Teaching Method

 Objective: Students will be able to:

1. Relate the size and scale of atoms to objects in the physical world to explain the incredibly small size of atoms.

2. List the subatomic particles and their location in the atom in order to describe the structure of it.

Pragmatism is an American philosophy that believes in experience and experimentation to verify that the idea works. One of the methods of pragmatism is experimentation, and we will use it in our class today. So, the teacher should use this method in explanation.

Step one: Start the lesson by listing objectives and asking the students what is the component of the matter around us. Listen to their answers then start the explanation, noting that the session should be in the lab, in order to practice directly what we explain. Atom are the main part of the matter, a million of it gather together to form the block of the object, it has two main components:

1. Nucleus: in the middle of the atom, it contains protons carrying positively charge, and neutrons with no charge.

2. Electron clouds: turning around the nucleus and containing electrons that carry a negative charge.

At this moment the teacher should show the students a picture of an atom and the components on the screen, then let them see it in the microscope, to make them understand it better and start imaging it beside each other to form the matter. By this, students will start to relate what the teacher explains to real-life situations and engage what they learn. Second, the teacher starts to explain how an atom can gain or lose electrons to become an ion. This concept should be experimented also to make students understand the idea better. Third, the teacher should show them a picture of water and how atoms grouped together to form molecules (H2O), or a picture of sugar molecules that contain 24 atoms. 

At the end of the session, the teacher can summarize all these ideas for long term memory and to evaluate students. By this method the students understand and recognize the content by experimentation and relating what they learned to their lives. Every lesson should be explained like that, in order to enhance students' learning by discovering and practicing and have critical thinking.