VCE Chemistry: Sample Teaching Plan

VCE Chemistry Units 1 and 2: 2016–2020; Units 3 and 4: 2017–2021SAMPLE TEACHING PLAN

VCE Chemistry: Sample teaching plan

Sample Course Outline – VCE Chemistry Unit 2: What makes water such a unique chemical?

Note:This is a sample guide only and indicates one way to present the content from the VCE Chemistry Study Design over the weeks in each school term. Teachers are advised to consider their own contexts in developing learning activities: Which local fieldwork sites would support learning in the topic area? Which local issues lend themselves to debate and investigation? Which experiments can students complete within the resource limitations of their learning environments?

• Experiment: comparison of specific heat capacities of water and different oils
• Modelling: group oral or multimodal presentation related to the application of latent heat in student-selected context of perspiration, kitchen chemistry, storms, climate science

• Experiment: group-developed hypotheses to investigate different aspects of solubility
• Problem-based learning: groups investigate acid rain or ocean acidification effects
• Research and experiment: electrolytes in soft drinks, mineral water and sports drinks
• Hypothesis formulation and testing: How can hard water be softened?

• Experiment: differentiation between strong and weak acids on the basis of conductivity, pH and rate of reaction with magnesium
• Laboratory safety: relate the strength and concentration of acids and bases to the safety procedures for their use
• Scientific skills: compare the accuracy, precision and validity of collated class measurements of the pH of a variety of everyday solutions
• Experiments: round-robin of acid reactions – students record results and write equations in logbooks; annotate equations to show direction of proton transfer
• Acid-base chemistry web dilemma including social, ethical and economic implications

• Experiment: metal displacement reactions and the reactivity series; compare predictions with results
• Chemical language development: equation-writing and annotation of redox equations to identify direction of electron flow, oxidising agent, reducing agent, conjugate redox pairs
• Experiment: oxidation of a copper foil envelope

• Media analysis: YouTube clips related to water contamination issues
• Experiment: solubility curve of a salt
• Data analysis: interpretation of world maps showing water distribution and quality
• Site tour: water treatment plant – infographic to link processes to solubility concepts
• Class display: increasing salt or sugar concentrations of packaged foods

• Experiment: Law of Conservation of Mass – tracking of mass changes of chemical reactions in closed systems; model the rearrangement of atoms in the reactions
• Experiment: gravimetric analysis of the total chloride content of a water sample
• Instrumental analysis – colorimetric versus instrumental analysis of phosphate
• Acid-base titration: dilutions; preparation of a standard solution of hydrochloric acid; analysis of a base in a water sample
• Calculations: mass-mass and volume-volume stoichiometry worksheets

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