4 ways to teach the law of conservation of mass

A before and after photo showing that the mass (85.5g) of a beaker of water and a watchglass of salt does not change when the salt has been dissolved in the water

Source: © GIPhotoStock/Science Photo Library

Improve 11–14 year-old learners’ understanding of this fundamental chemistry topic

The law of conservation of mass has been around since the mid-18th century, yet it’s still a sticky concept for students to grasp. Here, Kristy Turner lays down four foundation stones of teaching the fundamental chemistry topic to 11–14 year-old learners. Use the teaching ideas to improve student understanding of conservation of mass and help them with more advanced topics, such as balancing equations and stoichiometry calculations.

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