Carbon and its Forms, Age 9+

Are you ready to embark on a journey to learn about one of the most important elements on planet earth? That’s right; we’re talking about carbon! Carbon is a fascinating element found in many forms and has numerous benefits for our environment, health, and economy. This blog post will discuss the benefits of learning about carbon and its different forms through our new Montessori-aligned science material,  Carbon and Its Forms – Complete Set.

Materials

Wooden Puzzle – Research Cards

By learning about carbon, you can better understand its importance to our world. Carbon is an essential component of life as we know it.  It is found in everything from plants and animals to the air we breathe. Without carbon, life on earth as we know it would not be possible. Our new material, Carbon and Its Forms provides information about four important forms of carbon: diamond, graphite, buckytubes fullerene, and buckyballs fullerene. Carbon and its Forms Research Cards describe carbon molecules, how carbon bonds, and its benefits. For instance, diamonds are considered one of the hardest minerals; graphite is extremely strong but weaker than diamonds. Fullerene is a hollow molecular structure in a spherical shape called a buckyball, or a tubular shape called a buckytube. Fullerene can be produced in the laboratory using electric current through graphite rods. Fullerene has unique physical and chemical properties like high elasticity, an incredibly high surface area, and high tensile strength. Research has shown that buckyballs could be used for biomedical applications like drug delivery systems and cancer treatments. Both buckytubes and buckyballs are being studied as potential superconductors!

Carbon and its Forms – Task Cards

To augment the learning experience, we created twelve challenging task cards divided into two sections. The task cards invite learners to define carbon and its forms in their own words and analyze and compare carbon’s different forms and properties. Each task card contains on the back a short age-appropriate description.

In conclusion, your learners will understand the basics of organic chemistry, carbon being its foundation. Learning about carbon molecules can help them understand the nature and properties of organic compounds and broaden their scientific knowledge. We hope that our exclusive material, Carbon and its Forms, will inspire your learners to pursue further education and research in chemistry! For more Montessori materials, visit our website at www.alisonsmontessori.com.