A Balancing Act: Helping Students Understand the Mole Relationship for Balancing Equations

Authors

Karl Goldsmith, West Des Moines Valley High School
Matt Jaschen, Johnston High School

Document Type

Article

Abstract

Stoichiometry can be one of the more challenging topics to teach in high school chemistry. Students often struggle until they realize the ratio from the balanced chemical equation represents mole ratios rather than the mass of each component. The activity presented here provides students with an inquiry based experience with a chemical reaction. During the activity, students seek evidence as to what the coefficients in a balanced chemical equation mean. With teacher guidance, these activities help students (1) connect chemical equations to observations, (2) gain evidence that mass ratios are not useful, and (3) understand the relationship between moles and balanced chemical equations. This article promotes National Science Education Standards A, B, and G, and Iowa Teaching Standards 2, 3, and 4.

Publication Date

Fall 2010

Journal Title

Iowa Science Teachers Journal

Volume

37

Issue

3

First Page

10

Last Page

13

Copyright

© Copyright 2010 by the Iowa Academy of Science

Language

en

File Format

application/pdf

Recommended Citation

Goldsmith, Karl and Jaschen, Matt (2010) "A Balancing Act: Helping Students Understand the Mole Relationship for Balancing Equations," Iowa Science Teachers Journal: Vol. 37: No. 3, Article 4.
Available at: https://scholarworks.uni.edu/istj/vol37/iss3/4