How to Use Graphic Organizers to Teach Chemical Changes

Graphic organizers are becoming more and more common in classrooms today. If you're teaching about chemical changes to your science class, you might consider incorporating graphic organizers into your lesson.

Things You'll Need

• Chalk (or dry-erase marker)
• Blackboard (or whiteboard)

Instructions

1. Draw a simple Cause and Effect Organizer on the board. This type of organizer consists of two circles connected by an arrow.

2. Explain the concept behind the Cause and Effect Organizer to students. Tell them that the action in the first circle causes the action in the second circle. The arrow shows the direction of causation.

3. Draw another arrow from the second circle to a third circle. Explain that this diagram shows that the first action causes the second, and the second causes the third.

4. Tell students a chemical reaction can cause several things to change. Explain that chemical reactions can change the color of an object (such as leaves turning red or a cut apple turning brown), the odor of an object (such as an egg going rotten), or the energy that an object contains (such as a cake being baked).

5. Make a more complex Cause and Effect Organizer by drawing three arrows pointing at three circles, all coming from a fourth circle. Write "Chemical Reaction" in the fourth circle. Ask students to tell you what information should go in the first three circles, according to what you've told them.

6. Have students do online research to learn about events that can cause a chemical reaction. Have them add their findings to the graphic organizer.

Tips & Warnings

• If you'd like, you can encourage students to complete Step 6 in pairs or small groups.

References

• Chemical changes