Chemistry Prep Course

Summer Bobenhausen-Kibler
Community
Fall 2015

Project Summary
I taught a prep course for high school students going
into chemistry. It consisted of 10 lessons, each of
which covered various topics from basic algebra
skills needed for chemistry that they may have
forgotten, organization of the periodic table, making
conversions using moles and molar mass, and much
more. The students are now able to recite to names of
common polyatomic ions, identify elements based on
key characteristics, and name binary compounds.
That was just a brief list of the many skills the
students not have.
This was a great way for these students to get ahead
and be exposed to the material before being taught it
during the school year.

Project Highlights

About a month after my project ended and the

students were back in school, I received a text
from one of the students explaining how much
the course had prepared her for her chemistry
class. She explained that she had never received
an A on a quiz before now.

From this experience, I learned firsthand that

students really do learn at a different pace and
modifications are needed for everyone.

This was the first lesson of the course. The students had
the opportunity to have their minds refreshed on basic
algebra skills that are needed to be successful in
chemistry.

My project was a great opportunity for me to practice

teaching science concepts. It is one thing to know the
content of science, it is another to be able to teach it
in a way that students are able to understand.

From My Journal
We spent the last 30 minutes of the lesson just
sitting and eating dessert together. The students and I
just talked about high school and college life. They
had several questions for me so I am happy I planned
enough time for this interaction

Due to accommodating the busy schedules of all of the

students, we had to move future lessons to my living
room which actually turned out to be a more relaxed
learning environment.