| You are a scientist who has an extremely important task. You have prove to the rest of the scientists (your classmates)the importance of your element. Unfortunately there are some obstacles that you are going to encounter. The first obstacle is that Dimitri Mendeleev never established the periodic table. The other obstacle is that certain elements do not exist in our world. They are carbon, oxygen, nitrogen, gold, silver, helium, hydrogen, and sodium. The periodic table is arranged to follow several trends and characteristics of elements. In our periodic table that we use in chemistry class, carbon has been used as a standard in the determination of other elements weights and properties. Since carbon does not exist in our world now, you must use this webquest and your scientific intellect to write a research paper (using MLA format) and a visual product to show the rest of the scientists who are researching elements, why your element should be the fundamental element from which the rest of the periodic table can be developed. |
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| To expand your knowledge you are to create a report and a presentation on an element of your choice (no more than 1 element per person in the class). Your presentation should prove to the class why you have selected the fundamental element. When you do your presentation, you should also have a visual aid that will enhance your presentation and your report. A visual aid could be a power point presentation highlighting characteristics of your element, a sample of your element, a model that utilizes your element, or a poster including photographs, diagrams and pertinent information about your element. Each report and presentation should consist of five paragraphs. The first paragraph should be an introduction which includes where it was discovered, what year was it discovered, who discovered it, and whether it is natural or manmade. the second paragraph should contain information on properties of the element which include color, odor, boiling point, melting point, density, molar mass, atomic number, metal or nonmetal, and reactivity with different substances. The third paragraph should explain the uses of the element. The next paragraph should include hazards, dangers, handling of the element, and interesting facts about the element. The final paragraph should include a brief summary of your findings and should prove to your fellow scientists why your element is so valuable and why the new periodic table should be arranged according to the characteristics of your element. As you begin the process of collecting information make sure you check out the timeline of due dates. Remember you must follow the correct format for creating your paper. The citation guides that you should follow are found at the front of the library. You should obtain a copy of the format guide when you are researching your element. If you cannot find the guide see the librarian or the instructor for more copies. |
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| As you begin
your research my young scientist you need to budget your
time wisely. When you reach this point, see the
instructor immediately to choose your element. Quick time
is running out. Click here to see your timeline for due dates for your
project. It is highly recommended that you print out the
timeline so that you have a hard copy of it in your
notebook to remind you of important due dates. The first due date is notecards. You need to create 50 notecards containing information on your element. To make your first 20 cards, you will want to visit the internet sites under the resources that will give you useful links to internet sites. The next 20 notecards need to be made using the library reference resources. You can access the library resources two ways. You can use the actual reference section in the library or obtain a reference article using Galenet or AccessScience in the resource sectionof this page. The last 10 notecards need to come from a book or journal. If you hide this webpage you can find our online library card catalog(OPAC). Keep it in mind you need to be in the library to use OPAC. You may create more than the specified number of notecards for each category. In fact it is recommended that you do so to ensure that you can convince the instructor and your fellow scientists of the importance of your element. The next step is to arrange the notecards in the order of of your paper. You should have the introductory notecards first, andyour three body paragraph notecards in the correct order. The last step is to summarize your findings in the conclusion. Make sure you include information from the first four paragraphs in your summary of findings. You can now create your rough draft. Keep in mind your rough draft is graded like a final project. The rubric used to score your research will be used on the rough draft and final draft. Once you have turned in your rough draft you can work on your visual aid for your project. The instructor will return your rough draft and rubric used to assess the paper according to the timeline. At this point it is time to revise your paper so that it reaches final draft quality. Important: The final draft is worth 50 % of your final exam grade. The due dates are final and once the points have been totalled all decisions are final! If you are confused see the instructor immediately |
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History
Properties/Structure
Uses/Hazards/Interesting Facts
Presentation Aids
Other Resources
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Your Hypothesis statement is worth 5 points and is graded on completion. Each notecard and bibliography card is worth one half point and the maximum number of points that you can earn is 27. The presentation and the Research paper will be graded using rubrics. To view a copy of the rubrics click on the link below. You must visit the rubric site and print out both rubrics in order to receive full credit on this project.
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| At the completion of this process you should have a better understanding of the process Dimitri Mendeleev went through creating the periodic table. You should also understand the criteria involved in synthesizing research paper. You should have also learned more about some new resources which include internet sites, Galenet, AccessScience, and OPAC. You should also have successfully prepared and completed a presentation in front of the class proving to all of the other scientist/students why your element is the fundamental element! |
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Within the curriculum
students need to be able to evaluate atomic structure, density,
reactivity, atomic weight, atomic number, physical properties,
chemical properties, boiling point and melting point. Within the
course we cover these topics and even perform labs that isolate
and utilize these topics. By doing a webquest, students will be
able navigate there way through large amounts of data and
information and isolate those topics. After they have gathered
the information using the internet, journals, and books by
performing the web quest, they will be able to produce a
culminating project that will tie all of these topics together.
Also by using the webquest format they will be incorporating new
technology and skills into the classrooom which is a goal of
Cocalico School District and probably almost any district.
Students will develop new skills is analysis of chemistry and
internet research. This will also be the students first and
probably last formal research paper within our school before they
graduate from Cocalico High School.
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Evaluation