Grade 7 Students Step into Chemistry
What better way to learn chemistry than by making sparks fly—literally? To kick off their chemistry unit, grade 7 students stepped into the high school lab for an immersive classroom experience designed to ignite curiosity, emphasize lab safety, and build excitement. Through a series of hands-on experiments led by Middle School Science Teacher John Tilert and High School Chemistry Teacher Fiamma Lalji (Ms. Fi), students were introduced not only to chemical reactions but to the mindset of a scientist.
Iron + Sulfur Separation
Students worked with a mixture of iron and sulfur in a petri dish, using magnets to separate the components and learning that their properties remain distinct even when the substances appear blended.
Displacement Reaction
Students placed an iron nail in a copper sulfate solution and watched as it slowly became coated in copper. They learned that elements can displace one another and appearances can be deceiving. It looked like rust, but wasn’t!
Magnesium Burning
Ms. Fi lit a strip of magnesium, producing an intense white light as it transformed into magnesium oxide.
Our purpose was to challenge misconceptions and teach students not to make assumptions, stay curious, and go through the scientific process.
- Ms. Fiamma Lalji
Iodine Sublimation
When heated, iodine transformed from a solid into a purple gas in a process called sublimation.
Combustion and Mass Change
Touching a 9-volt battery to iron wool triggered a sizzling reaction. Students discovered that rather than losing material, the iron actually gained mass as it reacted with oxygen in the air.
With the goal of challenging common scientific misconceptions, these sessions encouraged students to form hypotheses and question what they thought they knew about substances, reactions, and states of matter.
It was cool because we could use the chemicals to do the reactions ourselves.
- Heelim "Joy" C., Grade 7 Student
Through vivid demonstrations—flashing lights, sizzling reactions, and disappearing solids—students began building foundational skills in observation, prediction, and critical thinking, while learning to identify patterns and draw conclusions.
Going through those experiments with them met the goal of building excitement, practicing safety procedures, connecting to their prior knowledge, and prompting them to ask questions.
- Mr. John Tilert
“It was an amazing start to the unit; it gave us an idea of how fun chemistry can be. I learned how elements come together to form a chemical reaction.”
- Nina B., Grade 7 Student
It was really cool to have the experience of learning from a high school teacher. We learned about oxidation and changes in mass.”
- Luca L., Grade 7 Student
Students began to see chemistry not just as abstract concepts, but as real-world phenomena that follow patterns and logic. They walked away with a deeper understanding of elements, compounds, and reactions—ready to tackle their new science unit and many more scientific explorations to come!