Using Hands-On Chemistry Experiments While Teaching Online

How can you switch from a hands-on face-to-face chemistry course to an online course in the face of a pandemic? It is possible to have students do hands-on experiments at home. There are many readily available kitchen, drug store, and garden chemicals that can be used to illustrate the same principles in standard chemistry curricula at multiple levels. One example is using milk of magnesia, magnesium hydroxide, as a base which happens to have a built-in end of titration indicator because it begins as a suspension. Despite the lack of available laboratory equipment, there are other ways to use household items as substitutes as well. The equivalence of a double pan balance can be constructed from a hanger with two cups tied to opposite ends of it; whether masses are equal can easily be detected this way. This article details some of the experiments, assessments, and online organization used during the beginning of the pandemic and compares the results with face-to-face instruction.