Topic: Non‑metal – properties and application

Target group

Elementary school student (grades 7. and 8.)

Core curriculum:

Primary school. Chemistry.

I. Substances and their properties. Pupil:

8) classifies elements into metals and non‑metals; differentiates metals from non‑metals based on their properties.

General aim of education

The student discusses the properties and use of non‑metals.

Key competences

• communication in the mother tongue;

• communication in foreign languages;

• mathematical competence and basic competences in science and technology;

• digital competence;

• learning to learn.

Criteria for success
The student will learn:

• to describe the properties of non‑metals;

• to plan experiments to examine the properties of non‑metals;

• to distinguish metals from non‑metals based on properties;

• to plan experiments to compare the properties of metals and non‑metals;

• what is the application of non‑metals in everyday life.

Methods/techniques

• expository

  • talk.

• activating

  • discussion.

• programmed

  • with computer;

  • with e‑textbook.

• practical

  • exercices concerned;

  • experiment.

Forms of work

• individual activity;

• activity in pairs;

• activity in groups;

• collective activity.

Teaching aids

• e‑textbook;

• notebook and crayons/felt‑tip pens;

• interactive whiteboard, tablets/computers.

Lesson plan overview

Introduction

1. The teacher hands out Methodology Guide or green, yellow and red sheets of paper to the students to be used during the work based on a traffic light technique. He presents the aims of the lesson in the student's language on a multimedia presentation and discusses the criteria of success (aims of the lesson and success criteria can be send to students via e‑mail or posted on Facebook, so that students will be able to manage their portfolio).

2. The teacher together with the students determines the topic – based on the previously presented lesson aims – and then writes it on the interactive whiteboard/blackboard. Students write the topic in the notebook.

3. Health and safety – before starting the experiments, students familiarise themselves with the safety data sheets of the substances that will be used during the lesson. The teacher points out the need to be careful when working with them.

Realization

1. The teacher introduces the students to the issue implemented during the lesson. He calls the class participants to the abstract and asks you to read the instructions of the experiment „Testing the properties of non‑metals”. He divides students into groups, distributes the appropriate equipment, glass, materials and reagents to perform the experiment. Students - with the help of a teacher - formulate a research question and a hypothesis and write them on the form in an abstract. Then they follow the instructions. They record the observations in the form. The teacher asks questions in relation to the observations recorded. It initiates the discussion, the conclusions of which students write on the form.

2. Students read the instructions of the experiment „Testing the electrical conductivity of non‑metals”, and then in the form contained in the abstract they write down the research question and one of the proposed hypotheses. Then, under the guidance of the teacher, they conduct the experiment and record their observations and conclusions. Volunteers read them, the teacher corrects any mistakes.

3. Students, working in pairs, analyze a table describing the properties of some non‑metals, and then - based on their own observations made while conducting the experiment and watching films and referring to information learned in previous classes - they create an infographic comparing the properties of metals and non‑metals. The indicated pairs depict the effects of their work.

4. Students, working in small groups, develop the issue of the use of non‑metals indicated by the teacher. They can use different sources of knowledge - information contained in the abstract, book handbook and the Internet.

5. The students will get acquainted with the instruction of experience „Sublimation and deposition of iodine”. Together, they formulate a research question and hypothesis, and then carry out an experiment under the guidance of a teacher. They write their observations and conclusions on the form.

6. Students, working individually or in pairs, carry out interactive exercises to check and consolidate knowledge learned during the lesson. Selected people discuss the correct solutions for interactive exercises. The teacher completes or straightens the statements of the proteges.

Summary

1. The teacher asks the students to finish the following sentences:

   • Today I learned ...

   • I understood that …

   • It surprised me …

   • I found out ...

   The teacher can use the interactive whiteboard in the abstract or instruct students to work with it

Homework

1. Carry out task number nr 5.1.

The following terms and recordings will be used during this lesson

Terms

Texts and recordings

Non‑metal – properties and application

• We divide chemical elements into metals and non‑metals.

• Non‑metals form the right part of the periodic table, the exception is hydrogen, which is in the first group.

• Non‑metals occur in all states of matter, have different colours, can have characteristic odours, have different boiling and melting points, are usually weak electrical and heat conductors. Carbon in the form of graphite, graphene and black phosphorus conduct electricity and heat despite the fact that these are non‑metals, the diamond only conducts heat, these are mostly gases at room temperature.

• Non‑metals have different applications: in medicine, pharmacy, in the production of fertilizers, dyes, in the food industry.