Fun activities for teaching stoichiometry – tricky blog title, huh?
I’m very sure I’m part of the small percentage of people that actually enjoy stoichiometry. I’m sure you learned to love it as a chemistry student, but getting your students on board is a different story. I don’t know about you, but many of my students find stoichiometry to be absolutely miserable. And then it turns into the reason they don’t like chemistry.
There’s a few things I do to prevent this from happening. Though I’ll be honest, there are some kids that can never be convinced…
First thing: Present Stoichiometry as a Puzzle
I present stoichiometry as a puzzle to be solved. It’s a challenge that can be overcome with an exact answer. There is a strategic set of steps that can be followed to make sure that you come to that exact answer. And I let my students know from the beginning that I will teach them one step a day. First, of course is the mole concept. Then percent by mass and hydrates. Next empirical and molecular formulas. Now I get that a lot of those steps aren’t necessary for most of stoichiometry, but they are helpful for getting their math skills warmed up.
Next I get into gram and mole conversions. Then mole ratios. At this point, they’re so used to ratios, it becomes an instinct to set one up. Then I bring in the concept of the “mole map.” I’m sure you’ve taught some version of it. You use the mole as a center point to get from grams of one thing to grams of another. We put this all together, and then I tell them the scary name “stoichiometry.” I remind them that this is just a weird, twisted, chemistry math/logic puzzle and they’re *mostly* unafraid. I’ve only ever taught limiting reagents to my AP chemistry students but I take the time to introduce the concept to my grade-level kids here as well. Get a free copy of this mole map sent to your email by signing up here.
Second thing: Digital Activities for Teaching Stoichiometry
Mad pixel art activities. Teaching chemistry is tough – especially when you are not a walking, talking calculator. I have trouble coming up with stoichiometry questions on the spot, and can’t work out an answer without pen and paper myself. In comes my collection of pixel art activities. They are Google Sheets that are preprogrammed to only accept the correct answers to the questions past me has come up with. In this, I can trust Kelsey of the past to put together things for my students. I have a bundle of all of the pixel art activities I use for teaching stoichiometry.
In addition, my kids can use these activities in class as classwork (thank you 1:1 schools!) or they can use them at home to study. I’ve programmed the sheets to be self grading. In this, students immediately know if their answer is right or wrong. This means they can evaluate their understanding right off the jump, and can come to class with specific questions (thank goodness!) Talk about fun activities for teaching stoichiometry.
Third Thing: Trick Students into Enjoying Stoichiometry Using Food
Usually, my “math of chemistry” is given the name “the unit of food.” I do quite a few food activities with my students to get them engaged in an otherwise very boring topic. For the mole concept, I feed them starbursts when they have to find the mass of just one candy without opening the package. This gets kids to realize that chemists can measure things they can’t see. For the percent by mass lab, we find the percent of cream in different types of Oreos. Just, wait until they get the results of the Double Stuf Oreos… These two stoichiometry activities are included in my year long chemistry lab manual.
Before I had a full chemistry lab room, I taught the removal of water from a hydrate using bubble gum. The kids chewed the gum and removed the sugar. Of course there is a VERY large margin of error here, but that adds to the discussion, which I enjoy! I love this lab activity so much I use it even though I have access to a lab now. I have a great lab rubric that I’ll send to your email. Just sign up!
For mole ratios, I like to talk about doubling a cookie recipe. If we want a number of cookies that the recipe does not give, we must change the recipe. I start with doubling and tripling, but then get into an exact number of cookies for the class, and usually it comes out to two-point-something, which sets us up for a good ratio. And of course, I have to feed them cookies after this lesson.
I know that turning a unit on math and chemistry into something fun is a huge struggle. But tricking kids with food and games is kind who I am as a teacher. And I’ll never apologize for it.
Never miss a chance to sparkle,
Kelsey
