Lesson Plan: Structure of the Atom
This lesson plan includes the objectives, prerequisites, and exclusions of the lesson teaching students how to describe the structure of the atom and explain the historical development of our understanding of the atom.
Objectives
Students will be able to
- describe Dalton’s theory of the atom,
- state that J. J. Thomson discovered the electron,
- describe Thomson’s plum pudding model of the atom,
- describe Rutherford’s theory of the atom,
- name and describe the subatomic particles that make up the atom,
- recall the relative masses and charges of the proton, neutron, and electron,
- list the order in which the subatomic particles were discovered,
- relate the mass of an atom to the number of subatomic particles in its nucleus.
Prerequisites
Students should already be familiar with
- the definition of atom.
Exclusions
Students will not cover
- the definition of atomic number,
- the electronic structure,
- other models of the atom.
