Teaching two levels of high school chemistry from two separate books has me wondering a lot about the order of topics taught. The two books, Modern Chemistry by Davis, Metcalfe, Williams for the college prep level and Chemistry by Addison-Wesley for the honors level. These two books have distinct styles about them. Both begin with scientific methods and end with nuclear chemistry. I like to teach nuclear chemistry right after the atom, to merge it with atomic structure and because the remainder of the curriculum deals with what is happening at the electron level.
The Addison-Wesley book follows atomic structure with writing chemical names and formulas whereas the Davis, Metcalfe, Williams book goes to calculating moles. Electron configuration is presented in Chapter 4 of one book and Chapter 13 of the other. The order of teaching each of these courses differs and is directed by others and the requirement that we give matching tests.
Grrr... wish I had more control over order and pacing.
Are you allowed to teach the book out of order in your district?
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