Learning Under Pressure: Teaching Boyle’s Law through Inquiry

Authors

Meagan Woestman, Missouri Valley High School
Adam Kent, Valley Southwoods Freshman High School

Document Type

Article

Abstract

Boyle’s law is commonly addressed in chemistry and physical science textbooks, but rarely in a manner consistent with what we know best promotes learning (Bransford, Brown & Cocking, 2000). We present the standard syringe activity as an exploratory inquiry experience followed by a more formal development of the relationship. The activity starts and concludes by having students examine how the volume of a crushed pop bottle changes in a vacuum. Through iterative concrete experiences and guided discussions, students construct Boyle’s law to account for the class data. This article address National Science Education Standards A, B, E, G, and Iowa Teaching Standards 1, 2, 3, and 5.

Publication Date

Spring 2011

Journal Title

Iowa Science Teachers Journal

Volume

38

Issue

2

First Page

14

Last Page

18

Copyright

© Copyright 2011 by the Iowa Academy of Science

Language

en

File Format

application/pdf

Recommended Citation

Woestman, Meagan and Kent, Adam (2011) "Learning Under Pressure: Teaching Boyle’s Law through Inquiry," Iowa Science Teachers Journal: Vol. 38: No. 2, Article 5.
Available at: https://scholarworks.uni.edu/istj/vol38/iss2/5