Khan Can Help

My sixth grade Science X students are struggling with balancing chemical equations.  I can't really blame them, because I tried out a sort of constructivist approach to teach this concept and it caused more discomfort than the kids really could embrace.  In last week's lesson we watched a short and simple Brain Pop video in which Tim and Moby taught a quick lesson on the basics of chemical equations - how reactants yield products - and I tried to get the kids to make the connection between balancing equations in chemistry and the basics of algebraic equations.  Since these sixth grade wonders are our brightest and best I assumed that they'd catch on quickly.  As we did the mini-quiz at the end of the Brain Pop video, it looked to me like they were getting it.  

But they didn't.  In the same class period students used their iPads to  access an interactive website called ChemBalancer which offers an interactive activity for balancing equations.  Despite being reminded to read the directions and then try the activity, most jumped right in and became frustrated when the examples proved difficult to solve.  I have every confidence that the kids can do it, but not without a good deal of effort on their part.

Today, I brought in reinforcements in the form of Sal Khan and a very effective Khan Academy tutorial on balancing chemical equations.  It was fun to tell the kids about how Khan used to record tutorials for his nephews and then it blossomed into this major Microsoft-backed web resource, used by millions of teachers and students around the globe.

My "scientists" seemed to get a better grasp of balancing equations after the video, and I showed them were to go to Khan's interactive practice on this concept.  Not only will they get immediate feedback as they try out the practice equations, but if they get stuck, they can click on a button that will offer them a hint - I think of it as online scaffolding. 

I'm excited to see if my students find Khan Academy as helpful as I do!