Samantha Haines

11155923
ECUR 325 Assessment Assignment
Science 10 – Chemical Reactions
Final Project (30%)
Design and Conduct an Experiment

Topics/Questions:

1. How can you speed up or slow down a chemical reaction?

2. What properties are present in various chemicals?
3. How can energy change be explained and visualized?
4. How can you test and determine the differences between acids and bases?

Assignment:

You are the teacher. You are required to create an experiment that will explore and answer TWO of the
above topics/questions. The entire experiment will need to be designed. You will be responsible for
providing the steps for the experiment, the lab report requirements, and then actually conduct another
student’s experiment to ensure that it will work and submit a completed lab report based on their
requirements.

This assignment will occur in multiple steps:

Firstly, design the experiment and the lab report. This will be handed in prior to completing the
actual experiment.
Secondly, you will get your plan back with feedback. You will be given one period to ask questions
and make any needed changes.
Finally, you will be placed into small groups. Each group will be randomly provided with one of
your created experiments. So, your experiment may or may not actually be conducted, but you won’t
know until the day of. As a group, you will conduct the experiment based on the specifications and
requirements of the experiment given and will have to complete a lab report. This will be handed in and
graded based on the lab report structure, and not the results you received or whether the experiment
worked or not.

Meeting the Outcomes:

As a final assignment, you are required to utilize all of the information that you have learned throughout
the unit. Each question/topic comes directly from one of the given curricular outcomes. Topic one comes
from SCI10-CR4: Investigate rates of chemical reactions including factors that affect the rate. If this topic
is chosen, you will be required to incorporate the content discussed in class, including affects of
temperature, surface area, concentration, and catalysts on a chemical reaction. Topics two, three, and
four are from SCI10-CR1: Explore the properties of chemical reactions, including role of energy change
and application of acids and bases. Here you will need to touch on a variety of learned concepts. For topic
two, the difference between chemical and physical properties must be addressed and you must be able
to decipher the difference between the two. Topic three requires you to explain how chemical and
physical changes are different as well as how the law of conservation of mass is incorporated and utilized
for energy change. Finally, topic four requires you to explain and show how determine the differences
between acids and bases, including using indicators, knowledge of the pH scale, and the neutralization
process. Both SCI10-CR2: Name and write formulas for common ionic and molecular chemical compounds,
including acids and bases, and SCI10-CR3: Represent reaction and conservation of mass symbolically using
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ECUR 325 Assessment Assignment
models, work and skeleton equations and balanced chemical reactions, will be thoroughly used no matter
which topic is chosen. Either topic will require you to write out the proper formulas required and must
include the chemical processes and reactions in an appropriate and balanced way. Multiple indicators
(CR4:d, CR4:e, CR4:f, CR3:a, CR3:b and CR2:h) involve the design and implementation of various aspects
of a lab report and experiment, which directly ties into the overall process of the assignment, and in turn
will provide valuable knowledge about experimental procedures and process for future science classes.
All outcomes have to be touched upon and used during your design process and during the experiment
and lab write up. When it comes time for the actual experiment, you will be placed in a group and
randomly given an assignment that highlights outcomes that differ from your own assignment, this way
every outcome will be thoroughly looked at and understood over the duration of this entire assignment.

Rubric/Marking:

Before you begin this assignment, we will take a period and as a class come up with the rubrics and grading
scheme for this assignment. I will provide an example rubric that we will edit as the class sees fit. I will
then mark your assignment based on the rubrics we come up with. The actual lab design will be graded
separately from the completed lab report.

Timeline:

Day 1 – Introduce Assignment, Create the Rubric, Begin Assignment

Day 2 – Work Period for Assignment
Day 3 - Work Period for Assignment, Assignment will be Handed in at the end of Class
Day 4 – Receive Teacher Feedback and Make Any Alterations to Assignment, Re-Submit Assignment
Day 5 – Students Placed into Groups and Given Random Experiment to Complete, Submit Written Lab
Report Based on Requirements of Experiment
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ECUR 325 Assessment Assignment

Example Rubric (To be Completed/Edited)

Experiment/Lab Design

Criteria Excellent (4) Good (3) Fair (2) Poor (1)

Safety All safety and care There are no safety
Considerations considerations are considerations
blatantly stated on present on the
the design and design.
cautions are
provided.
Materials A list of all materials Little or no
is provided. Nothing materials needed
is missing from the are listed on the
design. design.
Procedure Clear and concise The procedure is
instructions are hard to follow,
provided and stated missing obvious
in an easy to follow steps, or follows the
process. incorrect order.
Requirements of Each requirement is No requirements
Report explicitly listed on are provided.
the design. Students will have
no idea what is
expected.
Questions to Multiple important One or no questions
Consider questions to are stated for the
consider and students to
answer in regard to complete.
the topic are given.
Overall Design The design of the The topic chosen is
lab clearly matches unclear based on
the topic chosen the design of the
and follows the lab or the lab design
appropriate steps of itself makes little
an experiment. sense.
Connection to The design explicitly It is unclear which
Outcomes states which two topics are chosen
topics are chosen and the connection
and which to the curriculum is
outcomes are met missing.
by using these
topics.
Modelling Any provided Any formulas
formulas are provided are
correctly written incorrectly written
and expressed, as or expressed,
per the class indicating a lack of
outcomes. meeting outcomes.
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ECUR 325 Assessment Assignment
Example Rubric (To be Completed/Edited)

Lab/Experiment Report

Criteria Excellent (4) Good (3) Fair (2) Poor (1)

Purpose A clear hypothesis The hypothesis and
and general general question
question is stated. are not stated.

Materials All materials used Little or no

are listed. materials are listed.

Procedure A clear step-by-step The procedure is

procedure is not listed, is missing
provided. steps, or does not
make sense.
Data Organization All data collected is No data is provided.
organized in a Tables of graphs are
proper matter. Any not existent or
needed tables or incorrectly created.
graphs are
provided.
Conclusion A concise and The conclusion does
appropriate not answer the
conclusion is general question.
completed that Incorrect
answers the general statements are
question. made.
Questions All questions given No questions are
are answered answered, or if they
thoroughly and are, they are
correctly. incorrect or lacking
reasoning.
Outcome The lab report It is unclear which
Connection clearly expresses outcome is being
which outcome is met.
being met
Modelling All formulas used Chemical formulas
are correctly are incorrectly
written, expressed, written, expressed
and balanced as per or balanced
the outcome indicating a lack of
requirements. meeting outcomes.
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ECUR 325 Assessment Assignment

ECUR 325: Assignment 1 – Reflection

In a secondary science classroom, the most common form of summative assessment is a unit
test. However, I chose to try and incorporate the unit outcomes in a more creative and engaging way
and allow for more student self assessment. My assignment consists of students individually designing
their own experiment or lab and then having to complete one of the experiments based on the
requirements the student asked for. This assignment allows the students to pick two of four
questions/topics, based on the unit outcomes from the provincial curriculum (Rubric Outcome #1), and
design their experiment to answer the questions. Each student will be responsible for designing every
aspect of a lab, including the procedure, safety considerations, and the lab write up requirements.
Before any work begins on the assignment, as a class, me and the students will develop the rubric that
the assignment will be graded on and that they will base their experiment design on. Prior to the day of
completing the experiments, students will hand in their assignment for feedback from the teacher. The
following day, students will be given the class time to go over the feedback and then make changes or
ask any further questions before resubmitting their work with an attached self assessment. This gives
the students the chance to learn from their work and alter it before submitting for a final mark. Finally,
the students will be put into groups and randomly given one of their peer’s experiments to complete
based on the specified requirements and then submit a written lab report. By giving them randomly,
each student is required to complete the assignment to the best of their abilities knowing that theirs
could be selected to do. They will not be graded on the results or how well the experiment worked, but
instead on the requirements asked of them. So, their mark will be coming from two different aspects of
the assignment.

The unit outcomes are fully met throughout this assignment. Two of the outcomes (CR1 and
CR4) are explicitly related to the four topics/questions that the students are required to answer and
explain. The other two outcomes (CR2 and CR3) are general outcomes relating to writing, expressing,
and balancing chemical equations that are utilized no matter what topic is chosen. They will be required
to choose two of the given topics/questions that come directly from the outcomes and create a design
by incorporating the previous knowledge they have gained throughout the unit. Then, when it is time to
complete the experiments, groups will be made based on similar topics chosen and then they will be
given an experiment that highlights the other topics and associated outcomes that they did not focus
upon. Then, the knowledge they have will have to be used to complete the experiment provided. This
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ECUR 325 Assessment Assignment
way, all outcomes are being met and the assignment is truly a collaboration of all of the knowledge they
have gained over the course of the semester.

SCI10- CR1: Explore the properties of chemical reactions, including role of energy change and
applications of acids and bases.
SCI10- CR2: Name and write formulas for common ionic and molecular chemical compounds, including
acids and bases.
SCI10 -CR3: Represent chemical reactions and conservation of mass symbolically using models, word and
skeleton equations and balanced chemical equations.
SCI10- CR4: Investigate rates of chemical reactions including factors that affect the rate.

As per the GRASPS Elements of the Performance Task, the goal is to design and conduct an
experiment that covers all outcomes from the unit. They will be taking on two different roles, one as the
teacher designing a lab and one as a student conducting another experiment. The audience will be me
as their teacher as well as their peers who could be completing their assignment. The situation involves
designing a lab that meets certain outcomes, and then completing another lab that meets the rest of the
outcomes. The product/performance will be two collective rubrics based on class discussion, a lab
design, as well as a completed lab report. The standards and criteria for success come from the rubrics
that were collectively created, one for the design an one for the lab report. Both will guide the students
through their assignment.

As this assignment is designed to replace a traditional unit exam, it acts as a creative summative
assessment piece as referenced in rubric outcome #6. It will require students to look back at all the
knowledge they gained throughout the unit, and a number of techniques and strategies they practiced
as well. Students will be required to use the knowledge on the various methods of changing the rate of a
chemical reaction, the physical and chemical properties of a variety of chemicals, the differences
between acids and bases, as well as the concept of energy change. They will also be required to utilize
the practical skills they learned through the various experiments and labs completed in class, in order to
effectively design their own. This assessment assignment will help the students to improve their own
discipline specific literacy skills (Rubric Outcome #16), as understanding and being able to conduct an
effective and efficient experiment or lab is a fundamental skill in the science world and it also ties in to
each of the unit outcomes as multiple indicators. Also, this assignment allows the students to apply their
previously learned knowledge and skills in a practical and unique situation that ties in so many aspects
of the unit in a highly useful and relevant way (Rubric Outcome #18). The learning that the students gain
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ECUR 325 Assessment Assignment
from this assignment will benefit them in multiple science courses later on in their schooling, as well as a
variety of cross curricular abilities.

This assignment was specifically designed for a large amount of student involvement and
options. From the choice in topic, to the building of the rubric, to the overall design of their own
experiment, the students have a lot of say in their own assignment. This is a process that would allow
for a variety of adaptations and differentiation, based on the specific needs of the students. For
example, an EAL student could come up with an experiment design and have assistance learning how to
properly write the experiment to ensure they don’t have to do it alone. Also, the group work completing
the experiments can be beneficial to assisting learners who need extra support. This assignment also has
the ability to work well for learners who need visual assistance, as they can utilize images to explain
their experiment as well. Each student could easily adapt their design to match their strengths (Rubric
Outcome #14). No matter the learning need, each student is given an equal opportunity to be successful
with this assignment. The amount of freedom within this assignment was also designed to be more
engaging and allow for individual inquiry (Rubric Outcome #15). Instead of the traditional written exam,
students are able to create an assignment based on what they would like to do, which would hopefully
increase the overall engagement.

In my head, this is a great way to complete an assessment OF the students learning while also
creating an engaging and useful assignment. However, I have already learned that things rarely work out
the way you have planned. Some of my professional goals involve allowing myself to learn from my
mistakes and develop changes to my own designs. I want to learn to better my own organizational skills
and planning skills based on my own experiences with how things actually work in the classroom. I really
want to learn from my peers and instructors and be able to make changes to my own teaching methods
based on feedback. A lot of my professional learning and growth goals stem from my unintentional want
to be perfect at everything I do, but needing to realize that that just isn’t possible, and that mistakes are
a form of learning as well. To me, my main goal is to completely allow myself to realize that
professionalism does not equal perfection.