PEOE & Misconceptions on Conservation of Mass

This article is a handy lesson plan on how to address the concept of conservation of mass through PEOE to uncover misconceptions before and after simple chemical reactions. The demonstratio... See More

This article is a handy lesson plan on how to address the concept of conservation of mass through PEOE to uncover misconceptions before and after simple chemical reactions. The demonstrations described and the lessons are accessible in many classrooms as long as safety measures are taken into consideration. The authors build the article to lead both new and veteran teachers through the process of model building and clearly outline the accompanying pedagogy. As a teacher of teachers, this article could be used in a methods class by reverse engineering the best practice outlined and uncovering the rational for each step. Students will enjoy learning about conservation of mass especially as it addresses some counterintuitive notions about gases that have no mass or solids that are more massive than liquids. The instructional techniques presented are clear and should inveigle a teacher musing about how to better lead students to understand mass changes in reactions and the conservatio

Great model for reflective teaching

This article models a lesson that addresses misconceptions about conservation of mass. However, and more importantly, it is a model of how teachers can and should be reflective in their own... See More

This article models a lesson that addresses misconceptions about conservation of mass. However, and more importantly, it is a model of how teachers can and should be reflective in their own teaching. This group of teachers shows not just the lesson, but how they taught and refined the lesson through "lesson study". In that respect, they focused on best practices before, during and after the lesson. They worked collaboratively on their craft and documented the outcome. Impressive.