ages 11–1515 lessons5 chapters

Middle school

The middle-school program lays the foundations of chemistry: matter, atoms, molecules, transformations. Five chapters to understand that everything — from air to your pen — is made of the same elementary building blocks. The last chapter bridges to high school: you meet the amount of substance and the periodic classification for the first time.

Chapter 1

Matter and measurement

Recognizing matter, its physical states, its mixtures. Measuring mass, volume, density, mass concentration — the chemist's first quantitative tools.

  1. The three states of matter
  2. Mass, volume, density
  3. Mixtures and solutions
  4. Mass concentration
Chapter 2

Atoms and molecules

From the simplified atomic model to molecules: matter is made of organized grains. Chemical symbols and first formulas.

  1. The simplified atomic model
  2. Atoms, molecules, ions
  3. Chemical symbols and formulas
Chapter 3

Chemical transformations

Identifying a chemical reaction, writing its equation, balancing. Mass conservation as the central principle.

  1. Reactants and products
  2. Mass conservation
  3. Simple chemical equations
  4. Combustion reactions
Chapter 4

Electricity and chemistry

Why do some solutions conduct electricity? Discover ions, their charge, and their motion.

  1. Ionic conductivity
  2. Ions and charge
Bridge

Toward high school

Bridge chapter: a first encounter with two central high-school notions — amount of substance and the periodic classification.

  1. Introduction to amount of substance
  2. First look at the periodic classification