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A module is a guided pass through one concept. It asks what you already think before it tells you anything, gives you three short readings with a check after each, sends you to Merrill's own page in the middle, and ends with a Socratic session where you do the talking.

Nothing is locked. Open any module in any order, leave and come back, and skip what you already know. The sequence below is a recommendation, not a track.

Start here: the ground floor

What an assumption is, what observation is for, and the five statements this whole framework is built on. If you read nothing else, read these.

  1. AssumptionsAn assumption is a thing that is taken to be true but is not proven to be true.
  2. ObservationsAn observation is the act of perceiving something about the world.
  3. Reality is RealThe world is real and perceivable, independent of human awareness.
  4. World is Composed of MaterialsThe world is composed of distinct, identifiable materials.
  5. Phenomena are InteractionsAll phenomena result from interactions between materials.
  6. No Material DisappearsNo material disappears without new material appearing.
  7. Total Material is ConstantTotal material is conserved.

The working vocabulary

The words the rest of the framework is written in: concepts and the relations between them, materials, features, properties, and what it means to measure something.

  1. ConceptsA concept is a word or symbol that replaces or represents something in reality.
  2. RelationsA relation is two concepts and the connection between them.
  3. MaterialsA material is a member of a class of physical things that share features in common.
  4. FeaturesA feature is an attribute or characteristic of something.
  5. PropertiesEvery property has two elements: a name and a value.
  6. Name and ValueEvery property has two elements: a name and a value.
  7. MeasurementA measurement is a process by which we assign a quantity to a feature.
  8. SystemsA system is a collection of interacting parts.
  9. Essential FeaturesAn essential feature is a feature that determines a material's identity.
  10. Accidental FeaturesAn accidental feature is a feature that does not determine a material's identity.

Sorting the world

How materials are classified when you refuse to look below what can be observed. Phase does the work here, and it has nothing to do with solids, liquids and gases.

  1. PhaseA phase is a uniform region of a material with a single component.
  2. SubstancesA substance is a material whose property values are uniform throughout.
  3. MixturesA mixture is a material composed of more than one component, in which some property values are not uniform throughout.
  4. SolutionsA solution is a material composed of more than one component, where the value of the phase_of_matter property depends on composition.
  5. CompoundsA compound is a substance that can be separated into elements by electrolysis or thermal decomposition.
  6. ElementsAn element is a substance that cannot be decomposed by electrolysis or thermal decomposition.
  7. CompositionComposition is what a material is made of.

Describing and measuring

The properties you can put a number on, and the difference between a property that survives cutting a sample in half and one that does not.

  1. Extensive PropertiesAn extensive property is a property whose value depends on the size or amount of the material being described.
  2. Intensive PropertiesAn intensive property is a property whose value does not depend on the size or amount of the material being described.
  3. MassMass is the amount of matter in a sample, expressed as a number with units.
  4. VolumeVolume is the amount of space a material occupies.
  5. DensityDensity is the amount of material per unit of space it occupies.
  6. TemperatureTemperature is a feature of a material whose value is what a thermometer reads when placed in contact with that material.
  7. PressurePressure is a feature of a material whose value is what a gauge reads when the material pushes against a known surface.

Change

What happens when materials meet: reaction, conservation, combustion, equilibrium, and the driving force behind all of it.

  1. ChangeA change is a transformation of materials.
  2. ReactionsA reaction is an observable transformation in which materials change.
  3. Conservation of MassThe total mass of materials before a change equals the total mass of materials after, provided nothing has escaped the accounting.
  4. CombustionCombustion is an observable kind of reaction, familiar as burning and rusting, in which a material combines with something from the air (oxygen) and gains mass in the process.
  5. EquilibriumEquilibrium is the settled state a system reaches when the differences in chemical potential within it have closed.
  6. EnergyEnergy is a feature of matter.
  7. EntropyEntropy is a feature of matter.
  8. Chemical PotentialChemical potential is a feature of materials that drives transformation.
  9. The Universal ProcessThe universal process is a single generic shape that underlies every transformation we describe.

How to think about it

The framework talking about itself: why it refuses theory, what it takes on faith, how it argues, and what learning actually is.

  1. Descriptive and ExplanatoryThere are at least two types of chemical knowledge, descriptive and explanatory.
  2. The Assumptive BaseThe assumptive base of chemistry is the layer of statements taken to be true before any observing begins.
  3. The Observational BaseThe observational base of chemistry is the layer that comes after the assumptions.
  4. First PrinciplesThe First Principles of chemistry are the foundational starting layer of the discipline: the five foundational assumptions together with the rules of argumentation that derive everything else from them.
  5. ArgumentationArgumentation is the disciplined movement from assumption to knowledge.
  6. Necessary AssumptionsA necessary assumption is an unstated premise that must be true for an argument's conclusion to follow.
  7. Sufficient AssumptionsA sufficient assumption is an unstated premise that, if true, guarantees that the conclusion is correct.
  8. Systems ThinkingSystems thinking is the view that how parts work together is as important as the parts themselves, and that a whole can behave in ways no part of it does.
  9. Current KnowledgeCurrent knowledge is what a learner already knows about chemistry at any given moment.
  10. LearningLearning is the change in a learner's current knowledge.