Welcome to Chemistry
Mrs. Ligon 2013 - 2014
What You Will Be Doing During Class
Guided inquiries in groups of 3 or 4. Model/Information section: a figure, a table of
data, and/or text.

specifically designed to develop a chemical concept.
 Questions section: critical thinking questions
 Exercises section: practice with the new chemical concept(s). You may
be able to finish them in class, or complete at home.
Chemistry labs: collect and analyze data or observe scientific concepts. Please
read the lab the night before the lab. Safety is our main concern. If you are not
prepared for lab, you may not be able to participate in the lab.
Collaborative Group Learning: You will be given specific roles within your
group.
I will be walking around the room checking on your progress. Sometimes I will
 let you continue if she is confident that you will soon reach a point
where you recognize your error and can go back and correct it,
 ask you to go back and rethink a section of the activity,
 ask a probing question to help you see things differently,
 send one of you to another bench (which has the correct answer) to see what they
understand,
 ask one of you to explain an answer, giving other group members a chance to detect the
error,
 ask all presenters to share answers with the entire class, so you can compare your thinking
to others’ ideas.
What Your Teacher Will Be Doing During Class
The teacher will spend most of the time:
 walking around the room, stopping to listen to what you and your benchmates are
discussing,
 reading what you have written down as your agreed-upon group answers, and
 answering questions if she thinks you are bogged down.
Making Sense of the Learning
About 2 or three times each class period, your teacher will ask your group to “report out” answers
to the inquiry activities. Sometimes I will stop the class to deliver a “mini-lecture” to clarify a
concept as needed by the class.
However, she will not answer any questions that you can work through as a group to resolve. Why?
Research clearly shows that you will retain information longer and understand concepts better if you
work to discover an answer on your own. If your teacher just tells you the answer, you will not learn
as well. This can be frustrating at times; hang in there!
WebAssign Homework
You will complete at least multiple Internet-based homework assignments per
unit . The questions on WebAssign will help you verify that you have mastered
small sections of the chemistry concepts addressed in a specific chapter. Open
your assignment when it is made available; print out the assignment; answer
each question, showing all your work; and then submit your answers on the
Internet to check if you have the right answers. Because every web-based system
will have glitches, you will earn full credit for the homework set when you have
completed 80% of the assignment correctly.
Getting Questions Answered Outside of Class
Mrs. Ligon will be available after school on Tuesdays. Please bring your WebAssign printout, or any
your current homework, and/or practice exams as references when you have questions.