Physics: Parallel Circuit Patterns

Continuing with Kirchoff’s Laws, students went back to the PhET circuit construction kit to look for patterns in parallel circuits. I have a lot of fun listening to student conversations during this sequence. The patterns that lead to Kirchoff’s Laws are just subtle enough to lead to some great discussion (and emphatic debate), along with lots of moments where students think they’ve got it worked out, only to break their own pattern.

Chemistry: Reaction Rates

Students timed a reaction between copper chloride and hydrogen peroxide, then made various changes to speed up or slow down the reaction. Students were doing a nice job of connecting yesterday’s discussion about energy in chemical reactions  (aided by PhET’s reversible reactions sim) to explain why some of today’s changes impacted the reaction rate.