Presenter: Richard J. Bray
Faculty Advisor:  Dr. Ning Gao
Ext 6658, x2rbray@mx.stlawu.edu

Poster Presentation

Recent trends in teaching favor the use of authentic tasks.  The “real-world” applications associated with authentic tasks aids in retention of the material by the students.  Two laboratory procedures have been adapted from college-level chemistry laboratory procedures, which exclusively use household products as the reagents to help connect chemistry and students’ everyday lives.  One procedure is an acid-base titration that helps students determine which household products are acidic or basic, and introduces them to titration.  First, students will investigate which products in their house are most acidic and most basic via litmus paper.  The students will then titrate the acidic and basic products (eg. lye or vinegar) to determine the concentrations. he second procedure calls for students to determine the chemical composition of a common household product by way of identification reactions using other common products as reagents.  The lab spans over two days, the first is dedicated to perform the identification reactions using pure, known chemicals and the household reagents to give students a glimpse into what a positive reaction should resemble.  On the second day, the students are given a household product (e.g., baking powder), a chemical flow chart, and the household reagents; the students then perform the necessary reactions to determine the chemical composition of the product. The goal of these two laboratory procedures is by working with materials readily found in the home, the students will realize that chemistry is not something talked about solely in the classroom, but chemistry is indeed all around them.