They also need to decide whether each factor carries equal weight, or if one has a greater impact. Students will have a sense of what is required for an excellent presentation before they begin. They will revisit the criteria before work on the challenge is finalized.

The second day begins with the first of nine activities. As one activity is completed, the next one starts. Active Chemistry is an activity-based curriculum.

For example, look at Activity 1: Elements and Compounds. Students begin by considering what matter is and how many kinds of matter there might be in the universe. These What Do You Think? questions are intended to find out what students know about elements and compounds. Formally, you can say that these questions elicit the students' prior understanding and is part of the constructivist approach. Students write a response for one minute and discuss for another two minutes. But you don't try to reach closure. The question opens the conversation.

Students then begin the Investigate section of the activity. In the investigate section they are involved in a number of activities that teach them chemical content, laboratory skills, and safety procedures. They separate water by electrolysis into the two elements from which it is composed and test the two elements to determine their identities. They can then conclude that the compound water is made up of two elements: hydrogen and oxygen. They have also experienced the differences in properties between the compound, water, and its constituent elements.

ChemTalk summarizes the chemistry principles and includes chemical formulas and equations where appropriate. It also presents students with text, illustrations, and photographs that provide greater insight into the chemistry concepts presented. Words that may be new or unfamiliar to the students are highlighted. To provide reading support, they are also defined and explained outside the text area in ChemWords. In addition to this, Checking Up includes questions designed to guide student reading.

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