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I am currently planning a two week unit on the elements to develop
students' research skills (my aim) and produce some great display work (
the science department's aim). I have some money to spend on resources but
on looking on the internet at the book shop offerings, I found most of them
are American. I should be grateful if anyone could let me know what they
think of those I have found, and suggest any others which you may have
found useful.
Book list
A guide to the elements by Albert Stwertka
Nitrogen (Sparks of life that make life possible)by Jean F Bashfield
Oxygen by ditto
Carbon
Sodium
Calcium
Hydrogen
Chemical elements: from carbon to Krypton by David E Newton and Laurence W
Baker
(seems very expensive for a book for ages 9-12 - is it a reference book?)
The story of gold (First Books - The chemical elements explained) by Hal
Hellman
The story of carbon (First Books) by Mark D Ueling
The Story of Iron (First Books) Karen Fitzgerald
The Story of Nitrogen (First Books - Chemical Elements) Karen Fitzgerald
The Story of Hydrogen (First Books) Mark Uehling, Mark D. Uehling
The Story of Oxygen (First Books) Karen Fitzgerald
Exploring Chemical Elements and Their Compounds David L. Heiserman
The Chemical Elements (Venture Books) David E. Newton
Its a Gas! Margaret Griffin, Ruth Griffin, Pat Cupples
Good Internet sites would also be very welcome.
The range of ability is very wide, with some students whose literacy and/or
reasoning skills are very poor.
This is a fairly new type of activity for my school, and I'd like it to be
as successful as possible.
I'll post a hit if anyone else is interested.
Many recommended the Grolier ("The Elements" published by Groliers
Educational Sherman Turnpike, Danbury, Connecticutt 06816) set on the
elements - it sounded rather familiar and in fact turns out to be the same
series as is published in UK (and Australia) by Atlantic Europe. I've now
bought it along with their other series ChemLab. There was little feedback
on most of the other titles I listed, but see below. I assume that those
not mentioned are not particularly recommended.
An excellent set of books that I have used with the chemistry classes is
This is a 16 volume set with excellent illustrations and
readable text..
Thanks to all who responded.
Two good web sites I have used are:
www.shef.ac.uk/chemistry/web-elements/index.html (this is British)
www.chemicalelements.com
In our school, the entire 8th grade (12-13 yrs.) does a major project
on the elements. In the beginning, I did not have any fabulous
resources that were up to date. Now, I have quite a few. They
include these two:
>
> A guide to the elements by Albert Stwertka
> >
> Chemical elements: from carbon to Krypton by David E Newton and Laurence W
> Baker
> (seems very expensive for a book for ages 9-12 - is it a reference book?)
>
Both of these are great. The kids love them. They are well formatted
and the discussion of the elements is straightforward. The reading
level is quite manageable.
I also have a set from Grolier called Elements. It's set Isbn is
0-7172-7572-8. This is also a popular source for the kids.
Because of the project's nature, I have all of these in the
reference collection. The students have two days to do the research
here in the library media center.
They have a list of required facts/info to gather and then they must
present to the class in a creative way.
We also give them access to the Internet where they access bookmarked
sites.
Periodic Table - WebElements
http://www.shef.ac.uk/chemistry/web-elements/index-fr.html
This is our favorite.
I have a couple suggestions for your elements unit. I bought the book "A
guide to the elements" by Albert Stwertka, published by Oxford; and also a
set of books on the elements from Grolier Educational.
The Oxford book has a two page spread on each element with more limited
black and white illustrations and a slightly higher reading level. My
chemistry teacher commented recently that these books had been a big help
for his students in the research projects he assigns. In our high school
chemistry is usually offered to juniors which makes most students about 16
at the time they take the class.
There is a series just called "Elements" published by Atlantic
Europe Publishing Ltd., Greys Court Fram, Grey's Court, Henley-on-Thames,
Oxon. RG9 4PG which might meet your needs. Each volume is devoted to one
element, and there is a very clear and attractive presentation. Author of
the random one I have just picked up ( Carbon) is Brian Knapp.
here is a good site:
HyperChemistry on the Web - created by students for ThinkQuest
http://tqd.advanced.org/2690/
A bit more complicated ones are:
the Chemistry Encyclopedia
http://www.scimedia.com/chem-ed/scidex.htm#top
and
The Chemistry Teachers Resources
http://rampages.onramp.net/~jaldr/chemtchr.html
CHEMystery, a virtual chemistry textbook, to provide an interactive
guide for high school chemistry students
http://library.advanced.org/3659/
-------------------------------------------------------
Elizabeth Bentley
Head of Learning Resources
Northbrook C of E School
Taunton Road
Lee, London SE12 8PD
e-mail: elizabeth@wardrobe.dircon.co.uk
Tel: 0181 852 3191
Fax: 0181 463 0201
email: sln-owner@egroups.com
sln@wardrobe.dircon.co.uk
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