Topic: Air - composition and properties pt 1

Target group

Elementary school student (grades 7. and 8.)

Core curriculum:

Primary school. Chemistry.

IV. Oxygen, hydrogen and their chemical compounds. Air. Pupil:

8) designs and conducts experiments confirming that the air is a mixture; describes the composition and properties of air.

General aim of education

The student confirms experimentally that air is a mixture of substances

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 provide evidence for the existence of air;

• to plan and carry out experiments confirming that the air is a mixture;

• to describe the composition and properties of air;

• to safely use laboratory equipment and chemical reagents.

Methods/techniques

• activating

  • discussion.

• expository

  • talk.

• exposing

  • film.

• programmed

  • with computer;

  • with e‑textbook.

• practical

  • exercices concerned.

Forms of work

• individual activity;

• activity in pairs;

• activity in groups;

• collective activity.

Teaching aids

• e‑textbook;

• notebook and crayons/felt‑tip pens;

• projector;

• interactive whiteboard, tablets/computers;

• methodician or green, yellow and red cards;

• equipment, laboratory glass and reagents for the experiment.

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 students to the topic of the lesson, asks them questions that start the discussion, eg. what the air is, what phenomena and evidence prove its existence. Students give different examples and situations known to them from everyday life; the teacher verifies the correctness of the answer. After the discussion, the students perform their own experiments in abstract - they note observations and conclusions. Then he instructs them to find information about the Earth's atmosphere and to write the names of the atmosphere layers - he summarizes the collected information briefly.

2. The teacher instructs students to prepare an observation journal in abstracts. He informs them that they will watch the film „Air Composition Test”. Before this happens, they are to formulate a research question and a hypothesis, and then make a note of it. During the screening they should pay attention to the changes taking place in the experiment. After the film, the teacher asks the pupils questions, eg what they observed, why the candle went out, as evidenced by sucking water into the cylinder to 1/5 volume, whether the air is a substance or a mixture of different substances. Answers should take the form of a discussion leading to the formulation of conclusions that the students will write in the observation diaries.

3. The teacher displays on the multimedia board an illustration of the abstract showing the qualitative and quantitative composition of gases in the air and models of gas molecules as air components. It also presents a pie chart of the air composition and periodic table of elements (from e‑textbook), on the basis of which students will execute commands, eg „Specify the location of nitrogen and oxygen in the periodic table, and then read the most important information about these elements from it”. Recommends to students, for example as homework, preparation of information on the use of air and its components.

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

2. The student indicated by the teacher sums up the lesson, telling what he has learned and what skills he/she has been practicing.

Homework

1. Listen to the abstract recording at home. Pay attention to pronunciation, accent and intonation. Learn to pronounce the words learned during the lesson.

2. Make at home a note from the lesson using the sketchnoting method.

The following terms and recordings will be used during this lesson

Terms

Texts and recordings

Air - composition and properties pt 1

During the formation of the Earth's crust and subsequent processes taking place on the Earth, the composition of our atmosphere, that is the gas coating, has changed, but for 200 million years it has already become permanent.

The air is mainly nitrogen, oxygen and a small volume of noble gases. Air components, whose content varies depending on the climate, seasons or day, include: water vapour, carbon dioxide, ozone and pollution.

• The air is a homogeneous mixture of colourless and odourless gases.

• The main components of the air are: nitrogen (78%), oxygen (21%), argon and other noble gases (0.94%), carbon dioxide and water in the form of steam.