This is an engaging and practical-based lesson which uses the background idea of a man needing to make crystals for a date to engage students into understanding how the separation methods of filtration and crystallisation work. Like all of the lessons in the separation topic, a lot of the key terms sound similar and are often wrongly used by students. For this reason, time is given in the lesson to ensure that students can use them correctly, especially when describing filtration. In line with the background of the lesson, students are challenged to come up with the apparatus and substances needed to make the crystals. A method is provided so should the teacher choose, students will be able to carry out the practical and produce the copper sulphate crystals. Progress checks are written into the lesson at regular intervals, which question the students on this lesson topic and that of related ones and the final task of the lesson involves an exam question where students have to describe the method and equipment needed to make crystals. This lesson has primarily been written for GCSE students (14 - 16 years in the UK) but is appropriate for younger students who are studying the separation topic

This is an informative and engaging lesson, which has been designed for GCSE but is perfectly suitable for younger students who are studying the states of matter. Students will have encountered this topic at KS3 and potentially before, and therefore the aim of this lesson is to consolidate that knowledge and to deepen in critical areas. A number of quick competitions have been written into the lesson to maintain engagement and to test prior knowledge in a different way. In addition, progress checks are found at regular intervals so that students can constantly assess their understanding. The start of the lesson looks at the different properties of the three states and ensures that particle diagrams are not only recognised but can be explained. A lot of students consider elements to be in one state only at all times and therefore time is taken to show them how the specific temperature is the determining factor on the state. Students are guided through using the melting and boiling points to determine which state a substance is in at a given temperature. The rest of the lesson focuses on changing state and the change in the particles at each of these stages.

This is a fully-resourced lesson, designed for GCSE students, that lteaches students how to prove that mass is conserved in a chemical reaction and guides them in the explanation of why some reactions do not give equal masses when measured. The lesson begins by introducing the law of the conservation of mass. Students will learn that they can expect questions which challenge them to prove that mass is conserved through the use of the relative formula mass. Therefore, the next section of the lesson focuses on the skills associated with this calculation and looks at more different formulae such as those with brackets. Students are given an opportunity to check their skills before trying to prove mass is conserved in three chemical reactions. All questions have displayed mark schemes so that students can assess their understanding. The rest of the lesson looks at instances of when the mass of the reactants does not equal the mass of the products. A practical method for the decomposition of copper carbonate is provided if the teacher wants to use it, so that students can collect results which show this difference in mass. Discussions are encouraged in order to get students to offer explanations as to why the mass of the products is lower. Once the gas has been identified, students are further challenged to consider apparatus that could be used to collect and record the results to again prove conservation.

This is a fully-resourced lesson that looks at the meaning of a limiting reactant in a chemical reaction and guides students through how to apply this to a number of calculations. Step by step guides are used to go through worked examples so students are able to visualise how to set out their work. The lesson begins with a fun analogy involving sausages and potatoes so that students can identify that the potatoes limited the sale of food. Alongside this, students will learn the key term excess. Some time is then taken to ensure that students can spot the limiting reactant and the one in excess in actual chemical reactions and method descriptions. Moving forwards, students will be guided through two calculations that involve limiting reactants - those to calculate the theoretical yield and the other to calculate a balanced symbol equation. Other skills involved in these calculations such as calculating the relative formula mass are recalled and a few examples given to ensure they are confident. The question worksheet has been differentiated two ways so that any students who need extra assistance can still access the learning. This lesson has been written for GCSE students.

This lesson has been designed to enable students to recognise the key stages in the formation of the early atmosphere and to also show how today’s atmosphere was formed. The lesson has been primarily designed for GCSE students but is suitable for higher ability younger students who perhaps are studying the Earth and its formation. The lesson begins by checking that the students know the percentages of the different gases found in the modern day atmosphere. Some time is taken to check on their mathematical skills by challenging them to produce a pie chart to represent these different percentages. Students are then asked to predict how they think the percentage of oxygen, carbon dioxide and water vapour would have differed from now to the early atmosphere. The key steps in the formation are then introduced and critical points discussed. Students will learn about the volcanic activity, formation of the oceans and photosynthesis as crucial points in the change to the percentages of those three gases. A number of progress checks are written into the lesson, which check knowledge from this lesson and related topics such as the reaction of acids and gases.

A thought-provoking lesson which explores why certain conditions are chosen for reversible reactions. Throughout this lesson, students are challenged to think about the topic in three ways. Of course, they have to consider the chosen conditions from a Scientific angle by knowing how temperature and pressure affect the position of the equilibrium. They must also think about the business (and health) side of the argument by recognising that increased pressures are both dangerous and expensive. Finally, they are taught recognise how the chosen conditions are in fact a compromise which has taken both the Science and business into account. Students are guided through the choice of conditions for the production of methanol so that they can apply their knowledge to the production of ammonia by the Haber process. This lesson has been designed for GCSE students.

This lesson has been written with the aim of engaging students in the topic of simple and giant covalent molecules, as this is a topic which is often considered to be boring or is brushed over. A variety of tasks have been used to maintain the interest whilst ensuring that they key details and Science are known and understood. The lesson begins with a quick recap task where students have to recognise a covalent bond from a description and fill the missing part. Moving forwards, they are introduced to the fact that covalent molecules can be simple or giant. They are then presented with a table showing some properties of covalent molecules and having to group them as simple or giant in the short space of time that the table remains displayed on the board. This task challenges their observational skills, something which will again be tested later in the lesson as they study the structure of graphite and diamond. Time is taken to ensure that key details such as the strong covalent bonds in both sets of molecules is understood and that it is the weak intermolecular forces which are actually responsible for the low melting and boiling points. The last part of the lesson introduces diamond and graphite as allotropes of carbon and students will briefly learn why one of these conducts electricity whilst the other doesn’t. If you want a lesson about these allotropes in more detail, then please look for “Diamond and Graphite”. Progress checks have been written into the lesson at regular intervals so that students are constantly assessing their understanding and so misconceptions are quickly identified. This lesson has been written for GCSE students (14 - 16 years of age in the UK)

This concise lesson presentation (20 slides) guides students through the effect of changing pressure on the position of the equilibrium. The key skill to this topic involves recalling the rule of increasing pressure and being able to recognise how many moles are on each side of the reaction. For this reason, time is taken to remind the students of the meaning of the mole numbers in a reaction and working through an example together so they can see which side will be favoured. The final part of the lesson involves a game called “The PRESSURE is on” where students are in a race against the clock to balance an equation and then work out which way the equilibrium will shift when either the pressure is increased or decreased. This lesson has been written for GCSE students.

This lesson presentation looks at the carboxylic acids and focuses on the names, displayed formula, chemical formulae and reactions of this homologous series. The lesson begins with a bit of fun which gets enables the students to recognise that the functional group is COOH. A step by step guide is used to show the students how to draw the displayed formula for ethanoic acid, using the functional group before they apply their knowledge to draw the remaining acids in the first four. This series are connected by a general formula and students are shown how it is worked out for the alkanes and the alkenes so that students can work it out for the acids. Moving forwards, the reactions of these acids is shown and related to the reactions of acids that was previously learnt. Students will recall how to write the name of the salt and the balanced symbol equation. This lesson has been written for GCSE students

This lesson looks at the homologous series of alcohols, focusing on the properties that they share and guiding students through naming and drawing displayed formula to represent them. It has been designed for GCSE students and time is taken to embed a few selected key details as dictated by the exam board specification. The lesson begins with students meeting the formula for ethanol. This substance will provide the backbone to their understanding as they are guided through drawing the displayed formula so they can visualise how it is done and use to draw diagrams for the others. Students are shown how the general formula for the alkanes and alkenes can be worked out and then challenged to use this to work out the general formula for the alcohols. There is a brief look at the reactions with oxygen and the products that can be made depending upon whether sufficient oxygen is available or not.