What do you get when you mix a room full of brilliant minds, a teacher pushing them to think beyond the textbook, and a bunch of chemicals? Well, in this case you get acetylsalicylic acid – or in laymen’s terms, aspirin. Students are currently in their Stoichiometry Unit, and this lab, commonly done in a first year college class, helps them apply multiple concepts to their work. “I love doing this lab with students because it brings stoichiometry to life and they can see a real world example,” said Mrs. Bramer.
At the end of this lab the aspirin was tested for its purity, and 80% of the students actually made a relatively pure product.
“[Students] practice important lab skills like taking accurate measurements, filtration, running a chemical reaction to completion, recrystallization, testing for purity, and following proper waste management procedures. I love challenging and teaching to a high yet achievable level here at HLS!” Mrs. Bramer – Organic Chemistry Instructor
At Highlands Latin School our teachers strive for academic excellence in all that they teach, whether it be training students to deepen their thinking about characters in literature, or in understanding the history and chemical makeup of a common medicine, and producing it themselves.
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