A Mini Lesson on Reaction Types with Particle Diagrams

Published: 2023-12-12 7:26 AM

Category: Teaching | Tags: science, chemistry, modeling, inquiry

My students struggled to differentiate single vs double replacement reactions on our latest test. We had used particle diagrams in notes and while practicing, but many students didn't reach for that tool on the test itself. I threw these three slides together to help them see the connection between the particle diagram abstraction (which they can all describe) and the representation of the same idea in a chemical equation.

A particle diagram representing a single and douple replacement reaction. Students are prompted to compare and contrast the two diagrams. The single replacement reaction has a single blue circle next to a pair of yellow circles. After the reaction arrow the blue circle is paired with a yellow and the second yellow circle is on its own. The second reaction has two blue circles next to two yellow circles. After the reaction arrow, each blue is paired with a yellow, representing a movement of atoms.

I prompted students to simply compare and contrast the two reactions represented by colored particles. This got them in the frame of mind to look for patterns and describe those patterns.

A slide with two similar chemical reactions. The first reaction shows iron swapping with a copper in a chemical change in a single replacement pattern. The second reaction has iron and copper switching in a double replacement.

Then, we look at two reactions which follow the same pattern to help students connect the chemical representation of change with the particle diagram abstraction.

The two images are superimposed together to give a more clear representation of how models can help us describe chemical changes.

Since this is a reteach, most students wanted to jump right to identifying the type of reaction rather than identifying patterns. I had to pull them back a little, but once the particle diagram was overlaid, there were a bunch of "light bulb faces" in the room. We're going to reassess later this week to see if this was actually helpful or not.

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