AP Chemistry
2012-2013
Mrs. Henderson
Sharpstown International School 6-12
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Advanced Placement Chemistry with Mrs. Henderson
2012-2013
Sharpstown International School 6-12
AP Program
Our school offers two sections of AP Chemistry, which meet two/three days a week for
90 minutes; one period per week for laboratories. This course is designed to provide a
solid first-year college chemistry experience, both conceptually and in the laboratory.
The labs serve to supplement the learning in the lecture section of the course. Problemsolving skills, both on paper and in the lab, are emphasized. There are weekly labs during
the first three quarters; during the last quarter, students take a total of five graded practice
AP Exams. The exams are reviewed in class to increase students’ awareness of testtaking strategies.
Text
Chemistry by Brown et al.
Teaching Strategies
I use the following strategies when teaching my AP Chemistry course. I believe they are
the most important factors to having a successful course.
1. Create a group spirit, similar to that which develops among members of a sports
team.
2. Encourage students to work together in order to learn. The class is not split into
“those who are” and “those who are not” going to take the AP Exam; everyone is in the
same boat. Since every student realizes that he or she is going to take the exam, each
works hard to understand the material.
3. Limit lectures to allow plenty of time for other learning activities. I do not lecture
a great deal. After students have read and outlined a chapter, I will spend a day or two
lecturing on it, covering the high points of the theory, deriving any important equations,
and presenting demonstrations that are relevant to the topic. I assign a few questions
from the back of each chapter but use them only as an introduction to the material. We go
over these questions, and shortly thereafter I hand out a set of questions taken from AP
Released Exams. These are the essay and problem-type questions that students can
expect to see on the exam in May.
4. Keep quizzes and tests short, sometimes even to just one or two questions, so that
testing does not take up too much time during the class period.
5. Require each student to present the solution to a problem. Each student receives 6
to 10 AP Released Exam questions/problems on the current chapter and is expected to
complete them in two or three days. (The problems often do not contain all the parts of
the original exam question; for example, I only assign those parts that pertain to the
chapter we are covering.) In addition, each student is responsible for presenting two of
the questions/problems on the overhead projector for the entire class. Many students
receive the same question, but they do not know who will be asked to do the presentation.
Students receive points based on the quality of their presentation. I post the detailed
solution to each problem in the classroom so they can examine beforehand the problems
they do not understand. Students often have stage fright when they are first asked to
present the solution. They soon find, however, that the rest of the class wants them to
succeed. The class is attentive during the explanation and even tries to help the presenter
over the rough spots. My role as the teacher is to stand near the back of the room and
oversee the process (facilitate). This involves knowing when to step in and ask pertinent
and probing questions such as, “Could you go over step three again? I don’t understand
how you got your answer.” I will ask the presenter questions if I feel the class is getting
lost. I can tell when this happens because the class usually grows very quiet, as if
projecting the plea, “Don’t call on me because I don’t understand.” There are also times
when I ask questions because I honestly cannot follow what the presenter is doing.
The seminar-like atmosphere these problem-presentation sessions create is not
threatening and makes it easy for students to ask questions. Soon there is a lively giveand-take between the presenter and the class. Lights seem to go on and learning takes
place. These sessions are the very heart of how I teach AP Chemistry.
Preparing for the AP Chemistry Exam
Three weeks before the AP Exam I schedule six review sessions from in my classroom to
go over multiple-choice questions from a previous AP Exam. Two Saturdays before the
exam we all meet to take a previous AP Exam for practice. The following Saturday the
same procedure is followed with another AP Exam. The exams are identical in
administration to the actual AP Exam. At the end of both exams I give the answers and a
scoring sheet to the students, which they use to grade their own exams and figure their
scores. They are shocked by their results on the first exam but are better able to see the
areas in which they are weak. The second exam usually shows an improvement in scores
since students know where to focus their preparation.
Teaching Ideas
To encourage my students to keep mentally alert, agile, and able, I use four main ideas
throughout the year.
Idea I: Practice, practice, practice!
Significant time should be taken to place students in a situation as close as possible to the
conditions of an AP Exam. Exposure to the kinds of questions and problems with the
same depth and breadth as those on the AP Exam itself enhances and cements student
learning. Students need plenty of opportunities to learn how to approach multiple-choice
questions. Teach them that quantitative multiple-choice questions fall into one of these
categories:
1. All answers are significantly different.
2. All answers are given as different mathematical manipulations of the given.
3. Some answers are close and actual calculation is necessary.
4. Some answers are close but rounded values are easily manipulated to yield an
answer—and reviewing all the answers before actual calculation is an effective way to
select the best one. Completing multiple-choice questions without a calculator is an
arduous task for students and must be practiced.
Prepared materials such as AP Released Exams are helpful in the preparation of chapter
tests, review sheets, and other assessment tools. AP Released Exams are an invaluable
source for free-response questions. Use them freely in quizzes, as homework problems,
on chapter exams, or for final reviews. Give timed practice AP Exams and review them
as a class.
Idea 2: Write to learn and learn to write.
Writing is a skill that needs to be practiced constantly in order to be optimally effective.
Precise and accurate language from each student can be expected when you require
continual practice, correction, and revision. For example, after delivering a lecture on
intermolecular forces, ask a direct question but require written answers. Have students
exchange papers and verbally critique one other. The ensuing discussion will be
informative for everyone. Collect and read the responses for your own edification, if
desired.
Idea 3: The more the information is shared, the more the information is stored.
Even commonplace communications, such as leaving a note to a lab partner to tell him or
her how many titrations were completed today, requires a student to gather his or her
thoughts and communicate them to another person. The act of communication requires a
person to expend an effort to be understood. In addition to the information sharing that
occurs in class, I provide two other venues where such exchanges are made.
• Monthly Bulletin Board Presentations
Students are responsible for designing and posting visually exciting and relevant
information about a specific topic, which I assign.
• Lab Presentations on the Internet/Powerpoint
Working in pairs, students build a Web page that presents a lab complete with data,
analysis, conclusion, and error analysis. This open record allows current students as well
as those from subsequent years to add to the lab (using access buttons to their own
websites) with new methodologies to reduce error or arrive at different conclusions.
Idea 4: Doing chemistry is doing lab: There is no difference.
Labs support, convey, and cement the chemical principles presented in lectures and
demonstrations. They also provide students with an opportunity to learn new physical
skills (such as titration, quantitative transfer, or the use of volumetric equipment), foster
good collaborative relationships, and improve problem-solving techniques, while they
learn more about how chemistry really works. Different labs are performed for different
reasons, all of which are stated on a lab assignment sheet. The labs come from a variety
of resources that I have gathered over the years.
Course Requirements and Grading
Students are expected to be in class on time with the required materials (planner, writing
utensils, assignments, notebooks). I will attempt to cover the text at a rate of
approximately one chapter every five to seven school days, with 15 to 20 problems
assigned and reviewed per chapter. The assignments are on a chapter or weekly basis.
Chapter exams consist of 20 multiple-choice questions and up to 4 free-response
questions. These final four questions come from retired AP Released Exams whenever
possible. I will grade these exams using the AP style of grading. In addition to chapter
problems, I base part of their homework grade on their group bulletin board
presentations. A student’s grade is a weighted average of the following:
Major Grades (Tests, Projects, etc)........................................................................... 40%
Quizzes……………………………………………………………………………...30%
Labs………………………....................................................................................... 20%
Homework................................................................................................................. 10%
Laboratory/Laboratory Notebook
Students are required to submit a complete lab report for each lab experiment, including a
hypothesis, procedure, observations/data, calculations, and a conclusion (Lab Report
Format). All reports are kept in a formal lab notebook purchased from teacher ($5). The
notebook goes with the student to the university to evaluate their placement in a college
laboratory program. It should not be brought to class daily, but THIS NOTEBOOK IS
MANDATORY! Very often students are called upon to make a presentation to the class
about their hypotheses, calculations, and conclusions in a similar manner to the
questions/problems-solving method described above. In this way, students are able to
collaborate on the objectives and design of an experiment, to assist each other in reaching
conclusions, and to gain insights into variance and sources of error.
PBL Requirement: All students are required to do a Project Based on Learning (PBL)
for each semester. The Fall semester will be Science Fair.
Test Corrections
Students may increase their test grade by doing test corrections. Test corrections must be
completed by students earning a grade of “D” or “F” on an exam. Students earning a
grade of “B” or “C” are strongly encouraged to examine problem area on their test also.
Students will given a test correction template to help guide them correct the errors on
their exam.
Homework
Homework is due every quiz and test day. Since homework is designed to be practice for
quizzes and tests, it is of little value after the fact. Therefore, late homework will be a
penalty to the students’ grade. Chapter syllabi (with homework questions) will be given
well in advance of due dates allowing students the opportunity to work around sports,
clubs, employment, and illness.
Self-Tests
A self-test will be given the day before an exam. The test is designed to simulate an
actual exam and highlight weak areas of understanding.
Tentative Schedule
Date
Chapter
#Days
Quiz/Test
8/27-8/30
8/31-9/7
9/10-9/21
9/24-10/5
10/8-10/19
10/22-10/26
10/29-11/2
11/5-11/16
11/19-11/30
12/3-12/14
12/17-12/21
1/7-2/1
2/4-2/15
2/18-2/29
3/4-3/15
3/25-4/5
4/8-4/12
4/15-4/19
4/22-4/26
4/29-5/3
5/6-5/15
5/16
TBD
1 Matter & Measurement
2 Atoms, Molecules & Ions
3 Mass Relations in Chem.; Stoichiometry
4 Reactions in Aqueous Solution
18 Electrochemistry
8 Thermochemistry
17 Spontaneity
11 Rate of Reaction
16 Precipitation Equilibria
13 Acids and Bases
Review/Finals (Ch. 1-4,
14 Equilibria in Acid Base Solutions
5 The Gaseous State
12 Gaseous Chemical Equilibrium
7 Bonding
6 Electronic Structure & Periodicity
9 Liquids & Solids
10 Solutions
22 Organic Chemistry (Sec. 1-5)
15 Complex Ions
Review
Practice AP Chemistry Exam
AP Chemistry Exam
2
3
5
5
5
2
3
5
5
5
5
10
5
5
5
5
2
3
2
3
10
1
8/30
9/7
9/21
10/5
10/19
10/26
11/2
11/16
11/30
12/14
12/21
2/1
2/15
2/29
3/15
4/5
4/12
4/19
4/26
5/3
5/15
5/16
AP Chemistry Labs
All of the experiments below, except where noted with *, will require hands-on
work in the laboratory.
1 Alum Synthesis Lab
2 Standardization of NaOH
3 Electrochemical Cells
4 Thermochemistry and Hess’s Law
5 Study of Kinetics of a Reaction
6 Equilibrium and LeChatlier’s Principle/Determination of Equilibrium Constant
7 Determination of the Equivalent Mass & pKa of an Unknown Acid
8 Determination of Solubility Product of an Ionic Compound
9 Determination of Dissociation Constants of Weak Acids
10 Mini-Lab: Build Molecular Models
11 Molar Mass of a Volatile Liquid
Online Emission Tube Spectra Exercise*
12 Calorimetry Lab
13 Intermolecular Forces Lab
14 Preparation of Inorganic Complex - Tetrammine Copper(II) Sulfate Monohydrate Lab
Note: All laboratory experiments are student run unless indicated by an *.
* Indicates virtual activity