An Online, Interactive Lesson on Liquids and Intermolecular Forces

This page authored by Donald Storer, Southern State Community College
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This material is replicated on a number of sites as part of the SERC Pedagogic Service Project

Summary

This interactive, online lesson on liquids and intermolecular forces uses video clips, molecular models, and other resources from ChemEd DL. Students observe video clips of various phenomena related to properties of liquids and intermolecular forces. Interactive questions embedded in the lesson either ask students to make predictions or answer questions to test their understanding of the material presented.


Learning Goals

By answering questions and making predictions while watching the videos of common, everyday experiences (e.g., boiling water below the boiling point) can lead to cognitive conflict if the student makes an incorrect choice and can lead to adjustments of his or her existing conceptual frameworks. This lesson should lead to a better understanding of the properties of liquids and the effects of intermolecular forces on these properties.

Context for Use

This lesson is appropriate for high school or college general chemistry. The interactive lesson is meant to be one component of a collection of instructional activities which may include laboratory activities, traditional laboratory experiments, problem sets, and contextual projects.

Description and Teaching Materials

The lesson can be found at http://moodle.chemeddl.org/course/view.php?id=78

Teaching Notes and Tips

This lesson was created without an embedded lecture or explanation. Instructors are urged to incorporate their own lecture or explanation to augment the lesson.

Assessment

When the student completes the lesson, a total score on the embedded questions is displayed.

References and Resources

The ChemEd DL Summit Resource Course (http://moodle.chemeddl.org/course/view.php?id=78) houses all of the submissions from two-year and four-year college faculty members who have designed resources using the Chem Ed DL (Chemical Educational Digital Library) for use in organic chemistry and general chemistry classrooms and laboratories.

This resource is based upon work supported by the National Science Foundation under Grants No. NSF-DUE 1044239 and NSF-DUE 0937796. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation.