We wrapped up our discussion of the increased confidence and quality of work done as a team vs. individually.  The POGIL methodology and team roles were introduced and we started our first POGIL activity, Fundamentals of Experimental Design; students should finish questions 12 & 13 and be ready to share their thoughts with their team on Monday.  More POGIL next week!

Several different activities completed today...following a Q&A session about yesterday's lab and the write-up that is due tomorrow, the class was broken into two teams and asked to explain a discrepant event.  After asking some questions and formulating some hypotheses, students were given the task of using SDS sheets to determine which of 3 possibilities the "mystery liquid" could be.  After a discussion of how differences (rather than similarities) are useful analytically for identifying unknowns or separating components of a mixture, the true identity of the mystery liquid was revealed.

To end class (and as a precursor to our first POGIL activity), students were given a task of making a drawing from a set of verbal instructions; they then rate their confidence in the accuracy of the individual product on a scale of 1-10 (class average confidence level was 3.25).  Next, students were told to work in their teams to create the same drawing, using only their original drawings as reference and any directions they wrote down; they were then asked to rate their confidence in the accuracy of the group product on a scale of 1-10 (class average confidence level was 7.19).  Time was running short, so students were asked to think about what were the barriers you encountered that prevented you from being more confident with the quality of your work?

Today AP Chem students completed their first lab, where they temperature mapped a Bunsen Burner flame and a candle flame using thermocouple wire and a multimeter.  Utilizing the Seebeck effect, students measured the voltage generated by the two metal wires making up the thermocouple and then converted these voltages into temperatures in degrees Celsius.

The typical process with labs and their associated lab reports, is that the day after benchwork is scheduled to conclude, students will have done some preliminary analysis work/calculations and will come prepared to ask any questions they may have.  The second day after benchwork is scheduled to conclude, students will be expected to turn in their completed lab report (lab notebook original pages on top, followed by the lab handout and any relevant charts that were generated or relevant artificats).  This first lab report will be due on Friday, 9/8.