Chemistry Experiments for High School at Home

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What makes this book different?

In contexts without a lab facility, conducting effective chemistry experiments is one of the greatest challenges. Oftentimes the learning goal is absent or unclear. The student may end up performing steps that she doesn’t understand to witness a reaction that she also doesn’t understand. The lack of fixtures such as bunsen burners and vent hoods is another hurdle. The teacher may see no other option but to resort to “easy” experiments using household items.

The result can quickly become little more than a magic show. Students mix ingredients and watch the effects, but are not taught real chemistry. The chemicals, procedures, and equipment often bear little or no resemblance to what a real chemist would use, and they do not prepare students for the rigors of their college science courses.

Centripetal Press has the goal of helping educators implement excellent an science education program. In the chemistry lab, this means bringing students into the real chemist experience. It requires effort, skill, and patience – learning and observing universal safety procedures, use of correct terminology, use of apparatus, skills of measurement, recording, documentation, cleanup and waste disposal. The best educated students will also take some time to learn the background of an experiment, how to analyze results, and how to write a premier lab report.

Chemistry Experiments for High School at Home is a student manual designed to bring top quality chemistry experiments to the context where standard lab facilities are unavailable. Equipment and procedures are modified without losing the essential educational value. This book has low-cost alternatives to expensive equipment and recommendations for procuring small quantities of chemicals. Of course, some expenditure on basic equipment is required, but for all 20 experiments the cost is less than $200.

Each experiment includes Learning Objectives, Text Connections (for General Chemistry and Chemistry for Accelerated Students textbooks), Lab Skills Focus, Materials and Apparatus List, safety issues, Background, Procedure, as well as any special waste disposal matters. Pages are perforated so that students can remove the Short Form Report Sheets for each experiment.

The book is intended for each student to have their own copy.