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Out of the Box ideas for Chemistry and US Government?


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DS was asking what cool, out of the box stuff we can do for Chemistry and US government. Yikes. I have only been researching how to hs high school and trying to find the perfect curriculum, I forgot about the reason we've decided to hs in the first place!

 

So, what cool ideas do you have for us?

 

And, yes, I FINALLY started slogging through the Breadth vs Depth thread. If I go through a few pages a day, I should have it read by the holidays! :lol:

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I'm trying to bring in real life stuff this year for chemistry. We're going to a place that does three types of glass work and they now allow visitors to blow their own items if they want. I think for an older child doing some glass classes would be really cool. The place near me offers a large variety of classes.

 

We're going to be looking quite a bit at chemistry of water with visits to our water company and sewage treatment facility. I think shadowing someone who works in the lab at one of these sorts of facilities would be awesome.

 

We're getting ready to visit a local winery during their fall harvest and they're going to go through the processes they use for various varietals. Volunteering to participate in harvesting would be cool, if it were allowed..... Making your own wines, vinegars, etc. at home would also be fun....

 

We're going to be looking at the chemistry of bees, their combs, and honey this year. We'll be trying to visit with a beekeeper or two. Working with an apiarist would be cool if you're not allergic to bees. There's some neat research going on now with manuka honey, as well as other varieties. All honey has properties that help to heal wounds, burns, etc. Manuka is particularly powerful in its action against MRSA and some other nasty microbes. It would be cool to see if there's a research university nearby doing any work with bees and honey and visit with them; volunteer in their lab, etc.

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Several people have talked about the MIT Open Courseware class on kitchen chemistry.

 

For government: could you sit in on an open court trial? Write and ask to meet and/or interview your local representative? Sit in on a town meeting or city council debate open to the community? If you live in or near a smallish town, meet the mayor?

 

And there are so many critical elections going on this November, I'd really focus on those, chart predictions of who will win what seats and what actually happens, etc. One thing I'd love to do with my daughter (she's only in 9th, so it will wait a few years) is learn how to research who is behind the funding for any particular proposition that will be on the ballot, and why.

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For government what about volunteering to work in a political campaign. You might also be able to do internships with local government officials. If you want a good books series to read look at the Whatever Happened to Justice and Are you Liberal Conservative or Confused? books by Bluestocking press.

 

Not sure about what you could do for a high school chemistry course though.

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Wow. Thank you for the ideas. Kitchen Chemistry looks great. And Regena, I love your ideas. In fact, your post gave me a first day of school idea. There is a glassblowing place in Philadelphia that we can visit and take a class. I will be exploring your other ideas, too. Jane, Caveman Chemistry looks interesting. :)

 

KarenAnne and mschickie, thanks for your specific ideas. It's definitely a good year for US Govt. I gotta remember my politically active days and the contacts that I have! Just a few short years ago, I was a mover and shaker in this town! :lol:

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Oh my! The sample on Amazon is just hilarious and really drew me in. Thanks for mentioning this book.

Holly

 

You are welcome. I had not encountered Caveman Chemistry until a friend showed me the book this summer. Some resources would be required to do it right, but I think the book has great potential.

 

Cheers,

Jane

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U.S. Governemnt:

We loved Teaching Company's course; Great Debate: Advocates and Opponents of the American Constitution . This was afascinating behind the scenes look at the thinking behind the writing of the constition. We also enjoyed the course on Abraham Lincoln's.speeches

 

We used America:the Last Best Hope as a spine. It has a teacher's guide that you can buy that has some interesting activities and discussions.

 

Volunteer in some election.

 

If it all possible, visit your state capitol. Do it on a day when they are in session so you can watch the proceedings.

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I also want to think out of the box on science. I'm thinking of building a periodic table with my son, either on the wall or in a notebook. I want to spend some time on each element.

 

I feel that if he can get excited about and familiar with the elements, it will help in any science. I personally felt like every science I tried in college kept listing the elements -- and I tried any science I thought might get away from it. I think I settled on nutrition and astronomy, and still it was gases and chemicals and elements. At the time I just felt it was all blah blah blah.

 

For lab, I already had Experiences in Chemistry on the shelf, but I'm thinking of just saying that every Friday he needs to do something hands on. We can order a kit or he can take a field trip or go to a pond, whatever.

 

I'm trying to think like the great scientists, who surely didn't get excited because they had to memorize textbooks. I've been watching all these free Howard Hughes videos that someone mentioned, and those scientists surely are excited by ideas and guesses and trying things out, without being told what they "must" find out (one of the teachers I watched today actually said that).

 

Thanks for all the other ideas. Please share more, especially anything unusual that folks have actively done with high schoolers successfully.

Julie

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The Periodic Table of Videos is a fantastic resource — kind of a dorky, elemental version of Mythbusters. (I just watched the new fluorine video — awesome!)

 

Have you seen Theodore Gray's Periodic Table Table? We love his book, The Elements, and also have a set of his element cards. His Mad Science book is fun to read but you probably wouldn't want to use it as a lab manual!

 

The information in The Cartoon Guide to Chemistry and the Manga Guide to Molecular Biology is quite technical, but presented in a fun, nontextbooky way.

 

We also have these periodic table playing cards, which we use to play regular card games — a painless way to absorb a little info on the elements.

 

Jackie

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Has anyone around here tried Caveman Chemistry?

:w00t: Thank you thank you thank you! This is just soooo up DS's alley, I couldn't even imagine a better chemistry course for him — he and DH will both go totally nuts over this!

 

I love this review from a professor who uses it in a non-majors chem course:

The text is rigorous enough to be used in a general-college class, yet accessible to any interested person looking for a nifty science project (or a handbook for surviving the collapse of civilization!)...and as a bonus, it's a great read.
:lol:

 

Jackie

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Oh man, I just printed off schedules combining the 2 MIT kitchen chem courses with the course from the Royal Society of Chemistry kitchen chem section and the castle heights cooking and science book. My hope is that the combination of all these will bump this to at least a .5 credit and if I add more chemistry from my other materials, that will equal a full credit.

 

I have other stuff on the shelf too such as the illustrated guide to home chemistry experiments (which is awesome by the way!) apologia chem, and prentice hall chemistry, van cleave book, and more.

 

But I really want the caveman chemistry book! It sounds great.:D

 

But I can hear my dh now, looking up at my shelves and silently questioning how many cotton picking chemistry materials could I possibly need to get the job done.:001_huh:

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The Periodic Table of Videos is a fantastic resource — kind of a dorky, elemental version of Mythbusters. (I just watched the new fluorine video — awesome!)

 

Have you seen Theodore Gray's Periodic Table Table? We love his book, The Elements, and also have a set of his element cards. His Mad Science book is fun to read but you probably wouldn't want to use it as a lab manual!

 

The information in The Cartoon Guide to Chemistry and the Manga Guide to Molecular Biology is quite technical, but presented in a fun, nontextbooky way.

 

We also have these periodic table playing cards, which we use to play regular card games — a painless way to absorb a little info on the elements.

 

Jackie

 

Jackie,

Thanks for those great ideas. I do have the Oxford guide to the elements, but have had the book and cards on my Amazon wishlist for a while. Maybe I'll splurge. I also forgot about the videos online but my ds would love those! And the wood "table" -- wow! I should tell my son to make me one of those :)

 

Thanks, and keep the ideas coming!

Julie

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You are welcome. I had not encountered Caveman Chemistry until a friend showed me the book this summer. Some resources would be required to do it right, but I think the book has great potential.

 

Cheers,

Jane

 

I bought this book last year for ds#3. It is so much fun! We have made various types of mead - a little weird when our anti-alcohol baptist friends were visiting. We haven't used the website but I'll have ds look thru it.

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I love this quote from Caveman Chemistry:

The students here [small liberal arts college], by and large, do not come equipped with insatiable curiosity about my discipline, and the experience has convinced me that the profession of professing has more to do with motivation than explanation; a student who is not curious will resist even the most valiant attempts at compulsory education; conversely, inquiring minds want to know.

 

I've read all of the preview pages available on Amazon and all the pages on the author's website, and I cannot wait to get this book! The writing is so funny and quirky and full of asides and digressions. The 28 projects are assigned to one of the four elements (7 projects per element) and each element speaks with it's it's own "voice" and personality. It looks like each project has 3 sections: history of the invention/discovery, explanation of the chemistry involved, and how to do the project yourself. There are even instructions in the back of the book on exactly how to set up your lab notebook.

 

In the last month or so, I've been refocusing our entire approach to school around the theme of a history of science/technology/ideas — I've got the 7 volume OUP series, a 10 volume encyclopedia of technology, a ton of books & DVDs on the history of science, Teaching Co courses on the history of science, mathematics, and philosophy, some really fun books on the history of biology/paleontology/natural history (DS has been reading Pliny's Natural History and cracking up at some of the descriptions), etc. Caveman Chemistry fits into this scheme so perfectly I'm still pinching myself that such a book exists!

 

Jackie

Edited by Corraleno
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I love this quote from Caveman Chemistry:

 

 

I've read all of the preview pages available on Amazon and all the pages on the author's website, and I cannot wait to get this book! The writing is so funny and quirky and full of asides and digressions. The 28 projects are assigned to one of the four elements (7 projects per element) and each element speaks with it's it's own "voice" and personality. It looks like each project has 3 sections: history of the invention/discovery, explanation of the chemistry involved, and how to do the project yourself. There are even instructions in the back of the book on exactly how to set up your lab notebook.

 

In the last month or so, I've been refocusing our entire approach to school around the theme of a history of science/technology/ideas — I've got the 7 volume OUP series, a 10 volume encyclopedia of technology, a ton of books & DVDs on the history of science, Teaching Co courses on the history of science, mathematics, and philosophy, some really fun books on the history of biology/paleontology/natural history (DS has been reading Pliny's Natural History and cracking up at some of the descriptions), etc. Caveman Chemistry fits into this scheme so perfectly I'm still pinching myself that such a book exists!

 

Jackie

 

Oh! I just saw the book excerpts on Amazon!!!! Perfect, along with MIT's Kitchen Chemistry and Regina's field trip ideas. Any other field trip ideas out there?

 

Jackie - please share the Teaching Company videos!!

 

How to fit all this in one high school day???? Ds is already enrolled in ChemAdvantage Honors class! I just needed a few fun supplements!

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I thought it was funny that the only negative review on Amazon complained that the crazy author put Shakespeare in a chemistry book — how dare he!? I had this hilarious mental picture of the guy jumping up from his chair and hitting the side of his head to get the Shakespeare out quick before it got lodged in there and he was forced to remember it! :lol:

 

Jackie

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I just got Caveman Chemistry today and it's the coolest science book I have ever read! It's soooo funny and entertaining and yet full of actual chemistry, formulae, tons of history, etc. It's like Life of Fred... on acid. :lol:

 

 

No, no, Jackie. It's like Life of Fred for acid (and base)!

 

Regards,

Kareni

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Ooooh, we just got back today from Edison house and the glass blowing. I wish that we lived closer to Louisville and I'd enroll us BOTH in some of their classes, LOL! I'd actually like to do architectural glass, myself....

 

Hope you have fun with your school year....

 

By the way, I'm currently reading Napoleon's Buttons: How 17 Molecules Changed History (or something like that). It's terrific thus far! You might like to take a look at it. It might spur some other thoughts for you about alternative ways to look at chemistry....

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Okay. Here's a site someone shared on another forum that I have been buried in for several hours, there's so much stuff for science (and math and more...). Here's some chemistry stuff.

 

http://bookslinksandmore.blogspot.com/2009/09/kitchen-food-science-and-chemistry.html

 

http://homechemistry.blogspot.com/

 

But be SURE and look at all the links on the left side of the page, too. There's a goldmine here!

 

Also, there's a quarterly magazine that some may like: Chem Matters

http://www.acs.org/chemmatters . Teachers info is online for each issue.

 

I'm starting to get really excited for science this year!

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I love the Periodic Table of Imaginary Elements :lol:

 

Jackie

 

I bought a large version of this at Comic Con several weeks ago; it's even better close-up. I'm actually going to use it with my daughter to talk about ways of organizing or categorizing material before we go into the actual table more seriously.

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