Lesson and Activities

With your knowledge of the history of atomic theory, you are ready to assist students in gaining accurate conceptions of the structure of matter and appreciation for how we know what we know about the atom. The lessons and activities in this section are designed to allow student insight into past and present perceptions of the structure of matter.

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Early Atomic Understanding http://particleadventure.org/other/history/earlyt.html

A brief timeline covers the major ancient Greeks and their beliefs about the nature of matter. Students can be asked: Who seemed to have the most imaginative ideas? The most probable? On what were these ideas based? How did their methods of science compare to current methods of science? Why? MSP full record

Guess What? http://www.reachoutmichigan.org/funexperiments/agesubject/lessons/guesswhat.html

This hands-on activity for upper elementary and middle school students simulates how scientists make inferences regarding the structure of matter not directly observed. MSP full record

Strange Matter http://www.strangematterexhibit.com/structure.html

This interactive page zooms from the outside of a beverage can down to the level of aluminum atoms. As the image zooms, a schematic reference scale shows the level of magnification the image represents. MSP full record

TE Activity: Gumdrop Atoms http://www.teachengineering.org/view_activity.php?url=http://www.teachengineering.com/collection/cub_/activities/cub_mix/cub_mix_lesson1_activity1/xml

In this activity, students build a model of lithium with gumdrops and explain where the model accurately represents the atom and where the model falls short. Enrichment exercises are included, such as having groups of students play the parts of subatomic particles to model an atom in the gymnasium. MSP full record

Matter: Atoms, Molecules and States of Matter http://www.visionlearning.com/library/module_viewer.php?mid=49

This lesson introduces atomic theory from Democritus to John Dalton and reviews Dalton’s four basic theories on matter. It is the first lesson in a series on atomic structure. MSP full record

Building on Biographies -- Bringing Real-Life Stories into Your Curriculum! http://www.educationworld.com/a_lesson/lesson/lesson185.shtml

One strategy to give students a personal perspective on the scientists who contributed to modern atomic theory is to have students investigate these persons through biographies and autobiographies. This article from Education World presents ways around student conceptions of biographies as boring and highlights ways to integrate language arts with other disciplines by having students engage with biographies. For example, they can build a "biography box" or write a "people poem." If students are allowed to work in pairs to investigate a given scientist, the activity is not only more pleasant for the student but also allows for greater learning potential. Students will be bouncing ideas off each other as they construct their own understanding of their scientist's life, work and contributions to science and society. MSP full record

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Copyright December 2007 — The Ohio State University. This material is based upon work supported by the National Science Foundation under Grant No. 0424671. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation.

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons License.