Science · Chemistry in the Earth System

SEL activities for Experience Chemistry

26 RoseThread Connect activities matched to the chapters of Experience Chemistry (Savvas). Each one teaches the chapter's content and builds one Social and Emotional Learning (SEL) skill in about 20 minutes.

We look only at each book's table of contents (chapter titles and topics) to suggest activities that fit the flow of your course. We don't use or reproduce any textbook content, and your edition's chapter order may differ slightly. RoseThread Connect is not affiliated with, sponsored by, or endorsed by these publishers.

Investigation 1: Atomic Structure

• The Periodic Table as a Map Self-awareness · Chemistry in the Earth SystemUsing the periodic table to predict properties and mapping personal patterns that predict good and hard days.
• Attractions Between Particles Social awareness · Chemistry in the Earth SystemInvestigating how intermolecular forces explain boiling points and how small signals shape relationships.
• Salt in the Sea Social awareness · Chemistry in the Earth SystemExplaining why ionic salts concentrate as water evaporates from the Salton Sea and considering how nearby residents experience the change.
• Structure Shapes Function Self-management · Chemistry in the Earth SystemCommunicating why molecular structure matters for designed materials and connecting personal structure, like routines, to how well we function.
• Nuclear Changes Responsible decision-making · Chemistry in the Earth SystemModeling fission, fusion, and decay and discussing how fear and facts both enter energy decisions.
• Semester Reflection: Elements of Me Self-awareness · Chemistry in the Earth SystemStudents build a personal element card showing their growth, bonds, and goals for the spring semester.

Investigation 2: The Periodic Table

• The Periodic Table as a Map Self-awareness · Chemistry in the Earth SystemUsing the periodic table to predict properties and mapping personal patterns that predict good and hard days.

Investigation 3: Chemical Bonding

• Salt in the Sea Social awareness · Chemistry in the Earth SystemExplaining why ionic salts concentrate as water evaporates from the Salton Sea and considering how nearby residents experience the change.
• Semester Reflection: Elements of Me Self-awareness · Chemistry in the Earth SystemStudents build a personal element card showing their growth, bonds, and goals for the spring semester.

Investigation 4: Physical Properties of Materials

• The Periodic Table as a Map Self-awareness · Chemistry in the Earth SystemUsing the periodic table to predict properties and mapping personal patterns that predict good and hard days.
• Attractions Between Particles Social awareness · Chemistry in the Earth SystemInvestigating how intermolecular forces explain boiling points and how small signals shape relationships.

Investigation 5: Chemical Quantities

• Conservation of Mass Self-management · Chemistry in the Earth SystemUsing mole ratios to show mass is conserved and tracking how effort adds up even when results are not yet visible.
• Rates of Reaction Responsible decision-making · Chemistry in the Earth SystemArguing how temperature and concentration change reaction rates and noticing what speeds up or slows down our own reactions.

Investigation 6: Chemical Reactions

• Equilibrium and Balance Self-management · Chemistry in the Earth SystemRefining a design that shifts a reaction's equilibrium and practicing ways to restore emotional balance after stress.
• Reactions All Around Us Social awareness · Chemistry in the Earth SystemExplaining reaction patterns in everyday life and noticing how our own reactions affect others.
• Rates of Reaction Responsible decision-making · Chemistry in the Earth SystemArguing how temperature and concentration change reaction rates and noticing what speeds up or slows down our own reactions.

Investigation 7: Stoichiometry

• Reactions All Around Us Social awareness · Chemistry in the Earth SystemExplaining reaction patterns in everyday life and noticing how our own reactions affect others.
• Conservation of Mass Self-management · Chemistry in the Earth SystemUsing mole ratios to show mass is conserved and tracking how effort adds up even when results are not yet visible.
• Rates of Reaction Responsible decision-making · Chemistry in the Earth SystemArguing how temperature and concentration change reaction rates and noticing what speeds up or slows down our own reactions.
• Equilibrium and Balance Self-management · Chemistry in the Earth SystemRefining a design that shifts a reaction's equilibrium and practicing ways to restore emotional balance after stress.
• Chemistry on the Farm Responsible decision-making · Chemistry in the Earth SystemEvaluating solutions that reduce fertilizer and pesticide runoff and weighing the needs of farmworkers, growers, and neighbors.
• Chemists Who Collaborate Relationship skills · Chemistry in the Earth SystemResearching local chemistry careers in water treatment and agriculture and practicing collaborative information sharing.

Investigation 8: Thermochemistry

• Fire and Fuel Self-management · Chemistry in the Earth SystemBalancing combustion equations to show conservation of mass and breaking a hard goal into balanced small steps.
• Clean Air Questions Social awareness · Chemistry in the Earth SystemEvaluating information about combustion pollution and considering how air quality affects families differently across the valley.

Investigation 9: The Behavior of Gases

• Greenhouse Gases Self-awareness · Chemistry in the Earth SystemModeling how greenhouse gases trap energy and naming the feelings that climate news brings up.

Investigation 10: Weather and Climate

• Inside Earth's Engine Self-awareness · Chemistry in the Earth SystemModeling convection in Earth's mantle and noticing what drives students' own inner motion.
• Hot Springs of the Desert Social awareness · Chemistry in the Earth SystemExplaining the geothermal heating of local hot springs and learning how the Agua Caliente people have valued them for generations.
• Heat on the Move Self-management · Chemistry in the Earth SystemInvestigating how heat flows toward equilibrium and practicing strategies to bring heated emotions back to balance.
• Water Holds Heat Relationship skills · Chemistry in the Earth SystemInvestigating water's high heat capacity and communicating results clearly to a partner group.

Investigation 11: Global Climate Change

• Greenhouse Gases Self-awareness · Chemistry in the Earth SystemModeling how greenhouse gases trap energy and naming the feelings that climate news brings up.
• Reading the Climate Record Responsible decision-making · Chemistry in the Earth SystemAnalyzing temperature and carbon dioxide data and separating trends from noise without letting worry distort the evidence.
• Climate Worry and Action Self-management · Chemistry in the Earth SystemUsing a computational model of human emissions and Earth systems and turning climate worry into small hopeful actions.
• Carbon Capture Design Relationship skills · Chemistry in the Earth SystemEvaluating carbon capture solutions and their tradeoffs while building on each other's ideas in a design team.
• Listening Across Viewpoints Social awareness · Chemistry in the Earth SystemArguing about climate solutions while restating others' viewpoints before responding.
• Heat and Health Social awareness · Chemistry in the Earth SystemCommunicating how extreme heat affects health and planning ways to check on vulnerable neighbors.

Investigation 12: Reaction Rates and Equilibrium

• Acids, Bases, and Balance Self-management · Chemistry in the Earth SystemInvestigating how buffers resist pH change and identifying the personal buffers that steady us.

Investigation 13: Acid-Base Equilibria

• Acids, Bases, and Balance Self-management · Chemistry in the Earth SystemInvestigating how buffers resist pH change and identifying the personal buffers that steady us.

Investigation 14: Ocean Acidification

• Oceans Absorb Carbon Self-awareness · Chemistry in the Earth SystemModeling carbon cycling between air and ocean and noticing what we absorb from the people and media around us.

Investigation 17: Nuclear Processes

• Nuclear Changes Responsible decision-making · Chemistry in the Earth SystemModeling fission, fusion, and decay and discussing how fear and facts both enter energy decisions.

RoseThread Connect activities are drafted with the help of AI and shaped by educators. Students never have to share anything personal. Our five SEL skills are informed by CASEL's SEL Framework; RoseThread Learning is not affiliated with or endorsed by CASEL.