Chemistry for 11th Grade MUS Algebra 1 Struggler

[jibaker103]

My ds 17 struggles tremendously with passing Algebra 1 (this is his 3rd attempt with MUS). He is smart as a whip in all other subjects (TOG History, Literature, and Government). I have had him tested and he is at grade level or above in reading areas and college level in math calculation but a few years below grade level in math fluency and applied problems.

 

Please help me choose a full credit high school level chemistry course that is light or at least holds your hand through the math involved. I have narrowed it down to three secular choices. Please vote and tell me why you have chosen this curriculum and any experience you have with it. Thanks very much!

[Pam L in Mid Tenn]

I've never heard of the courses in your poll.

My math strugglers have taken or will take "Conceptual Chemistry." It is an introductory text for non-science college majors.

You can learn a lot of Chemistry with this book.

I have the 3rd edition which is easy to find cheap online.

[curlylocks]

I've never heard of any of those programs...

 

I believe MOST Chemistry courses require a SOLID background in Algebra 1.

 

Best wishes...

[regentrude]

I have not heard of any of the three options. I would have a look at Conceptual Chemistry by Suchocki.

[kerenlynne]

Don't know but we are in the exact same boat. Went back to pre-algebra this year to shore up on weaknesses and hope to get some Algebra under our belt over the summer before Chemistry or Physics.

[dbmamaz]

i've heard good things about friendly, but havent heard anything about the others.

[Kareni]

I've heard of the last two options you present but have no first hand experience with either. If possible, you may wish to provide links.

 

Regards,

Kareni

[AngieW in Texas]

I have no experience with any of those programs. I'm going to use conceptual chemistry by Suchocki next year for my youngest who struggles with math.

[kiana]

Another vote for Conceptual Chemistry.

[BlsdMama]

I am not familiar with any of those. However, is MUS the only thing you've tried? The reason I ask is because he's really going to need that basic grounding in Algebra I and maybe it isn't feasible to put the cart (Chem) before the horse (Algebra) no matter how much one would like to move on. I have a daughter who struggled to get past Algebra I. We tried Saxon and Lial's and we failed with both. Life of Fred got us past the hump and TT drilled it in. She ended up with a rock solid A in Algebra (and feels remarkably comfortable with it NOW) but we really had to find a program to make Algebra I work because she also needs Alg II and Chemistry for college. Now she's working on both of those at double speed to make up for the lost time. She won't have a light senior year, but she has the foundation.

[mom2bee]

General Chemistry from Nivaldo J Tro is not highly math dependent at all. Its the text used at 3 colleges that I know of, the math you use in it is around a prealgebra level.

 

Off the top of my head, I remember using: Scientific Notation, basic equation solving-- Solve: PV=nRT, for T, that type of thing.--conversions and I rounding off the appropriate number of decimal places. NOTHING advanced was required. I am not sure why College Algebra is a pre-requisite for the course...

[kiana]

There is no way I would put a student who just struggled through algebra 1 into a college-level chemistry textbook. College-level chemistry requires a THOROUGH understanding of algebra 1 (being able to manipulate those rather simple inequalities and unit conversions backwards, forwards, upside down, and in your sleep). Most students do not attain that level of proficiency after only taking algebra 1, and the kinds of students who do are not the ones who struggled through the course.

[AngieW in Texas]

I used Tro's Introductory Chemistry last year and will be using it again next year. It is a fantastic book, but it is honors level for high school. While it doesn't require anything beyond Algebra I aside from logarithms (which can be covered pretty quickly when it's needed for figuring out pH), the algebra it does require is pretty extensive. Students need to be solid on their Algebra I and completely comfortable with it. Many students aren't ready for this until after Algebra II. Chemistry is very much like Algebra word problems.

 

Before I taught this course last year, I had thought that students could take Algebra I concurrently with it because the math requirements really weren't that steep. I was completely wrong. Students absolutely need to have had Algebra I first and if they struggled with Algebra I, then they should wait until Algebra II to take this course.

 

In fact, the only other text I can find for Tro is Chemistry: A Molecular Approach, which is AP level.

 

I even went to the author's website and only found Introductory and AP.

[Heartsjoy]

We're using Friendly Chemistry now. It definitely holds your hand through each math/ chemistry problem, a whole page or more for each worked example.

 

The main math needed is similar to converting miles into inches.

 

Here is one example from lesson 24:

Mary had 456 grams of barium oxide. She knew that barium carbonate is the product of the reaction between barium oxide and carbon dioxide. If she used all of her barium oxide in the reaction, how many grams of barium carbonate might she expect to produce?

 

1. Write a balanced chemical equation. (taught in lesson 20) BaO + CO2 -->Ba(CO3)
   
2. Write the ratio of barium oxide: barium carbonate (taught in lesson 22) 1 mole of barium oxide: 1 mole barium carbonate
   
3. Convert 456 g of barium oxide to moles of barium oxide. 1 mole of barium oxide = 153 g of barium oxide. (456 g/ 1) X (1 mole/ 153g) = 2.98 moles of barium oxide.
   
4. Apply the mole ratio from step 2. 2.98 moles of BaO will yield 2.98 moles of barium carbonate.
   
5. Convert 2.98 moles of barium carbonate to g of barium carbonate. 1 mole of barium carbonate = 197 g of barium carbonate. (2.98moles/1) X ( 197g/ 1mole) =587.06 g of barium carbonate.
   

 

A whole lesson is spend on each tiny step. The solutions manual works out each problem showing all steps except calculating the grams per mole which is addition only.

 

Gas laws have a bit of Algebra.

 

Temperature 1 = Volume 1

Temperature 2 Volume 2

 

They will be given Temperature 1, Temperature 2, and Volume 1. They then need to find Volume 2.

 

Combined gas laws.

 

Here is an example from lesson 32.

Suppose you collected 10L of hydrogen gas from a lab experiment when the room temperature was 34 C and the atmospheric pressure read 762 torr. What would the volume of this hydrogen be at standard temperature and pressure.

 

Volume 2 = Volume 1X Temperature 2/ Temperature 1X Pressure 1/ Pressure 2

The student is given all of the values except Volume 2 and solves by multiplying and dividing.

 

This is our first try with Friendly Chemistry. One student is in Singapore Math 5B and one about 1/3 way through Saxon Algebra 1. We're currently in lesson 24. These students are strong in word problems. Then can easily pull out the information they need. They are needing more practice keeping all of the units straight, keeping work neat, and staying organized to prevent the careless errors. We've slowed down and spent extra weeks on lessons 22-25 working the practice sheets again.

 

I also chose Friendly Chemistry because mine are younger and will likely revisit Chemistry. If they were Highschool, I would look harder at Conceptual Chemistry. It covers more concepts and has wonderful thinking questions that are not all tied to math. Conceptual Chemistry would be more than my crew could get done. I was having trouble finding a teacher's edition for the even answers and a complete lab program to go with the student text.

[mom2bee]

I used Tro's Introductory Chemistry last year and will be using it again next year. It is a fantastic book, but it is honors level for high school. While it doesn't require anything beyond Algebra I aside from logarithms (which can be covered pretty quickly when it's needed for figuring out pH), the algebra it does require is pretty extensive. Students need to be solid on their Algebra I and completely comfortable with it. Many students aren't ready for this until after Algebra II. Chemistry is very much like Algebra word problems.

 

Before I taught this course last year, I had thought that students could take Algebra I concurrently with it because the math requirements really weren't that steep. I was completely wrong. Students absolutely need to have had Algebra I first and if they struggled with Algebra I, then they should wait until Algebra II to take this course.

 

In fact, the only other text I can find for Tro is Chemistry: A Molecular Approach, which is AP level.

 

I even went to the author's website and only found Introductory and AP.

 

Thanks for this, I didn't see it this way at all, but I can't argue with your experience. I was so swamped by the actual chemistry when I took the course that the math seemed a breeze. I took it in college, so I guess no one struggled with the math because of their math background.

 

I only took Chemistry 1, so we only used the first 10 or so chapters to the book. So, I never even needed to use logarithms.