies in math and reading. Of course, that means that one of my greatest challenges is to turn what tends to be very abstract concepts into concrete concepts and ideas. We have chosen to use Chemistry in the Community, (ChemComm), as our textbook for our basic-level chemistry classses. ChemComm was written by the American Chemical Society as a project sponsored by the National Science Foundation. ChemComm is very heavily lab-based where the students must investigate, generate their own data, analyze those data, and then apply their knowledge in order to solve a problem presented in the text. The students are able to apply concepts from a more traditional chemistry in a less intimidating manner. The book would also be quite useful in an on-level or Pre-AP Chemistry class; however, it is also useful for low-level classes, because the class can be much more conceptually based and the higher level math can be more easily avoided. We are also a Middle Years Program (MYP) school, which means this unit is structured to meet the requirements of MYP, including a required essay. The Middle Years Program is part of the International Baccalaureate Program (IB). The IB program fosters cultural awareness and the focus is to develop students who are critical and reflective thinkers. The program also strives to help students make real-world connections to what it is they are learning. Assessments are used to discover the depth of knowlegde and the methods are very holistic. Most of the school's general education students do not complete the program; however, our curricula are geared towards making sure all students are educated in this manner throughout the school. Students, who are successful with the MYP requirements, are able to go through the IB program and graduate with an International Diploma.
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