Teaching Introductory Chemistry

Chemistry is difficult and teaching chemistry is even more challenging. This book provides teachers (and students) with unique approaches to chemistry content that guide teachers to reflect on their practice while gaining new perspectives that moves beyond association between terms, phrases, and algorithms. The book is designed to help novice teachers frame the structure of new ideas while providing expert teachers with advanced reflections for high-level chemistry concepts. Modeling approaches to content are broken down and compared with traditional approaches. Each chapter begins with relevant history for that concept. After an extensive review of the content, the chapters conclude with potential student struggles and how to approach them, phenomena to engage students, and flashcards with unique retrieval components.

Special content features include BCA tables, Energy Bar Charts (LOL diagrams), 5 components of a titration curve, how significant figures differ from numbers, PVnT (IFE) charts, 3 steps to introducing curly arrow mechanisms, why 3d comes after 4s using nodes, interpreting the 2nd law at the particle level, modeling dynamic equilibrium, how molecular orbital theory undermines the octet rule, LEGO bonding, classroom discussions, standards-based grading, modeling instruction, and an introduction on the basics of cognitive science that should be applied in the classroom.