LRHS students who are taking chemistry have been struggling to grasp the content and new concepts. Chemistry isn’t understanding how to solve for x, or why plants need light to make glucose. It is understanding how atoms interact with each other and change the composition of matter.

Kendall Hartman, junior, said, “I think chemistry is so hard because it is a jump from biology which has much more simple and explainable topics that require memorization. Chemistry is basically a math class with a little bit of science, and that transition is just so weird.”

Penelope Mayes, sophomore, said, “It’s a combination of not only math but also memorization. And there are also things that you have to know to understand basic chemistry concepts making chemistry much harder to understand.”

Students are often so unprepared for chemistry because it is almost all new information to them. 

Cinnamon Frame, LRHS chemistry teacher, said via email, “Chemistry is also the first science course where students must consistently apply higher order thinking skills to analyze problems and create multi-step solutions to those problems.”

According to Frame, often the factor that will define if students receive a good or bad grade on a test is whether or not they complete the labs, homework, and classwork assignments, despite the fact that students who were receiving low grades said that they completed the classwork and labs but still don’t understand the material. 

Frame said, “Consistently completing the practice sets, and asking questions the next day about practice problems they did not understand will help students be the most successful.”

LRHS students have been struggling with chemistry after the first few weeks of school because it is a stream of constantly growing new content. Students are given new concepts each unit that are based on the prior unit. If you don’t understand one unit you will likely not understand the next, making chemistry a much more difficult class for students to succeed in.