Chemistry Now

NBC Learn has a series of units exploring how chemistry contributes to everyday life, with lesson plans from the National Science Teachers Association.  Each unit has videos, along with supplemental materials such as lesson plans, articles, statistics and animations. 

Kids can explore topics such as gas and sugar reactions in a hamburger bun, how salt crystals melt ice crystals, how aromatic polyamides are used to produce bulletproof vests and helmets, and how the hormones adrenaline and cortisol trigger fright or flight responses in us.

Chemistry Resources for Students

The Royal Chemistry Society offer students ages 7-19 a wealth of interactives, games, videos, experiments, and activities for learning chemistry.  More than 2400 resources are currently listed.  You can sort and narrow your focus by age group, chemistry discipline, teacher resources, and context such as food, health, lifestyles, energy, etc. 

Middle School Chemistry

Lesson plans, labs, experiments and online textbook to introduce middle school students to chemistry. The website include videos and animations to illustrate key concepts. The textbook can be downloaded in PDF format. This website provides a complete resource useful to homeschooling parents.

Molecular Symmetry

From site: Creating molecules from atoms, molecular behavior in a given physical and chemical environment, and chemical reactions are all phenomena based on the chemical bond. Understanding the chemical bond and the way molecules are created requires in-depth understanding of the electronic structure of atoms and molecules. Symmetry is an important tool in this field. The laws of symmetry enable us to determine why certain bonds are formed while others are not, why certain electronic transitions are allowed while others are forbidden and what chemical reactions may take place under given conditions.

To understand the laws of symmetry, one must first learn how to identify symmetry elements in molecular structures. This is not trivial since although in various textbooks molecules are presented as two-dimensional and static, they have dynamic and three-dimensional structures. Identifying symmetry elements becomes more complex as the number of atoms in the molecule increases and the structure becomes more ramified. The Molecular Symmetry Online website was designed to ease the process of acquiring this skill. The site is a virtual learning environment based on a set of tools that enable three-dimensional and interactive display of molecules and their symmetry elements.

chemNRICH Problem Based Learning

chemNRICH offers mathematical chemistry problems for solution by students ages 14-19. There are more than 25 problems in the areas of proportional reasoning, dilutions, logarithms and pH, reaction kinetics, gases, bonds, geometry and crystals, enthalpy, moles and molarity, and advanced mathematics in chemistry. Each problem has notes for the teacher, hints and a detailed solution.

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