Ward's World Activity Guides

+ ward ' s science Page 2 Mole Day (continued) Preparation for Activity: 1. Optional—To generate interest, about a week before Mole Day I hang a poster outside my classroom door indicating that Mole Day will be coming on 10/23. (Mine says "Coming soon to a Chemistry class near you—Mole Day! There are Mole Day graphics available online. I also hang small fliers around the room saying "The moles are coming" and "Beware of the moles". 2. Optional: To build excitement for Mole Day, about 3 days prior to 10/23 I announce a school wide mole contest where anyone (students and staff ) can enter the answer to the question "what is a mole?" (see attached contest announcement). This generates school wide curiosity and interest! 3. Optional: I make a stuffed mole for our class mascot (patterns are available online) then have a "Name the mole" contest. Students may submit ideas for names and then I prepare a ballot and have all classes vote. The student submitting the winning name receives a prize. 4. Decide how to divide class into teams prior to students' arrival. I usually have 3-4 students per team, but this will vary depending on class size and lab area available. 5. Events for the Molelympics Triathlon are: • Event #1—Quiz (see attached) • Event #2—Measuring a mole of zinc (see attached) • Event #3—Determining which sample contains 0.5 moles of sulfur (see attached) 6. Have stations set up for each event: • I have teams do Event #1 (quiz) at desks placed in a circle for each team. • I set up Event #2 and Event #3 at lab stations, with 1 team per lab station. Materials for both events are at each team's station, with materials for Event #3 set out of the way on a tray. Between events I switch materials. 7. Decide how you will score the competition. I determine what order the teams finish and award points for 1st-4th based on order of finish. I also award points for accuracy of answers and measurements. Because I actually measure the zinc samples I announce the winning teams the next day. 8. You can get as elaborate as you'd like with the Olympics theme. I sometimes play the theme from "Chariots of Fire" as they compete. You could also make gold, silver and bronze "medals" for prizes. 9. To prepare for the Molelympics Triathlon, the day before Mole Day I introduce the concept of the mole as the amount of a substance containing 6.02 x 1023 units and give various examples to help them understand the magnitude of Avogadro's number (numerous examples available online). I show them samples of 1 mole of a variety of elements (I keep these in zip lock bags to use from year to year) and ask them if they think I counted the atoms. I let them try to figure out how I was able to decide I had a mole of a substance and then introduce the concept of molar mass. I then assign a reading assignment in the text over the mole concept as homework. NOTE: If you have large classes you might want to consider having a parent or teacher's aide available to assist you on Mole Day. It certainly makes the day easier!

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