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Chemical Bond Acts Like a Mash-Up

In this guide, students will learn about recent research findings that challenge long-held ideas about chemical bonding and discuss how to incorporate exceptions to general chemistry concepts into their learning.

Accepting the exceptions

Students will discuss the classical definitions of chemical bonds and determine how to adjust those definitions based on new research. Then, students will talk about the best strategies for assessing general chemistry concepts and exceptions to those generalizations.

The joy of science

Students will answer questions about the online Science News article “From Elvis worms to the Milky Way’s edge, these science stories sparked joy in 2020,” which summarizes Science News stories from 2020 that provided a happy distraction from the world’s worries. A version of the story, “Stories that sparked joy,” can be found in the December 19, 2020 & January 2, 2021 issue of Science News.

Colorful chemistry

Students will review concepts of light and chemical structures to explore color. Then, students will partner up to research a pigment of their choice and present their findings to the class.

Concussion Leaves Clues in the Blood

This guide asks students to explore research into concussions and draw on their own experiences to think about the various signs and symptoms of injury or disease. After testing various materials, students will develop designs for protective headgear.

Protective headgear design challenge

Concussions are a common sports injury. After reviewing Newton’s laws of motion, force diagrams, momentum, and elastic and inelastic collisions, students will test various materials that might protect the head from sports collisions and use those materials to design protective headgear.

Coating Provides Infrared Camouflage

This guide, based on the Science News article “Coating provides infrared camouflage,” asks students to explore the physics and potential technological applications of a material, discuss the various types of electromagnetic radiation, analyze infrared images and research how infrared imaging is used across a range of fields.

Seeing in infrared

In this activity, students will analyze infrared images and then explore how infrared imaging is used across a range of fields of work. Skills include researching, evaluating, synthesizing and presenting information.

Exploring electromagnetic radiation

Students will watch a NASA video about the electromagnetic spectrum to learn about properties of the various types of radiation. Then, students will explore and discuss technologies that use specific types of electromagnetic radiation.

Hiding heat radiation

Students will answer questions about the Science News article “Coating provides infrared camouflage,” which explores the physics and potential technological applications of a material.

Saving Notre Dame’s Sound

This guide, based on the Science News article “Saving Notre Dame’s sound,” asks students to explore how scientists resurrect the acoustics of historic places, consider factors that affect how sound behaves to design a room with specific sound requirements, and measure and compare how sound changes in different environments.

A world of acoustics

Students will use decibel meters to understand how the volume of a sound changes as it travels away from a source. Concepts covered include sound waves, the inverse square law, absorption and reflection. The activity also asks students to consider how the characteristics of a space affect the sound.