This unit in science has been an eye-opener on how awesome chemistry really is. I came into this unit barely knowing a thing about elements and elemental bonds, and coming out of it being an expert. I think that the actual project, the chemistry video, was a perfect way to show our learning. The chemistry project was basically made up of three parts, story writing, script writing and animation.
Two things i would critique for next time are adding a story boarding faze, and giving more time for the animation part of the project. Adding the story boarding would not only help with the filming aspect of the project but also give the students a better idea of the chemistry side of the project. Animation takes a really long time, and if you really want there to be an animation aspect to the project I would give the students not only more time but also check in along the way to make sure they will get it done on time. When we first started planning out our story we started brainstorming on possible ideas. The idea that we ended up choosing was a story that was based on two different companies a guitar company, and a rival company.
The guitar company name is Rubi Guitars. The Rubi guitar company was made up of the three Rubidium brothers. As there company began to grow in size and popularity, they were looking to expand their employees. It was time to launch a new guitar, but the brothers knew they needed a new production designer. They knew of a man named Phosphorus, a very respected designer. The only problem was that he lived a thousand miles away. The brothers argued over who should go and meet the man, and after a while, they agreed that the oldest brother should go. He travelled to Phosphorus’ home and had a meeting with him, pitching the brothers’ idea to launch a revolutionary new guitar. However, Phosphorus wasn’t all that interested, he didn’t feel like the company was professional enough, as only one person from Rubi Guitars was at the meeting. Also, Phosphorus was already the cofounder of a different guitar company with his three best friends, the Fluorines.
He was resilient to leave his friends’ side as together, they founded the company and shared income, if Phosphorus left, the company would fall. However, Phosphorus wasn’t convinced anyways, so disappointed, the Rubidium brother went back home. This wasn’t the end though, the Rubidium’s were determined to get Phosphorus on board, he was too valuable to let go of. A month went by before the Rubidium brothers could afford to send all three of them back to see Phosphorus. But in a stroke of luck, Phosphorous happened to be on a business trip, in the hometown of the brothers! They quickly called him and set up a meeting at the Rubi headquarters. A day later, they all greeted Phosphorus and began to pitch them their revised idea to him once more. Phosphorus had to make a tough decision, either keep his Covalent bond with his Fluorine friends, or create a new, Ionic bond with the Rubidium brothers. The Rubidium brothers were persistent at convincing him to join them.
The Rubi guitar company was quickly gaining popularity, and Phosphorus knew that from a business point of view, joining them would be the right decision. After hours and hours of deliberation, to the brothers amazement, Phosphorus decided to join them! From that day on, the Rubidium Phosphide Guitar Company became one of the most well-known guitar makes in the world.
In the chemistry side of things we learned a lot about the beginnings of the periodic table; periodic elements, matter, atoms, compounds, and Ionic/Covalent Bonds. This was basically how our day plan worked.
Day I:
We learned how atoms and ions act like characters, we started our post-chemistry mind map, and were able to look at the chemistry project brief. The chemistry Project brief was the project criteria of the project I out lined before.
Day 2:
Next we watched a crash corse video on the periodic table and had a textbook reading on the key aspects of a periodic table.
Day 3:
We had a mini lab learning about how potassium and H2O react. We also were introduced to Bohr models.
Day 4:
We used a online site called Phet to build virtual atoms, by introducing different numbers of electrons, neutrons and protons. We learned about valence shells and ionic compounds.
Day 5-12:
These days were filled with learning about ionic and Covalent bonds. At the end of each block we would have around thirty minutes of project time.
Day 13:
On day thirteen we were able to watch the completed videos, and critique them for revisions. I realized that a lot of groups didn’t include as much scientific info as was needed.
https://youtu.be/nBnI7NNnUYg
In hindsight, I think that this was a really good project but I don’t think that it helped with our learning in elements and bonds. We were all so focused on creating the story and we didn’t focus on the important things, the chemistry behind the story. When we finally did a review on what we were taught some of us didn’t even get fifty percent right. If I was allowed to give any critique towards the project it would be that there should be more focus put on the chemistry and less on the project.