When students say physics and chemistry labs were their favorite part of the year, something is working. For Brendan Duong, his PEF Teacher Grant made these memorable labs possible. Duong, a high school teacher at Thurgood Marshall, is using his grant to fund innovative and engaging hands-on labs for his students. Out of the box labs like Duong’s often require a variety of different materials that may create a budgetary issue, but with the financial support from PEF Duong was able to purchase both the supplies and equipment that he needed, including a brand new set of hotplates for his classroom.
“The impact of hands-on learning in science education is backed by a plethora of research, as well as notable education reformists such as Lev Vygotsky.The equipment purchased will be appreciated by students for years to come!”
-Brendan Duong, Thurgood Marshall High School
Students were beyond excited to take what they learned in class and apply it to something a bit more tangible than a worksheet. Duong stated that for many students, these labs were the highlight of the class. For units involving physics, labs included activities like electric circuit making kits, the “egg drop” design challenge using “everyday materials”, and the “toothpick bridge” design challenge. With the newly purchased hotplates, Duong added new chemistry-based activities to the year’s curriculum. In the calorimetry lab, students determined the identity of an unknown metal using its specific heat capacity. The percent composition lab had students investigate the percent composition of water in copper sulfate. Finally, students had a lot of fun using stoichiometry calculations to create their own sample of bar soap.
For his physics and chemistry students, Duong looks forward to recreating these labs well into the future and inspiring future students to look forward to learning new things about the world of science.
