Use the science to investigate a real source, explain the evidence, and communicate a defensible conclusion. The guide supplies the actual reading, data, task, and chosen level before the unit begins.
| Strand | Required evidence |
|---|---|
| History, Reading, Writing | Use an approved source in context and a student-authored response. Separate the original evidence from later explanations; do not force a single-hero story. |
| Geography and ethics | Include location, social context, or ethical trade-offs where they genuinely support the scientific question. |
| Elective extensions | Choose additional depth in data, technology, economics, or art. Extensions do not replace the core work. |
| Quantitative science | Use the unit's mathematical lane at the agreed level. Supply units, denominators, and model conditions; required science is assessed as science. |
Integration is reported separately and cannot lower the science grade or block a science demonstration pass. Science and practical criteria determine that pass.
Use the same approved task in both formats. The web guide explains the source, data, assumptions, student work, and evidence checklist; this packet is its portable summary, not a different assignment.
Use the web guide's approved unit assignment.
| Unit | Chemistry big idea | Integration anchor |
|---|---|---|
| 01 Atomic Structure | Matter is built from atoms whose structure explains the periodic table. | The argument from Dalton to Rutherford to Bohr — pair with The Disappearing Spoon; the gold-foil experiment overturns the plum-pudding model. |
| 02 Chemical Bonding | Atoms bond by sharing or transferring electrons; structure determines properties. | Mendeleev predicting undiscovered elements; Napoleon’s Buttons on how molecular structure changed history. |
| 03 Stoichiometry | Conservation of mass lets us calculate exact amounts of reactants and products. | Lavoisier’s sealed-flask measurements founding quantitative chemistry — the mole arithmetic behind industrial scale-up. |
| 04 States of Matter & Gas Laws | Gas behavior follows simple laws relating pressure, volume, temperature, moles. | The Montgolfiers and the first balloon ascents — students plot real PV and PT data and reason to the gas laws. |
| 05 Thermochemistry | Reactions absorb or release energy, and that energy can be measured. | The Industrial Revolution and the combustion of fuels — calorimetry, enthalpy, engines, and carbon. |
| 06 Kinetics & Equilibrium | Reaction rate and the position of equilibrium can be predicted and shifted. | The Haber–Bosch process — Le Châtelier in action, the WWI explosives link, the hero-or-villain essay. |
| 07 Acids, Bases & Solutions | Acids and bases are defined by proton transfer, measured by pH, quantified by titration. | Compare acid rain from sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxides with ocean acidification from carbon dioxide; interpret pH datasets. |
| 08 Electrochemistry | Electron transfer in redox can be harnessed to produce or store electricity. | From Volta’s first battery to the lithium-ion cell — build a voltaic cell; the resource ethics behind the metals. |
Big idea: distinguish reaction rate from equilibrium yield. High pressure favors ammonia; lower temperature favors this exothermic reaction but slows it. An iron catalyst speeds approach to equilibrium but does not shift the equilibrium position or change K. Students explain the industrial rate–yield compromise, then connect the same ammonia to fertilizer and WWI explosives in their evidence-based essay.
Math never drives a unit, but chemistry uses it constantly — always anchored to the reaction or measurement at the bench. Here is the quantitative skill each unit actually uses, done inside the lab context rather than as a parallel curriculum.
| Unit | Applied math at the agreed level |
|---|---|
| 01 Atomic Structure | Weighted-average isotope mass; electron-configuration counting; unit conversions. |
| 02 Chemical Bonding | Bond-angle geometry (VSEPR); formal charge; electronegativity differences. |
| 03 Stoichiometry | Mole ratios, dimensional analysis, limiting-reagent and percent-yield arithmetic. |
| 04 States of Matter & Gas Laws | Plotting PV and PT data; proportional reasoning; solving PV = nRT. |
| 05 Thermochemistry | Calorimetry (q = mcΔT); Hess’s-law algebra; summing bond energies. |
| 06 Kinetics & Equilibrium | Rate laws; equilibrium-constant expressions; reading slopes off rate graphs. |
| 07 Acids, Bases & Solutions | Logarithms (pH / pOH); molarity and dilution math; titration calculations. |
| 08 Electrochemistry | Balancing redox by electron bookkeeping; cell-potential sums; Faraday stoichiometry. |
Students do the mole ratio inside the stoichiometry lab, the pH logarithm inside the titration, the calorimetry arithmetic inside the thermochemistry experiment. The number always means something because it is attached to a result they produced — never a worksheet detached from the chemistry.
Integration is its own strand. Track each unit’s integration level across the year — Developing, Proficient, or Mastery — separate from the science-mastery rubric. Record the evidence reference and date in the final column.
| Unit | Developing | Proficient | Mastery | Evidence / date |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 01 Atomic Structure | ◯ | ◯ | ◯ | ______ |
| 02 Chemical Bonding | ◯ | ◯ | ◯ | ______ |
| 03 Stoichiometry | ◯ | ◯ | ◯ | ______ |
| 04 States & Gas Laws | ◯ | ◯ | ◯ | ______ |
| 05 Thermochemistry | ◯ | ◯ | ◯ | ______ |
| 06 Kinetics & Equilibrium | ◯ | ◯ | ◯ | ______ |
| 07 Acids, Bases & Solutions | ◯ | ◯ | ◯ | ______ |
| 08 Electrochemistry | ◯ | ◯ | ◯ | ______ |
A student who walks through all eight anchors finishes understanding that chemistry is how humans learned to reshape matter, and that every formula on the page was once a discovery someone fought for — the version of the subject a student keeps.