Chemistry homework

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Sarah C

Chemistry homework

Post by Sarah C »

Not sure if this is the right forum but my son has to write up on a chemistry experiment from 2 weeks ago. Something about holding a piece of gauze in a roaring bunsen flame. e.g. in the blue cone and above the cone then repeating with nichrome wire (?) in cork. He has record the results using diagrams and what happened, also write a conclusion.

Two weeks is along time to him and he is having difficulty recalling what happened. I know, he should have made notes at the time but I would like to talk him through this one so he knows what to do next time.

Is anyone familiar with this experiment?

Many thanks :?
quest

Re: Chemistry homework

Post by quest »

Sarah C wrote:Not sure if this is the right forum but my son has to write up on a chemistry experiment from 2 weeks ago. Something about holding a piece of gauze in a roaring bunsen flame. e.g. in the blue cone and above the cone then repeating with nichrome wire (?) in cork. He has record the results using diagrams and what happened, also write a conclusion.

Two weeks is along time to him and he is having difficulty recalling what happened. I know, he should have made notes at the time but I would like to talk him through this one so he knows what to do next time.

Is anyone familiar with this experiment?

Many thanks :?
which school is it?
solimum
Posts: 1420
Joined: Wed May 09, 2007 3:09 pm
Location: Solihull, West Midlands

chemistry

Post by solimum »

If you don't get any luck here it might be worth posting on the TES staffroom website for Science teachers

http://www.tes.co.uk/section/staffroom/ ... =/science/

although you may just unleash a diatribe against disorganised pupils!
Appeal Mum
Posts: 2049
Joined: Fri Mar 09, 2007 10:29 pm
Location: Wirral

Post by Appeal Mum »

Hi Sarah,

Did the nichrome wire stretch when heated?

And was the other piece of gauze copper? Or another type of material?

AM
Guest

Post by Guest »

Can your son call a friend? My daughter and her friends regularly exchange phone calls about homework. Did the school co-ordinate a telephone list? If not, this is an invaluable thing to have, and perhaps you could pester them. Other schools set up Virtual Learning Environments where homework can be 'discovered' and submitted on line.
perplexed

chemistry homework

Post by perplexed »

I think you are being extremely nice to your son, but I don't think you should be going to this amount of trouble. If he can rescue the situation by doing some finding out, asking around etc, then fine. But otherwise, let him get the poor mark and see what happens next. And limit your discussion with him to what he could have done to guarantee a better mark next time round ....... help him with notetaking if necessary, it's a great skill and not well taught in most schools.

You may be on the edge of discovering that the chemistry teacher is not that great. Then, if chemistry matters to you both this year, you can work out a planned way forward to help your child cover the sort of material he should be doing in chemistry this year, and maintain his enthusiasm, (without saying exactly what you think of the teacher) rather than spending your time struggling with random homework assignments that will probably not make the blindest bit of difference to his GCSE, A'level or degree in chemistry.

I firmly believe that helping directly with homework is not a good idea, but there are plenty of other ways that you can help at home which will not directly influence the mark on a specific piece of homework, but will help your child forward with that subject.
Guest

Post by Guest »

Many thanks for all your replies and suggestions.

I think that Perplexed is probably right on a number of points. My son managed to cobble together some sort of summary of his chemistry and got a roasting for his work! I agree he has now learnt to be a bit more organized but you are correct, he has been given no guidance on note taking and I gather half the class had to stay behind because their work wasn't of the standard expected.

Perhaps the teacher needs a few lessons on clarity and expectations!

(The objective was to find out the hottest part of the flame of a bunsen burner!)
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