Chemistry is, upon first thought, not usually someone’s favorite subject. The Chemistry students at VAMPY would disagree. The students do numerous interactive labs through which they learn about the chemical properties of matter and watch colorful, weird and even fiery reactions between compounds.
They are attempting to learn a whole year’s worth of chemistry education in under three weeks and are well on their way. They all work very hard to understand and learn the often new material, but these bright students are great to have in class due to their personalities, curiosity, and willingness to try new things.
During their time in Chemistry so far, the students have had many opportunities to learn all about chemistry through hands-on work and in-class labs. So far, they have solved challenge logic puzzles, catalyzed reactions for metals, nonmetals, and metalloids, decomposed water with electrolysis, written chemical equations, and initiated thermal reactions to study their effects on substances. The students spend a lot of time both doing and analyzing lab activities in class. They have read in a college chemistry textbook, completed full lab write-ups, and taken tests over the material studied in class.
One of their favorite things to do, however, is study hall. During study hall I work with them in groups to solve chemistry problems and discuss what they have learned.