Resumen de Using the REACT strategy to understand physical and chemical changes

Neslihan Ültay, Seda Çavuş, Eser Ültay

• Students often struggle to determine whether changes in matter are physical or chemical; for example, they may have difficulty labelling a candle melting as a physical change but a candle burning as chemical change. Here we describe a lesson that we used to integrate conceptual learning about physical and chemical changes using the "REACT" strategy (relating, experiencing, applying, cooperating and transferring) using daily life examples. The activities cover one REACT cycle delivered over two lesson periods. In the activities, examples of physical and chemical change are taken from daily life. Students are actively involved in the activities and at the end of the experiencing stage, they should be able to distinguish physical and chemical changes and to define the changes occurring in the matter at the molecular level.