Lesson 2

I am so excited about what found! I found 2 website (so far). One talks about databases and their use in Chemistry. That one is http://www.rsc.org/education/teachers/learnnet/pdf/LearnNet/rsc/thatschem-ict.pdf. It talks about how to use speadsheets for manipulating data from lab experiments. I guess I had never really thought about using a spreadsheet in order to understand the data better. The problem is that we do not have computers readily available. We have a few computer labs and some laptops we can bring into the room but you have to sign up to use them about a month and a half in advance.
I have used the computers before to let the students research information before we begin a lab. They really enjoy exploring about the lab on their own. I wish I had more available access to computers to allow them to do this more often. I feel they get more out of the class if they are able to research on their own more.
The best website so far is
http://www.martindalecenter.com/Calculators3B_1_AD.html#CHEM-CHEMLAG.
This website is a database that has a collection of sites with lectures, models, experiments, virtual labs, demonstrations and more. There is so much information I could use from this website. I have the problem of teaching Chemistry in a classroom with no water, no gas for burners and no fumehood. This really puts me at a disadvantage for doing labs. I can't do too much with chemicals do to safety concerns. If a student spills something on themselves, we cannot clean it or them up easily. Depending on the chemical, this could do serious harm to the student. I have been looking for alternatives for the actual labs I'd like to do in class. With this website, I could find virtual labs or demonstrations. Virtual labs are labs that are shown so the students can see the reaction without getting exposed to anything harmful. They are shown the lab via video. It's not as fun as doing an experiment but it is safer.
Another thing I like about this site is it provides a source for me (as a new teacher) for additional notes, lecture ideas and models. Chemistry is a hard concept for some students and any additional information I can have to help me teach better I could use. Models would also help out because the students could actually see what is happening or how a molecule is shaped. There are a lot of students who are visual learners and these models can help them better understand.
In the future, I plan on using these and additional websites to help me become a better teacher. I know some of my co workers use other websites. Until this class, I had not check out any to see what was out there to use. I'm glad this class had me do this.