Author

Libby Barrie

Term

Summer 2022

Capstone

Capstone Project

Degree Name

MAED: NSEE

Facilitator(s)

Kari Ross

Content Expert

Anna Husman

Abstract

Research has shown that traditional chemistry teaching methods tend to utilize individualized topic lectures and highly structured labs, with little opportunity for students to draw real world connections between topics. Unfortunately, student motivation to learn science also decreases throughout high school due to a perceived lack of relevance in their everyday lives. The goal of this project was to design an environmentally focused chemistry curriculum that improves the high school student learning experience and answers the guiding question: How can high school science educators improve student engagement and scientific understanding through environmentally focused chemistry curriculum? This project was also developed in response to updated Minnesota State Science standards and the need for a more cohesive 9th grade chemistry curriculum at a public high school in Minnesota. After researching the effectiveness of various non-traditional instructional methods, the developed unit curriculum implements phenomenon based learning and problem-based learning methods to help students learn chemistry concepts in an engaging environmentally focused manner.

Project Type

Curriculum

Keywords

Curriculum, Motivation, Science

dc_type

text

dc_publisher

DigitalCommons@Hamline

dc_format

application/pdf

dc_source

School of Education Student Capstone Projects

Included in

Education Commons

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