Making Jewelry To Teach Engineering & Electrochemistry

School:: Palmetto Ridge High
Subject:: Stem
Teacher:: Allison Chapman
Students Impacted:: 750
Grade:: 11
Date:: July 1, 2015

Investors

Thank you to the following investors for funding this grant.

Champions For Learning - $50.00

Impact to My Classroom

# of Students Impacted: 175

This lab worked out well as a demonstration working with a few students at a time while other students finished other assignments. I was able to share a few short videos about the lab demonstration and provide definitions of new vocabulary terms on the board for students to copy down in their notebooks. Then while students read and summarized a scientific article based on this topic, I was able to demonstrate the process with 2-3 students at a time. I asked students and teachers to bring in a pair of pliers to open the jump rings, and earring hooks to assemble the 3 separate pieces of the anodized earrings. Students enjoyed the lab and definitely learned that strong electrolytes conduct an electric current when dissolved in a solution. They were exposed and defined the following terms: anode, oxidation, cathode, reduction and electrolytic solution. I will provide a link to a profession video and e-mail several videos the students and teachers made while we performed this laboratory experiment. http://viewpure.com/Zdb89lkNXeY?start=0&end=0 Thank you for providing my students with the opportunity to be part of this laboratory demonstration.

Original Grant Overview

Goal

Students will learn how electricity can be used safely to make colorful jewelry by moving electrons in a chemical reaction.

What will be done with my students

Students will be taught how to work with electricity safely while performing an oxidation-reduction reaction with the supervision of their chemistry instructor.

Students will make and then take home a colorful niobium charm that bends light at different angles depending on the thickness of the oxide coating that they create using electrochemistry.

Benefits to my students

Students will experience first-hand how science, technology, engineering and mathematics can be used to create colorful jewelry (or fishing lures). They will be able to make and then take home a colorful niobium charm that bends light at different angles depending on the thickness of the oxide coating they create on the surface. This will be a talking point for them to discuss with family and friends what they learned in class during this electrochemistry unit.

We will also extend this experiment to discuss other real life chemical reactions that involve the exchange of electrons, such as biochemical reactions in their bodies, those that produce color in fireworks and those that produce energy in simple batteries.

Budget Narrative

We have all the equipment and safety supplies to make niobium jewelry we just need more metal discs, loops and jump rings so that each student will be able to make one piece of jewelry to bring home.

Items

#	Item	Cost
1	150 04-nbd 7/8" 28ga Nb disc @ $1.65 each	$247.50
2	240 04-nb rgloop	$47.28
3	190 04-nbjrb 6 mm Ni Jump Rings	$27.36
4	shipping	$32.89
5	1 roll of black electrical tape	$9.00
	Total:	$364.03

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