In my most recent post - I have been falling down on the blogging job - I shared my Mole Day project, a Powtoon I made for this year's Mole-o-ween. Later that week, my students presented their Mole Day projects with me and their classmates. This was the first year I required the projects to be digitally delivered and, overall, it was a great success. Tonight I have finally finished grading them, so I will share the best of the best.
In the project, students have to choose a common object and make three measurements on it. I suggest mass, volume, and length, but they can really use anything as long as they have 3 measurements. Then they have to calculate what those measurements would be if they had a mole of the object. How much does a mole of pencils weigh? How long is a mole of pencils if they are stacked end to end? How much space does a mole of pencils take up? Then they have to compare one of these molar quantities to some other known quantity so we get an idea of how big a mole is. They earn extra credit if they incorporate the theme.
There were many projects that used Google Slides, like this one:
There were many Prezis, but I liked this one a bunch because the students gave a lot of thought to its design and they made some of the artwork themselves (apples, in costumes, indeed!). There was only one Animoto video. There were several cute Powtoons, but I liked this one a lot because it looks like someone is explaining the math to someone else.
I liked the digital version of the project as much as the old fashioned "make a poster" way. Plus, I could grade them at home without schlepping home a pile of posters. Whether digital or old-fashioned, what I love best about the project is that the students seem to love to do this math. One time a student even asked me, "Do other classes get to do this project?" What starts out feeling daunting becomes a really cool project and a better understanding of scientific notation. What could be better than that?
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