Online Resources Series: Chemistry

In this episode of Teaching High School Science, we’re focusing on the best free online tools to make chemistry engaging and accessible. Whether you’re homeschooling or teaching online, these 7 resources will help your teen tackle even the most complex chemistry concepts with ease!

Here’s a quick breakdown:

🔹 ChemCollective – Virtual labs and simulations for hands-on chemistry experiments.
Explore ChemCollective here.

🔹 Chemistry by THIX – An app for mixing virtual chemicals to demonstrate explosive reactions.
Check out Chemistry by THIX here.

🔹 American Chemical Society (ACS) – A wealth of videos, lessons, and activities for all levels of chemistry.
Visit ACS here.

🔹 Ptable.com – The ultimate interactive periodic table to explore element properties.
Explore Ptable here.

🔹 Khan Academy – A comprehensive chemistry curriculum with adaptive practice exercises.
Visit Khan Academy here.

🔹 PhET Simulations – Interactive simulations to help students understand abstract chemistry concepts.
Check out PhET Simulations here.

🔹 CK-12 – Customizable, interactive textbooks with chemistry content for all levels.
Explore CK-12 here.

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Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:00

Hey there and welcome back to Teaching High School Science. In this episode, I'm focusing on chemistry, and that is the online resources that can be used and integrated into your chemistry curriculum. My previous episode, which was the first in my online science resource series, we focused on biology. In the next one, we're gonna talk about physics, but in this one, let's focus on six online resources that you can use for teaching chemistry. Let's dive in.

Speaker 1: 0:27

Welcome to Teaching High School Science. I'm your host, doc, a former biochemist turned high school science teacher and private tutor. Whether you're homeschooling your team through high school science or teaching online, join me as I share tips and strategies I've learned over the years for at-home and online labs and activities, breaking down complex concepts and structuring learning in a way that makes sense. Now let's dive into today's topics. The first one, which is one that I love, is Chem Collective. Now, chem Collective offers virtual labs and scenarios that allow students to experience an actual lab environment online. So they have a stock room where they have to go and get equipment and chemicals and then place them on a workbench. This requires them to understand and know the chemicals and the chemical equipment that they're going to be using, and, because it's online. It's perfect when you want to use certain chemicals for your labs and demonstrations that are just not safe for your environment, or for schools that are not able to get certain equipment and chemicals Now, because it is an open lab environment, meaning they have to know where to go, what to get and how to use it. There is a bit of a learning curve, so I always recommend that that first experience with chem collective is a fun play around playground, allowing students to just explore and get used to where to find different things. The next one is Chemistry by Fix, and that is T-H-I-X. This online resource allows students to mix chemicals together that they would not otherwise have access to. Some of these chemicals can be explosive or produce violent reactions when mixed together. They are super cool and they demonstrate particular properties that we want students to understand, but they are just a little too dangerous for them to mix together themselves. Now I use chemistry by Thicks when I want them to experience mixing together chemicals that will provide that explosive reaction, and that combination of visual with hands-on really engages them and opens up a world of conversation.

Speaker 1: 2:30

Next we have the American Chemical Society, or ACS. They have a wealth of videos, lessons and activities that cover a wide range of chemistry topics, and it covers chemistry topics from middle school through high school. The resources are organized and they are aligned to a lot of different educational standards because they are put together by chemists, teachers and professionals, so you are guaranteed a comprehensive, in-depth curriculum that breaks down the concepts in a way that engages students and provide them with visual representations of complex, abstract concepts, and I am constantly incorporating these videos and activities into both my live lessons and my tutoring sessions. Now, all of my students that have worked with me know about ptablecom. I love this interactive periodic table because it provides so much information, and students love how interactive it is. It explores properties from electronic configurations to periodic trends in a periodic table, and it really helps them to understand what we are talking about. I often use it throughout my live lessons and tutoring sessions, so I definitely recommend checking it out.

Speaker 1: 3:44

Fifth is Khan Academy. I think I'm going to be mentioning Khan Academy for each one, along with CK-12 and FET simulations. So Khan Academy offers a comprehensive chemistry class, even an AP Chem curriculum that includes online reading, video tutorials and practice exercises, and what I like about the practice exercises is that if they get the answer incorrect. It gives them feedback to prompt them for another try before giving them the correct answer, and some of their practices are adaptive in that it will adjust the next question based on the answers of their first question, and that's really helpful for guiding them in comprehending that concept. Fet simulations have a lot of interactive simulations for chemistry Everything from understanding the structure of atoms and isotopes to half-lives, molecular shapes, kinetics and more. These simulations are great because it helps them to understand those abstract concepts in a way that a lab just cannot. I recommend incorporating FET simulations any and every time that you can, because students gain a deeper understanding of the concepts by using them. Also, by signing up for a free account, you will get access to more resources and videos, and these videos are geared to help you to understand how to use these simulations to guide your learner to better understand and comprehend the concepts.

Speaker 1: 5:09

Now, I know I said that there was going to be six, but I have a seventh one that I have to mention, and that is CK-12.

Speaker 1: 5:17

Ck-12 is a free resource that offers interactive online texts, and they range from conceptual all the way up to advanced, and what I like about these texts is that, in addition to being highly interactive, they are customizable After saving a text, you can delete content, add content and really make it your own curriculum.

Speaker 1: 5:37

And, in addition to these interactive videos and practice problems, they have simulations that apply these concepts over real world situations. Be sure to check out the show notes for the links for each of these resources that I mentioned in this podcast, and let me know if there was a resource that you like that I did not mention. Be sure to join me for my next episode where I talk about physics, and let me know if you have any questions, ideas or other experiences that you'd like to share. Head on over to my podcast page, which you can access by visiting my website at thesciencementorcom. Then select podcast from the menu and subscribe now to the Teaching High School Science podcast for your regular dose of motivation and just-in-time science ideas, and together let's make high school science a journey of exploration and achievement. Until next time, remember curiosity leads to endless possibilities.