Combustion In Class Lesson - Science Journal Entry Four

A couple of days ago, we learned about single displacement, double displacement, and combustion in Mr. Hill’s science class. I thought this was one of the coolest science lessons I've had this year. Single and double displacement is cool in the way that they work, but the real star of the show is combustion. Combustion is when an element or compound mixes with oxygen gas to create a reaction. Part of our combustion lesson was Mr. Hill lighting his hands on fire, which is one of the most awesome things I've seen a teacher do, probably next to Mrs. Kapasi eating a candle.

The most interesting thing about the topic of combustion is that elements can explode when combined with oxygen gas. Who doesn't like explosions? I also found it interesting that the chemical reactions can take place so quickly. When we were discussing combustion in class before we did any experiments, I thought that the chemical reactions would take quite a while to complete. When I saw the fire rising to the roof after the lighter was held to it was quite amazing. I couldn't believe how fast the reaction could take place, and how quickly the cloud dissipated off of the ceiling.

The entire lesson on displacement and combustion was very interesting. The only part I did not like was pressing  Ctrl and = all the time to add in subscripts and state symbols.

I would like to learn more about how exactly the chemicals in combustion reactions break down into the reactants. I would like to learn how this process occurs because sometimes when looking at the chemical formula, I wonder “How did this turn into that?”

I think that other students also share the same interests and disinterests that I had with the lesson. Everyone, even the people who don’t pay very much attention in class was attentive during the lesson. I guess people like seeing things blow up. I really like the Grade 10 Science Curriculum so far. I don’t think any changes need to be made to the curriculum itself to make it more interesting for the students. I believe it is the way that the teacher handles the class that makes the students pay more attention. I think that having more experiments, like the ones we had on that day would make the other students much more excited for science class.

As an addition to the previous question, I think that we should learn more about chemical reactions in this course. In grade 10, I believe we only cover synthesis, decomposition, single/double displacement and combustion. I would really like to learn more about the other types of chemical reactions as well. I know that that dives into the Grade 11 curriculum, but I would rather learn about all of that stuff in Grade 10, and then build on concepts in Grade 11. I also do not like how easy the Ontario curriculum (not just the science curriculum, but every other subject) became much easier in 2007. The marks were low, so Ontario decided to make the whole curriculum easier. This may lead to better marks, but I don’t like how this forces us to delay learning about some cool scientific concepts, and elements from other classes that we will have to wait until our senior grades to learn about. I think the best thing for the science curriculum in Grade 10 is to make it a transition into the Grade 11 Sciences. That is to say, teach the concepts of Grade 11 Chemistry in Grade 10, but simplify it. Then, build on it in Grade 11. I think this would be a good idea to help student success, and to let students decide which sciences they would be interested in taking in their senior years.