Instructional Video

Half Life Problems

Curated and Reviewed by Lesson Planet

Does a radioactive cat have 18 half-lives? An understanding of half-life is important in both chemistry and biology, so start your young scientists off the right way — with the good foundation provided by a video that begins with a graph that demonstrates the pattern of half-life and then works through several word problems using the pattern. 

40 Views 34 Downloads NGSS: Adaptable
Additional Tags
Instructional Ideas
  • Show the introduction that explains the half-life pattern; pause the video after each word problem to give your classes an opportunity to complete them and ask questions
  • Assign the word problems in the video as homework so learners can use the video as a resource
Classroom Considerations
  • Requires Internet access to view the video
Pros
  • Each word problem has a different unknown, which keeps learners thinking about the relationships rather than following a set of steps
  • Instructor explains each problem thoroughly in a manner accessible to learners
Cons
  • The instructor completes all problems without writing an equation, limiting the rigor of the problems
NGSS