Teaching mole ratios is actually quite miserable. Well that’s what I thought until I changed my mindset. Once I did, I felt a lot better, nay even excited about teaching mole ratios. Considering that my mole ratio resources are some of my most popular resources in my TPT shop, my guess is that many other people don’t like teaching mole ratios. Once I changed my mindset and starting teaching mole ratios like recipes, they were much more fun.
Mole Ratios as Recipes
Number One: Turn it into a recipe. This makes the task much less daunting. Remember when you were learning fractions? You were probably given an assignment where you had to either double or half a recipe. It’s the same thing when teaching mole ratios. You are given some kind of recipe, or in other words, a chemical reaction. You have a certain amount of each ingredient you need, or reactant. And you’d make a certain amount of product. When you teach a scary concept like mole ratios as something that the students have already seen before, it makes the task much less daunting.
Especially in the small class or homeschool sense, it could be a great idea to have students work with food manipulatives and actually double or half a recipe. While I have never done this, we have done the math for it. And then I fed the kids cookies. Getting kids to like mole ratios will take a good amount of work. Don’t say I didn’t warn you.
Making Mole Ratios Fun
Number Two: Have some engaging activity. This is definitely easier. Once students get the hang of the concept of mole ratios, they aren’t going to enjoy practicing them. The idea is to trick them into learning but having some kind of fun. Now I’ve found that my pixel art activities are THE BOMB when if comes to your typical “drill and kill” math activities in chemistry.
In this pixel art activity, students work in a Google Sheet which has questions in it. There’s a specific cell for their answers to each mole ratio question. When the correct answer goes in to the cell, the students get a check mark, and some colored boxes lift to reveal pieces of the secret image. When they get the answer wrong, they get an X, and no boxes lift. They have no progress toward uncovering the image.
I find that this activity is SUPER engaging for my students. Not only are they tricked into caring about finding the correct answers by uncovering the picture, but they also get the chance to self-assess. I don’t know about you, but I think the absolute worst thing as a teacher is giving a worksheet, and the kids don’t know they’re doing it wrong until the end of class. It’s very frustrating for both me and them! Pixel arts take that piece out of the equation. My students can easily self assess and ask appropriate questions WHILE they work. In addition, the secret image tricks them into caring about mole ratios. Which are super boring, unless you’re a puzzle person like me.
Be Encouraging
Number Three: Be encouraging. There are some pretty terrible topics to learn in chemistry class. I’m sure you can think of a few. For me, after organic chemistry, it was stoichiometry. Until it clicked, it was like a foreign language. Realize that your students need A LOT of practice before they will be good at mole ratios and stoichiometry. It may even be weeks before it happens. And in most cases, your students won’t enjoy the ride. It’s important that you remain positive. “You may not like it, but it’s a huge part of chemistry. Once it clicks and you get it, it will be a lot easier. I will practice with you. It’s okay not to get it at first, just keep going. Only the smallest percentage of people are good at this the first time they try.” Because mole ratios are a big piece of understanding stoichiometry, it’s important for them to be good at it, and not give up. Click here to grab a free copy of my mole map for navigating stoichiometry problems.
I seriously love the puzzle of stoichiometry. In fact, quantitative analysis was my favorite class in all of college. But I was really not so good at it. And that’s okay! The important thing is to encourage students to keep trying. You can read this recent post about some ways I make stoichiometry more interesting for my students.
