SECONDARY EDUCATION: CHEMISTRY CURRICULUM
Sections: Literature and Humanities, Sociology and Economics
Scope and Sequence, Literature and
Humanities Section
Scope and Sequence, Sociology and
Economics Section
Sections: General Sciences and Life Sciences
Scope and Sequence,
General
Sciences Section
Scope and Sequence,
Life
Sciences Section
Contents
Second Secondary – Humanities Section
Second Secondary – Sciences Section
Third Secondary –
Literature and Humanities Section
Third Secondary –
Sociology and Economics Section
Third Secondary –
General Sciences Section
Third Secondary – Life
Sciences Section
Life in modern societies is related directly to
science and technology. All educational systems should emphasize a scientific
culture that allows citizens to lead active productive lives. Although some
students are oriented to the literary fields, they still deal with social
economical, and political problems that have important scientific aspects.
The prevalence of the natural or synthetic
molecules in our present life-style, necessitate a realistic understanding of
these molecules that are consumed as food and drink, as medicinal drugs, and
prosthetics, as well as those that are used in the form of various articles in
different fields. Thus, we study soaps and detergents, polymers, pesticides,
food chemistry, perfumes and cosmetics, current medicinal drugs, the treatment
of wastes, chemistry and economy. This teaching does not prepare form future chemists,
but it tends to develop the basic elements of a true scientific culture that
answers largely to the applications of science in everyday life. The scientific
culture in chemistry contributes to the application of scientific methodology
and techniques. Establish the way of using science, its methodology and its
techniques.
The teaching
of scientific culture should permit students to:
-
Acquire the scientific
terminology and knowledge necessary in everyday life.
-
Understand the current scientific
information used in the media.
-
Understand the interaction of
science, technology, and society.
-
Make responsible decisions
related to health and environmental problems in everyday life.
-
Develop sensibilities towards
bioethical, economical and social problems.
-
Understand the scope of
contributions of science and scientists to the intellectual development of
mankind.
-
Conduct scientific processes
and acquire scientific attitudes for attaining a better autonomy.
|
Theme |
First Year |
Second Year |
Third Year |
|
Matter: Constitution,
structural properties, bonding between particles |
- Atoms - Molecules - Ions |
- Soaps and detergents. - Synthetic polymers. |
- Food chemistry. |
|
Chemical reactions and
energy |
- Chemical reactions. |
|
- Food chemistry. |
|
Raw materials Chemical industry |
- Fertilizers. |
- Soaps and detergents. Synthetic polymers.
Pesticides. |
- Food chemistry. - Perfumes and cosmetics. - Current medicinal drugs. |
|
States of matter |
- Water |
|
|
|
Aqueous acidic and basic
solutions |
- Acids and Bases. |
|
|
|
Chemical analysis |
- Qualitative analysis. - Volumetric analysis. |
|
|
|
Pollution |
- Atmospheric pollution. |
- Detergents: Impact on the environment. - Pesticides. |
|
|
Theme |
First Year |
Second Year |
Third Year |
|
Matter: Constitution,
structural properties, bonding between particles |
- Atoms - Molecules - Ions. |
- Soaps and detergents. - Synthetic polymers. |
- Food chemistry. |
|
Chemical reactions and
energy |
- Chemical reactions. |
|
- Food chemistry. |
|
Raw materials. Chemical industry |
- Fertilizers. |
- Soaps and detergents. Synthetic polymers.
Pesticides. |
- Food chemistry. - Perfumes and cosmetics. - Current medicinal drugs. - Chemistry and economy. |
|
States of matter |
- Water |
|
|
|
Aqueous acidic and basic
solutions |
- Acids and Bases. |
|
|
|
Chemical analysis |
- Qualitative analysis. - Volumetric analysis. |
|
|
|
Pollution |
- Atmospheric pollution. |
- Detergents: Impact on the environment. - Pesticides. |
- Treatment of wastes. |
Human activities in modern societies are the
products of progress in sciences and technology.
This progress is incited and animated by man’s
growing potential for creativity and aims at ensuring the well-being of the
society.
This progress, however, cannot continue,
develop, and improve without training scientific minds capable of learning,
planning, communicating, appraising, and inventing.
Such a task is assured by the school, then by
the university, and by all sorts of training institutions that ensure an
organized transfer of the ever-growing knowledge resulting from scientific
research.
In order for us to attain our objectives, and as
a consequence of the permanent advancement of the scientific heritage, it is
essential for us to make a parallel reorganization of curriculum, develop the
contents of programs, modify the instructional methods and improve the system
of evaluation
The objectives are formulated in a manner that
satisfy the fact that Chemistry involves science, technology, careers, impact
on the environment, and choices for the consumer.
-
The contents of the program
were worked out following a logic of construction based on the following
considerations:
-
The characteristics of the
current scholastic knowledge of Chemistry.
-
The requirements of the
different domains of Chemistry.
-
The conceivable diverse
destinations of the students.
-
Compatibility with the new
goals and objectives set for education
The instructional methods provide an efficient
means for attaining objectives. They indicate the conditions, the means, the
processes, the approaches, and the methods that render teaching and training
effective.
Assessment that (according to Ketele) is a measure of the match between a set of
information and a set of appropriate criteria of fixed objectives, allows the
instructor to make judgments on the students’ abilities, to measure what they
have learned, to evaluate the effectiveness of the teaching method, and to take
decisions.
The Chemistry programs at the secondary level
take into consideration the following points.
-
Actualization of the knowledge
and the concepts so that they reflect, in the best possible way, the level of
progress, the state of advancement, and the higher level knowledge acquired by
the student
-
The level of assimilation of
chemistry and its technologies by the general public
-
Establishing a link between
scholastic knowledge of Chemistry and future career. Evidently, this is related
to the quality and diversity of chemical industrialization of societies and to
the existence of jobs based on chemical training.
-
The association of knowledge
of Chemistry with the surrounding world.
-
This expresses itself by the
prominence of different manifestations of chemistry in everyday life.
-
The link with other branches
of science and their technologies.
-
The potential of Chemistry in
the contest for ameliorating the quality of life of the modern society.
-
Giving students a scientific
culture that enhances their level of comprehension and improves their
attitudes.
-
The importance of the function
of representation of scientific theories and the associations linking the
representations with scientific knowledge.
-
The didactic transposition
that transforms a scientific knowledge into a knowledge for teaching. It
involves extracting knowledge from its developed context; this is the process
of decontextualization, followed by the
contextualization of this knowledge in language accessible to students. The
didactic transposition is an important step in the conception of the contents
of the chemistry program.
-
Keeping pace with emerging
innovations. This means that the contents of the programs must be continuously
updated and amended.
-
The level of intellectual
maturity and competence of the student.
-
The importance of
experimentation on the acquired knowledge, and learning the techniques doing
so.
These themes when developed, generate a
conceptual aspect and a practical aspect. They serve :
-
Introducing the fundamental
concepts of Chemistry.
-
Providing simplified
explanation for complex phenomena.
-
Demonstrating the important
place Chemistry holds in everyday life and in the global economy.
-
Estimating the risks
associated with the use of chemical products and taking safety measures.
Safeguarding public health and the ecological equilibrium.
-
Understanding the proposed
solutions for abating pollution.
-
Better communication with the
student.
-
The familiarization of
students with the quantitative aspect of chemical reactions. This is achieved
primarily through the use of the mole as a basis for expressing quantity of
matter.
-
The development of the
scientific process and a model of representation.
-
The passage from the
macroscopic world to the microscopic world or vice versa.
Science and technology represent the essential
bases of modern civilization. Chemistry which is a conspicuous part of science
and technology fashions, by its different chemical productions, the everyday
life of man kind. It occupies its prominent place in the universe as a result
of the incessant transformations that give rise to matter and energy.
Chemical products are not presented in
laboratories only, and chemical reaction do not take place only in test tubes.
on the contrary, our existence depends to a great extent on chemical products,
and chemical reactions; they are an integral part of our life. in fact, the
living planet is very chemical; cells are made up of molecules, and an infinite
number of reactions in the body produce living organisms that govern the bodys internal and external functions.
In the professional world, there are a variety
of careers needing chemical training. Examples are: engineers, technicians,
professors, dentists, medial doctors, analytical chemists, industrial chemists,
argochemists, nutritionists and dietitians,
pharmacologists, quality controllers, researchers, etc…
It is therefore essential to build vocations for
these careers.
Consequently, the curricular objectives cover,
besides the fundamentals of Chemistry, topics dealing with chemical
technologies, careers needing chemical training, the environment for the
consumer.
Chemistry knowledge:
The Chemistry program of the second and third
years aims at imparting a group of coherent notions that supplement the ones
tackled during the previous years. This prepares the students for their
university studies and gives them a foundation in Chemistry which helps them
cope better with modern life. These notions include:
-
Classification of matter
according to various criteria.
-
Techniques of separation,
identification measuring and analyzing properties.
-
Particulate nature of matter
at the level of the atom, the molecule, and the ion.
-
Subatomic particles, their
characteristics. The distribution of electrons in energy levels, sublevels and orbitals.
-
Formation of infinitely large
number of compounds from a limited number of elements.
-
The language of chemistry that
comprises symbols, formulas, equations and representations.
-
Chemical reactions of
transformations. Energy exchanged during a chemical reaction.
-
Spontaneous and nonspontaneous reactions.
-
Reactions between matter and
electricity .
-
The chemical bond,
distribution of electrons and properties related to this distribution.
-
Conservation of matter and
energy during a chemical transformation.
-
Rates of chemical reactions:
chemical kinetics.
-
Chemical equilibrium and its
significance in an industrial process.
-
The particularity of carbon in
making carboncarbon chains of organic compound.
-
Physical and chemical
properties of chemicals and their interpretation.
-
The principles and processes
of manufacturing and developing .
-
The production of synthetic
molecules that replace natural products to meet the needs of the consumer.
-
The manufacturing of chemical
products that do not have natural counterparts. Examples are: glass, ceramics,
composite materials, alloys…
-
The production of synthetic
materials that have the same structure and properties as natural ones.
-
Aqueous solutions and their
particular importance in Chemistry.
Chemical techniques:
The essential objective is to bring to the fore
the industrial applications and he adopted technologies that reveal the
usefulness of Chemistry in different domains such as : food and beverage,
medicines, textiles, cosmetics, detergents, pesticides, transportation,
explosives, construction materials, etc…. we equally aim at exposing the
methods of exploitation of the natural resources of energy and raw materials.
Careers needing chemical training:
For the student to be able to choose a future
career, subject matter of Chemistry should focus attention on the link between
the chemistry learned at school and careers needing chemical training.
The environment and safety measures:
In modern societies, every citizen uses a large
number of chemical products that can present risks and dangers to health, the
prevention of accidents, and the protection of the environment deserve special
attention. It is, therefore, of paramount importance that the students are
better acquainted with chemical products and are taught the proper methods of
handling and using them.
Sound choices for the consumer:
In our everyday life, we are subjected in a
remarkable way to the influence of different aspects of marketing (audio-visual
publicity, journals, magazines, daily papers, specialized broadcasting …) that
use a terminology increasingly burdened enriched with scientific terms such as:
aspirin pH=8, soaps with glycerin, detergents with enzymes, thermosetting
plastics….It is therefore vital for the general public to be familiarized with
this terminology so that the choice of consumer products is not arbitrary but
based on common sense.
|
Theme |
First Year |
Second Year |
Third Year |
|
Matter: Constitution,
structural properties, bonding between particles |
- Atoms - Molecules - Ions |
- Atomic orbitals. |
|
|
Chemical reactions and
energy |
- Chemical reactions. |
- Thermochemistry. Electrochemistry. |
- Chemical kinetics. - Chemical equilibrium. |
|
Organic chemistry |
|
- Organic chemistry - I. |
- Organic chemistry - II. |
|
Raw materials Chemical industry |
- Fertilizers. |
- Petroleum and natural gas. - Industrial chemistry. - Metallurgy: Metals and alloys. |
- Polymers. |
|
States of Matter |
- Water. |
|
- The Gaseous State. |
|
Aqueous acidic and basic
solutions |
- Acids and bases. |
|
- Acid - Base reactions in aqueous solutions. - Titration using pH meter. |
|
Chemical analysis |
- Qualitative analysis. - Volumetric analysis. |
- Elemental analysis |
- Acid-Base titration using titration curves of pH. |
|
Pollution |
- Atmospheric pollution. |
- Pollution and treatment of wastes. |
- Pollution due to polymers. |
|
Theme |
First Year |
Second Year |
Third Year |
|
Matter: Constitution,
structural properties, bonding between particles |
- Atoms, - Molecules - Ions. |
- Atomic orbitals. |
|
|
Chemical reactions and
energy |
- Chemical reactions. |
- Thermochemistry. Electrochemistry. |
- Chemical kinetics. Chemical equilibrium. |
|
Organic chemistry |
|
- Organic chemistry - I. |
- Organic chemistry - II. |
|
Raw materials. Chemical
industry |
- Fertilizers. |
- Petroleum and natural gas. - Industrial chemistry. - Metallurgy : Metals and alloys. |
- Polymers. - Soaps and detergents. - Current medicinal drugs. - New materials. |
|
States of Matter |
- Water. |
|
- The gaseous state. |
|
Aqueous acidic and basic
solutions |
- Acids and bases. |
|
- Acid - Base reactions in aqueous solutions. - Titration using pH meter. |
|
Chemical analysis |
- Qualitative analysis. - Volumetric analysis. |
- Elemental analysis |
- Acid-Base titration using titration curves of pH. |
|
Pollution |
- Atmospheric pollution. |
- Pollution and treatment of wastes. |
- Pollution due to polymers. |