Chemistry, Grade 10

This grade 6 Physical Science unit focuses on the inquiry question, What is the chemistry of a candle? This 9-lesson unit supports asking questions and defining problems, as well as using mathematical and computational thinking, while developing students’ science reading skills in the pursuit of introducing chemical reactions and equations. The unit is ideal for the beginning of the school year to help students begin their fluency in chemistry as well as nurture their identities as chemists or scientists. Beginning with a familiar, yet complex phenomenon, the unit walks students through analyzing evidence from observations, scientific documents, and chemical equations to help them make sense of things like a chemist. The unit makes use of the Reading Apprenticeship instructional framework and classroom routines including Think-Pair-Share, Talking to the Text (annotating) for making connections and predicting, as well as using Sentence Frames (stems).