You have this student in your class. She is perfect. She rarely misses questions on tests. Everything is by the book. Well, I gave just her the worst test grade she has ever received. It opened my eyes to something that may be missing from all my assessments. Creativity. I’m not talking about you writing uninspired tests. I’m talking about how the answers that they write are so limited that a robot could do them (not that there are any online AI sources that allow students to instantly find answers to common questions…). I will explain the question that tripped her up.
This particular question was on my honors chemistry test. It is totally silly. There are science holes all over it. But it made them think. It was a word problem in the AP format of a researcher makes a claim, defend it. A girl needed a break from her studies, so she went to the ocean for some R & R. As she was walking back to her motel, dripping with ocean water (3% NaCl), she stepped over a puddle and noticed a white participate form. (Yes, I know about Ksp and how unrealistic this is, but do they know in grade level chem? Nope) Her claim is that there must be a puddle of silver nitrate in the parking lot. Then the students must defend her claim with an explanation and a net ionic equation. Simple. The brilliant student easily got this one. The question was to be expected. It was the next question that she stared at.
The second question stated that she figured it could also be lead (II) nitrate. The girl in the story runs back into her room, grabs something, throws it in the puddle. The item that she throws in allows her to differentiate the two solutions. What did she throw in? This question is also quite simple. I knew that the student knew the content well enough to answer it. But she froze. I truly believe that the removal of the constraints made her panic. It didn’t fit in the box any longer.
The final question simply said, write the rest of the story. What did she see when she threw the object in? What does that data mean? Again, totally open ended. My creative kids loved it! I had hotel room wiring being ripped out of the walls to get the copper. I had the girl discovering that the solution was lead (II) nitrate and not worth anything and falling into despair. They were goofy. They were silly. But it was their story.
While writing their own stories, even the younger chemistry students felt empowered. They were being forced to make real decisions. They were allowed to dream about what all the learned items mean in their brain. They were really doing chemistry! Below are a few ways to increase the opportunity for students to dive into this part of their brain.
1. Describing properties of unknown or undiscovered things.
The college board does this frequently. Element Q has this property and that property, what will it do in this novel situation? I think we can take it one step further. What could you react Q with to determine its location on the periodic table? What data would be produced if your assumption was wrong?
2. Perform confirmatory tests in lab.
I just tried this in chemistry. After they finished the lab, they had identified which beaker three unknowns were in. I told them they could create whatever reaction they wanted (within safety protocols) in order to confirm that they were right. They brainstormed and wondered. Then they would ask, “Mr. Koch, do you have any potassium metal?” No. No, I do not. But I got to ask them, "What would that tell you? What would you prove?" And they realized that reacting with potassium metal wouldn’t help. But they thought through their decision. They had to make it make sense. Most of the confirmatory tests ended up using exotic things like zinc and sodium chloride. But they were making the decisions. They were actual chemists.
3. Change the materials list
I have done this as a mental exercise and not actually done it in the lab. I explain the goal of the lab and what materials are given. Then I pose a question. “What if I ran out of potassium nitrate? Is there anything else I could use?” The kids must define what the potassium nitrate was used for and dream up another chemical. It is a good pre-lab exercise that gets their minds focused on the actual purpose of each reactant.
4. Let the students create practice problems for each other.
We do a lot of practice in my classes. They keep a notebook just of practice problems. Often, I will have the students write two practice problems for their table partner. Then they swap and answer each other’s. “Mr. Koch, does francium phosphate actually exist?” What a cool question. The answer is not really, but what would it look like if it did? They love being able to move to extremes of the periodic table. And it forces them to apply periodic trends to write real questions. That was all I wanted.
5. Allow students to do error analysis on other group’s data.
At the end of a lab, I will frequently have students put up lists of the final data on the board with their group name. Let’s say it is percent yield of copper. They love the competition. But the error analysis might be more valuable. Think of three ways the group with 12% yield might have messed up. And no, you can’t say “Human error.” What are three ways the group that got 105% yield may have messed up. You can see it on their faces, when the most likely error is talked about. They give a sheepish glance at their partner. They know that the class knows. And next time, they will rinse their product with deionized water first.
I can’t wait to see how my brilliant student will respond to her test. We will get to have a conversation. She will get to allow her amazing brain to think outside the box. And we will all be reminded how smart she is. It just took an uncomfortable, free-ranging question to dig into her brilliance.
Want your students to get creative? Let them get competitive! The creative juices really start flowing when they also make strategic decisions. Up & Atom introduces the idea of the mole and allows students to quickly convert among atoms, mass, and moles. It is a great way to introduce stoich.
"Thanks so much for this! I did this with my Honors class today -- and I was being observed by admin -- and things went really well. The kids were teaching each other. It was really impressive!" Carol S., Teacher
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