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2018-2019
Course Overview: AP Chemistry
Contact Information: Mary Ellen Manning
/334-283-2187
Planning Period: 1st Semester, 5th Block/2nd Semester, 1st Block
Tutoring Available: Thursdays after school unless moved to another date to accommodate a conflict, such as a webinar or holiday
Course Description
Advanced Placement (AP) Chemistry is a “hands-on” course using unique techniques to teach inorganic chemistry on a college level. Students will gain an understanding of matter and its changes, and an appreciation of the various ways chemistry affects our lives. Students will gain skills in problem solving, investigating, interpreting data, communicating, predicting outcomes, chemical safety, and laboratory techniques. Pre-AP high school chemistry and teacher recommendation are a pre-requisite for this course.
Classes meet daily for one 101 minute period (including lunch) all year long. During the year, students should also perform an in-depth, (25 hour), independent research project and produce a formal paper and display board. Although students are required to perform 16 laboratory exercises with six being an inquiry format, more labs will be conducted to cover the AP College Board’s assumed “prior knowledge.” Labs are conducted during school, perhaps broken into two-day segments, and may still have to be finished during lunch and/or after school as the situation dictates. Homework assignments come either from the textbook or from NMSI (National Math and Science Initiative) resources. Structured one-hour tutoring sessions are offered every Thursday (unless otherwise scheduled) after school in compliance with A+ College Ready Grant regulations. During this time labs may be finished, a lab or exam may be debriefed, and/or extra help may be given on current topics of study. Also in compliance with A+ College Ready Grant regulations, students are expected to attend three Saturday Study Sessions, as well as, take a Mock Exam during the week that graduation exams are given. Students will take the College Board AP Chemistry Exam at the end of the course in May (always the first Monday).
Course Design
This course is designed to provide a solid first-year college chemistry experience, both conceptually and in the laboratory. The labs serve to reinforce and extend the learning in the lecture section of the course. Problem-solving skills are continually emphasized in all aspects of the course.
Students gain knowledge of the following topics during first-year Pre-AP Chemistry:
· Molar relationships (composition and reaction)
· Electronic structure
· Periodicity
· History of atomic theory
· Intramolecular and intermolecular bonding
· Molecular geometry, including some organic chemistry
· Gas laws
· Solutions
· Nuclear chemistry
Being the Pre-AP Chemistry teacher allows me to make the necessary adjustments in order to ensure maximum student success.
The increased complexity or unfamiliar nature of the following concepts makes it necessary to allow more time to cover them in this AP Chemistry course:
· Chemical kinetics
· Equilibrium
· Thermochemistry
· Thermodynamics
· Redox reactions
· Buffer systems
· Coordination complexes
· Organic chemistry
Objectives
The objectives taught in this course come from the Advanced Placement College Board, the Chemistry Core of the Alabama Course of Study for Science, the National Science Education Standards (NSES), the Benchmarks for Science Literacy, the Science Framework for the 2005 National Assessment of Educational Progress, and the Chang Chemistry textbook.
AP College Board Curricular Requirements / Page(s)CR1 / Students and teachers use a recently published (within the last 10 years) college-level chemistry textbook. / 4
CR2 / The course is structured around the enduring understandings within the big ideas as described in the AP Chemistry Curriculum Framework. / 2
CR3a / The course provides students with opportunities outside the laboratory environment to meet the learning objectives within Big Idea 1: Structure of matter. / 6,8
6CR3b / The course provides students with opportunities outside the laboratory environment to meet the learning objectives within Big Idea 2: Properties of matter-characteristics, states, and forces of attraction. / 6,8
CR3c / The course provides students with opportunities outside the laboratory environment to meet the learning objectives within Big Idea 3: Chemical reactions. / 6
CR3d / The course provides students with opportunities outside the laboratory environment to meet the learning objectives within Big Idea 4: Rates of chemical reactions. / 7
CR3e / The course provides students with opportunities outside the laboratory environment to meet the learning objectives within Big Idea 5: Thermodynamics. / 7
CR3f / The course provides students with opportunities outside the laboratory environment to meet the learning objectives within Big Idea 6: Equilibrium. / 8
CR4 / The course provides students with the opportunity to connect their knowledge of chemistry and science to major societal or technological components (e.g., concerns, technological advances, innovations) to help them become scientifically literate citizens. / 9
CR5a / Students are provided the opportunity to engage in investigative laboratory work integrated throughout the course for a minimum of 25 percent of instructional time. / 5
CR5b / Students are provided the opportunity to engage in a minimum of 16 hands-on laboratory experiments integrated throughout the course while using basic laboratory equipment to support the learning objectives listed within the AP Chemistry Curriculum Framework. / 9
CR6 / The laboratory investigations used throughout the course allow students to apply the seven science practices defined in the AP Chemistry Curriculum Framework. At minimum, six of the required 16 labs are conducted in a guided-inquiry format. / 9
CR7 / The course provides opportunities for students to develop, record, and maintain evidence of their verbal, written, and graphic communication skills through laboratory reports, summaries of literature or scientific investigations, and oral, written, and graphic presentations. / 5
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STRUCTURE OF THE COURSE: [CR2]
AP Chemistry is built around six big ideas and seven science practices. The big ideas are:
Big Idea 1: The chemical elements are fundamental building materials of matter, and all matter can be understood in terms of arrangements of atoms. These atoms retain their identity in chemical reactions.
Big Idea 2: Chemical and physical properties of materials can be explained by the structure and the arrangement of atoms, ions, or molecules and the forces between them.
Big Idea 3: Changes in matter involve the rearrangement and/or reorganization of atoms and/or the transfer of electrons.
Big Idea 4: Rates of chemical reactions are determined by details of the molecular collisions.
Big Idea 5: The laws of thermodynamics describe the essential role of energy and explain and predict the direction of changes in matter.
Big Idea 6: Any bond or intermolecular attraction that can be formed can be broken. These two processes are in a dynamic competition, sensitive to initial conditions and external perturbations.
The science practices for AP Chemistry are designed to get the students to think and act like scientists. The science practices are:
Science Practice 1: The student can use representations and models to communicate scientific phenomena and solve scientific problems.
Science Practice 2: The student can use mathematics appropriately.
Science Practice 3: The student can engage in scientific questioning to extend thinking or to guide investigations within the context of the AP course.
Science Practice 4: The student can plan and implement data collection strategies in relation to a particular scientific question.
Science Practice 5: The student can perform data analysis and evaluation of evidence.
Science Practice 6: The student can work with scientific explanations and theories.
Science Practice 7: The student is able to connect and relate knowledge across various scales, concepts, and representations in and across domains.
*CR2—The course is structured around the enduring understandings within the big ideas as described in the AP Chemistry Curriculum
Laboratory
The labs completed require following or developing processes and procedures, taking observations, and data manipulation. Students communicate and collaborate in lab groups; however, each student writes a laboratory report to be filed in their practical assessment folder for every lab they perform. A minimum of 25% of student contact time will be spent doing hands-on laboratory activities. [CR5a]
The 10 Parts of a Laboratory Report [CR7]
A specific format will be given to the student for each lab. Students must follow that format and label all sections very clearly. AP Chemistry lab reports are much longer and more in depth than the ones completed in the first year chemistry course. Therefore, it is important that students don’t procrastinate when doing pre-lab and post-lab work.
Pre-Lab Work
Pre-lab work is to be completed and turned in on the day the lab is performed.
1. Title The title should be descriptive. For example, “pH Titration Lab” is a descriptive title and “Experiment 5” is not a descriptive title.
2. Date This is the date the student performed the experiment.
3. Purpose A purpose is a statement summarizing the “point” of the lab.
4. Procedure Outline Students need to write an outline of the procedure. They should use bulleted statements or outline format to make it easy to read. If a student is doing a guided inquiry lab, they may be required to write a full procedure that they develop. For student designed experimentation all materials, variables, and controls must be listed
5. Pre-Lab Questions Students will be given some questions to answer before the lab is done. They will need to either rewrite the question or incorporate the question in the answer. The idea here is that when someone (like a college professor) looks at a student’s lab notebook, they should be able to tell what the question was by merely looking at their lab report. It is important to produce a good record of lab work.
6. Data Tables Students will need to create any data tables or charts necessary for data collection in the lab.
During the Lab
*Data Students need to record all of their quantitative and qualitative data directly in their lab notebook. They are NOT to be recording data on their separate lab sheet. They need to label all data clearly and always include proper units of measurement. Students should include precision of all equipment used in measurement. Students should underline, use capital letters, or use any device they choose to help organize this section well. They should space things out neatly and clearly.
Post-Lab Work
1. Calculations and Graphs Students should show how calculations are carried out. Graphs need to be titled, axes need to be labeled, and units need to be shown on the axis. To receive credit for any graphs, they must be at least ½ page in size. Students must show calculations for propagations of error.
2. Conclusions/ Evaluations This will vary from lab to lab. Students will usually be given direction as to what to write, but it is expected that all conclusions will be well thought out and well written. The error/limitations, effect on product, suggestions for improvement may be done in chart form.
The Laboratory Folders- A record of lab work is an important document, which will show the quality of the lab work that students have performed. All lab reports will be filed in these folders and may be used for documentation for college level practical work.
*CR5a—Students are provided the opportunity to engage in investigative laboratory work integrated throughout the course for a minimum of 25 percent of instructional time.
*CR7—The course provides opportunities for students to develop, record, and maintain evidence of their verbal, written, and graphic communication skills through laboratory reports, summaries of literature or scientific investigations, and oral, written, and graphic presentations.
Important Dates to Remember
· Thursdays, 3:20-4:20 pm, after-school tutoring
· Saturday Study Sessions (held here in A-19)
1. Saturday, January 20, 2018 (8am -12pm)
2. Wednesday, March 7, 2018 (11am-3pm)
3. Saturday, April 21, 2018 (8am-12pm)
· Mock Exam (TBD)
· AP Exam, Monday, May 7, 2018 (If a student does NOT take the official AP Chemistry Exam, then he/she will be required to take an old AP Chemistry Exam during the days set aside for final exams, and the final exam will count 20% of his/her final grade).
Classroom Expectations
· Students will be respectful of all persons at all times in every way.
· Students will be prepared for class daily (IPad, textbook, notebook, writing utensils, calculator, etc.).
· Students will not eat or drink in class (water is the only exception).
· Students will not leave class except for an emergency.
Classroom Management
Behavior in the classroom and lab directly impacts on student performance. Bad behavior in either location will result in disciplinary action in accordance with the Code of Conduct. Students have been reminded that
SELF-DISCIPLINE MAKES OUTSIDE DISCIPLINE UNNECESSARY.
1. The teacher will meet with student privately and give a warning for first offense.
2. The teacher will take action and contact parent (email or call) for second offense.
3. The teacher will schedule conference with student, parent, and principal for third offense.
4. The teacher will refer students to the office for fourth offense.
Absences and Make-up Work (as outlined in the THS Management Plan in the Student Handbook)
Class attendance and participation for all categories of grades is vital for success.
· Students will make up all work in a timely manner (five school days) only with an excused absence note. Students with unexcused absences have three school days to clear the absence to an excused absence, which leaves two days to make up the work. Failure to do so will result in a grade of “0” for the assignment(s).
· It is the student’s responsibility to make up work, which includes copying the assignment board for his/her class, completing the assignment(s), and turning it/them in. A list of make-up work with the student’s name on it is placed in a class file folder on the wall by the door.
· Make-up tests/quizzes/labs will only be given when appointments are initiated and made by the student in advance according to the schedule provided. Furthermore, it is NOT the instructor’s responsibility to remind individuals what they need to make up.
Late Work
· Homework and daily assignments are due upon request as assigned; they will NOT be accepted late for any partial credit.