KS3 ~ Year 7 ~ Conservation of Mass

This lesson is designed for the Activate KS3 Science Course, specifically Year 7 C3 ’Reactions’.

For more lessons designed for KS3 and KS4 please visit my shop at: https://www.tes.com/teaching-resources/shop/SWiftScience.

Students will firstly be shown a demonstration of magnesium being burnt in air, students are asked to predict whether they think the mass of the product will increase, decrease or stay the same. Students are asked to explain their prediction.

The demonstration is then carried out, students should record in their books the mass of the magnesium before burning and then the mass of the magnesium oxide after burning, from this they can deduce the mass of the oxygen needed to burn the magnesium. Students can then check their predictions to see if they were correct or not.

Now, students can summarise what they have learned by completing a ‘fill-in-the-blank’ task which is a definition for the ‘conservation of mass’ in chemical reactions. This task can be self-assessed against the mark scheme provided. Students will now also complete a ‘Quick Check’ task where they are asked come questions to test their knowledge of what they have learned so far, this work can also be marked against the mark scheme provided.

Students will not complete a match-up task, students are asked to complete the sentences by matching the correct phrases together. This helps students to explore the idea of the law of the conservation of mass, considering how this applies to reactions involving solids, liquids and gases. Again, the mark scheme for this task is included for students to check and correct their work.

The latter part of the lesson is on balancing equations, students are firstly introduced to the process by which students should balance an equation, demonstrated by the example of magnesium + oxygen -> magnesium oxide. A few more examples are used to talk students through the process, then students will complete a step-by-step worksheet which introduces them to balancing equations at a basic level. The mark scheme for this task is included in the PowerPoint for students to self-assess their work.

The plenary task requires students to complete a 3-2-1 reduction of the lesson, to include 3 facts 2 key words and 1 question to test their peers knowledge of what was learned this lesson.

All resources are included at the end of the presentation. Thanks for looking, if you have any questions please let me know in the comments section and any feedback would be appreciated :)