Re: photo chemistry in the classroom

Can you define the goal (scope) of the course? Are those high school
students at least familiar with regular darkroom process? Somehow I
get an impression that you are aiming at processing of silver gelatin
print material, but is that so?

In that case, one subject of a lab session may be a Metol-ascorbate
print developer (or Phenidone-ascorbate print developer, though
weighing 0.2g/L may be an issue). I can supply well tested formulae
that are simple to prepare.

If you want to prepare sensitizer for a lab, I'd consider cyanotype or
something not silver-gelatin.

Though I don't know of any high school level textbook, these books may
find useful when designing an introductory course:

Mitchell, E. N. 1984. Photographic science. Wiley.

Stroebel, L., Compton, J., Current, I. and Zakia,
R. 1986. Photographic materials and processes. Boston: Focal Press.

These books are out of print but there's plenty of supply in used
market. An abbreviated version of the latter is still in print from
Focal Press, with the word "Basic" in the title.

Many older books that are written for darkroom amateurs may sound easy
to understand for many photographers, but they are full of errors and
misconceptions and I do not think it is a good idea to dig up the
graveyard regardless of the level of students.

I think teaching through lab experience requires a different approach
from teaching by lecture. Also, the approach will be very different
depending on whether you want to give a how-to workshop or to teach
the principle of how things work. These may not be very clearly
defined for your audience but relative weights of these should guide
your direction. (and those two books have slightly different colors in
this sense)

--
Ryuji Suzuki
"Well, believing is all right, just don't let the wrong people know
what it's all about." (Bob Dylan, Need a Woman, 1982)