A Science teacher by trade, I've also been known to be found teaching Maths and PE! However, strange as it may seem, my real love is designing resources that can be used by other teachers to maximise the experience of the students. I am constantly thinking of new ways to engage a student with a topic and try to implement that in the design of the lessons.
A Science teacher by trade, I've also been known to be found teaching Maths and PE! However, strange as it may seem, my real love is designing resources that can be used by other teachers to maximise the experience of the students. I am constantly thinking of new ways to engage a student with a topic and try to implement that in the design of the lessons.
An engaging lesson presentation (80 slides) and associated worksheets that uses a combination of exam questions, quick tasks and quiz competitions to help the students to assess their understanding of the topics found within Topic 3 (Quantitative chemistry) of the AQA GCSE Chemistry specification (specification point C4.3). The lesson includes useful hints and tips to encourage success in assessments. For example, students are shown how to recognise whether to use Avogadro’s constant or the moles formula in a moles calculation question.
The topics that are tested within the lesson include:
Conservation of mass and balanced symbol equations
Relative formula mass
Mass changes when a reactant or product is a gas
Moles
Amounts of substances in equations
Concentration of solutions
Atom economy
Molar volume
Students will be engaged through the numerous activities including quiz rounds like “Number CRAZY” and “In the BALANCE” whilst crucially being able to recognise those areas which need further attention
A fully-resourced lesson that looks at the meaning of the mole and shows how this measurement is used in calculations. The lesson includes a clear lesson presentation (32 slides) and a set of questions. This lesson has been written to explain in a concise manner so that the key details are understood and embedded. Students are shown how to recognise when a mole calculation requires them to use Avogadro’s constant and when they should the formula including the relative formula mass.
This lesson has been designed for GCSE students (14 -16 year olds in the UK)
This REVISION resource has been designed to motivate and engage students whilst they are challenged on their knowledge of the content in topics C6-C10 of the AQA GCSE Chemistry specification which can be assessed on PAPER 2. This is fully-resourced and contains a detailed PowerPoint (146 slides) and accompanying worksheets, some of which have been differentiated.
The resource was written with the aim of covering as many of the sub-topics in C6-C10 as possible, but the following ones have been given a particular focus:
The general formulae of the alkanes, alkenes, alcohols and carboxylic acids
Reversible reactions and equilibrium
Changing conditions and the position of equilibrium
The factors affecting the rate of reaction
Complete combustion of the alkanes and climate change
The changes in carbon dioxide levels over time
Addition and condensation polymers
Fractional distillation and the properties of the fractions
Analysis and interpreting chromatograms
Detecting cations
This lesson can be used in combination with the PAPER 1 REVISION resource that I have uploaded.
This is a fully-resourced lesson that looks at how the transfer of electrons from metals to non-metals causes ionic bonds and compounds to form and then explores the different properties of these structures. The lesson includes a detailed and engaging lesson presentation (43 slides) and a task worksheet which has been differentiated two ways.
The lesson begins by introducing the name of the type of bond, but does not go into any more detail at this stage. This is because the lesson is designed to allow the students to discover that in order for both of the atoms involved to get a full outer shell, electrons have to be transferred from one to the other. Over the course of the lesson, students will recognise that it is the metal that loses the electrons and becomes a positive ion whilst the non-metal gains the electrons and becomes a negative ion. There are lots of discussion and discovery points like this written into the lesson so that students can take ownership for their learning. Students are guided through drawing dot and cross diagrams to represent these compounds and as a result links are made to the topics of naming compounds, writing chemical formulae, forming ions and electron configurations. There are a number of quick competitions in the lesson which introduce new terms to the students. One such competition introduces the term lattice and the lesson builds from here to understand why ionic compounds have high melting and boiling points. Moving forwards, students will also learn that solid ionic compounds cannot conduct electricity whilst those in molten form or in an aqueous solution are able to. The final task of the lesson challenges the students to bring all of the information together they have seen to draw a dot and cross diagram for aluminium oxide, explain how it was formed and then explain how aluminium is extracted from this compound by electrolysis. This final task has been differentiated so that students who need extra assistance can still access the learning.
This lesson has been written for GCSE aged students but could be used with higher ability younger students who are pushing on with the elements, compounds and mixtures topic
A concise lesson presentation (20 slides) that looks at how the collision theory is related to the rate of reaction. This is a short lesson that would be taught at the beginning of the topic that looks at the rate of reaction and the factors that affect the rate. Students are challenged with a quick competition that gets them to recognise keywords which are involved in the collision theory. Some time is then taken to focus on "activation energy" and how this is shown on a reaction profile. Finally, students will use their keywords to form a clear definition for the collision theory which includes its link to the rate of reaction so this can be used in the upcoming lessons
This lesson has ultimately been designed for GCSE students but can be used with all age groups as an introduction to the topic
A detailed, engaging and informative lesson presentation (50 slides) and accompanying worksheets that looks at the commonly misunderstood topic of chromatography. This lesson goes through paper, thin-layer and gas chromatography so that students can analyse and interpret the results that would be found on a chromatogram. The lesson begins by challenging the students to recall details of this separation method when they met it at KS3. Students will meet the two chemical phases, mobile and stationary, and begin to understand that this method relies on the distribution of substances between these two phases. Students will meet the calculation for retention factor and be shown how to tackle questions on this topic before trying themselves. Time is taken to go over the details of gas chromatography, in a step by step guide format, as this is a poorly understood topic. There are progress checks throughout the lesson, which include mark schemes and detailed explanations, so that students can assess their understanding and address any misconceptions that could arise.
This lesson has been written for GCSE students but could be used with A-level students
This is a fully-resourced lesson about group 7 of the Periodic Table, the halogens, which includes a lesson presentation (34 slides) and a differentiated worksheet. The lesson begins by challenging students to recognise and explain why the electronic structure of group 1 and group 7 means that they react together easily. As the lesson progresses, students will learn more and more properties about the halogens and key terms such as diatomic are used throughout so that students become accustomed to these. Moving forwards, students will carry out a series of displacement reactions so that they can recognise that the reactivity of these elements decreases as they go down the group. Students are challeged to explain this with reference to electron configuration and a differentiated worksheet will help those who need assistance to access this work.
This lesson has been designed for GCSE students (14 - 16 year olds in the UK) but is suitable for younger students who might be carrying out a project on the Periodic Table
A fully-resourced lesson (82 slides) that uses a combination of exam questions, quick tasks and quiz competitions to help the students to assess their understanding of the topics found within the Chemistry unit C4 (Chemical changes) of the AQA GCSE Combined Science specification (specification point C5.4)
The topics that are tested within the lesson include:
Reactivity series
Extraction of metals and reduction
Oxidation and reduction in terms of electrons
Reactions of metals with acids
Neutralisations
Electrolysis
Half equations
Students will be engaged through the numerous activities including quiz rounds like “It’s time for ACTION” and “Number CRAZY” whilst crucially being able to recognise those areas which need further attention
A fully resourced lesson presentation (53 slides) and associated worksheet that uses a combination of exam questions, understanding checks, quick tasks and a quiz competition to help the students to assess their understanding of the topics found within TOPIC 10 (Using resources) of the AQA GCSE Chemistry specification (specification point C4.10). The lesson includes useful hints and tips to encourage success in assessments.
The topics that are tested within the lesson include:
Potable water
Waste water treatment
Alternative methods of extracting metals
Using materials
The Haber process
Students will be engaged through the numerous quiz rounds including one called “It’s time for acTION” which requires students to work out a process (ending in -tion) from the provided definition
This is a fully-resourced lesson that looks at the different skills needed to calculate the percentage yield. This lesson has been designed for GCSE students and includes an engaging lesson presentation and a skills check worksheet. As well as the obvious Science involved in the lesson, the students’ mathematical skills are challenged as they have to rearrange formulae and also there is a literacy element as recognition of the different types of yield is important. The percentage yield formula is broken down into the two elements of theoretical yield and actual yield and a step by step guide through worked examples is used to visualise how these calculations should be tackled. Students are given regular opportunities to test the skills which they have just learnt (or recalled) before bringing them together to calculate the percentage yield. The lesson finishes with a difficult question which challenges the students to rearrange the formula to make theoretical yield the subject.
This is an engaging revision lesson which uses a range of exam questions, understanding checks, quick differentiated tasks and quiz competitions to allow students to assess their knowledge of the topic of electrolysis. This is a topic which is almost guaranteed to be on the GCSE paper every year and therefore a student’s ability to achieve good marks on this topic will have a big impact on their overall success. The lesson looks at the electrolysis of both molten salts and aqueous solutions and guides students through predicting the products at each of the electrodes as well as writing half equations to represent these reactions. Students will enjoy the range of activities including quiz rounds such as “Have you got the SOLUTION” whilst crucially being able to recognise the finer details of this topic which require their further attention before an end of topic assessment or the terminal GCSE exams.
This is a fully-resourced lesson which is designed for GCSE students and explores the topic of compounds, specifically focusing on naming these chemicals based upon the elements within them and from their chemical formula. The lesson includes an engaging lesson presentation (46 slides) and a worksheet containing three tasks for the lesson.
The lesson begins with some simple multiple choice questions to check that students can spot the chemical symbol and definition of an element, but more importantly pick out the formula for a compound. Time is taken to go through the explanation of why substances are elements or compounds and specific examples given. A quick understanding check, in the form of a competition called “To COM or NOT TO COM”,is used to check that students can identify elements or compounds from a name or given formula. The remainder of the lesson focuses on naming compounds. Students are challenged to spot a pattern when presented with the names of two compounds, which contain 2 elements only. For both compounds that contain 2 elements or 3 or more, the rules to naming are introduced before examples are shown so that students can visualise how to construct their answer. They are then given an opportunity to apply this to a number of questions in the set tasks. The last part of the lesson moves this forward by looking at how these same rules can be applied when the chemical formula of a compound is given and this is related to another topic as they are challenged to write a word equation containing a range of compounds when presented with the symbol equation. Progress checks are written into the lesson at regular intervals so that students can constantly assess their understanding.
Although this is written for GCSE students, it is perfectly suitable for use with younger students who are learning about elements, compounds and mixtures and the teacher wants to push them along.
A fully resourced lesson that includes a lesson presentation (27 slides) and an accompanying worksheet that guides students through the topic of the electrolysis of solutions and enables them to state the products at the electrodes from these reactions. The lesson focuses on the rules at the cathode and then the anode and regular understanding checks are used to ensure that learning has occured.
This lesson has been designed for GCSE students (14 - 16 year olds)
This is an engaging revision lesson which uses a range of exam questions, understanding checks, quiz tasks and quiz competitions to enable students to assess their understanding of the content within topic 4 (Stoichiometry) of the Cambridge IGCSE Chemistry (0620) specification. The lesson covers the content in both the core and supplement sections of the specification and therefore can be used with students who will be taking the extended papers as well as the core papers.
The specification points that are covered in this revision lesson include:
CORE
Use the symbols of the elements and write the formulae of simple compounds
Construct word equations and simple balanced chemical equations
Define relative molecular mass, Mr, as the sum of the relative atomic masses
SUPPLEMENT
Determine the formula of an ionic compound from the charges on the ions present
Construct equations with state symbols
Define the mole and the Avogadro constant
Use the molar gas volume, taken as 24 dm3 at room temperature and pressure
Calculate stoichiometric reacting masses, volumes of gases and solutions, and concentrations of solutions expressed in mol / dm3.
The students will thoroughly enjoy the range of activities, which include quiz competitions such as “In the BALANCE” where they have to compete to be the 1st to balance an equation and recognise the number of moles involved whilst crucially being able to recognise the areas of this topic which need their further attention. This lesson can be used as revision resource at the end of the topic or in the lead up to mocks or the actual GCSE exams.
A fully-resourced lesson which prepares students for the range of mathematical-based questions that they could encounter on the two AQA GCSE Chemistry papers. The lesson contains a wide range of activities which include exam-style questions with markschemes embedded within the PowerPoint to enable the students to assess their current understanding. There are also 8 quiz competition rounds interspersed throughout the lesson to maintain engagement and motivation.
The mathematical skills covered in this lesson include:
Calculating the number of sub-atomic particles in atoms and ions
Writing chemical formulae for ionic compounds
Identifying isotopes
Using Avogadro’s constant to calculate the number of particles
Calculating the relative formula mass
Calculating amount in moles using the mass and the relative formula mass
Balancing chemical symbol equations
Calculating reacting masses
Gas calculations using molar volume
Calculating the concentration of an unknown solution
Calculating the atom economy and percentage yield
Calculating energy changes in reactions
Temperature and pressure and the position of equilibrium
Most of the resources have been differentiated two ways to allow students of differing abilities to access the work whilst still being challenged. In addition, step by step guides are used to demonstrate how to carry out some of the more difficult calculations such as the harder mole calculations and calculating masses in reactions
This REVISION resource has been designed to motivate and engage students whilst they are challenged on their knowledge of the content in topics C1-C3 of the OCR GCSE Chemistry specification which can be assessed on PAPER 1. This is fully-resourced and contains a detailed PowerPoint (184 slides) and accompanying worksheets, some of which have been differentiated.
The resource was written with the aim of covering as many of the sub-topics in C1-C5 as possible, but the following ones have been given a particular focus:
The organisation of the Periodic Table
The structure of atoms and ions
Isotopes
The properties of ionic compounds
Drawing dot and cross diagrams to represent ionic compounds
Electrolysis of molten salts and solutions
Writing half equations for the cathode and anode
Neutralisation reactions
Writing balanced chemical symbol equations
Ionic equations
Simple and giant covalent structures
Diamond and graphite
Calculating the relative formula mass
Moles and Avogadro’s constant
Calculating the mass in reactions
Due to the extensiveness of this resource, it is likely to be used over the course of a number of lessons with a particular class and this allows the teacher to focus in on any sub-topics which are identified as needing more time.
A short, concise revision lesson that uses a combination of exam questions, understanding checks, quick tasks and a quiz competition to help the students to assess their understanding of the topics found within unit C10 (Using resources) of the AQA GCSE Combined Science specification (specification point C5.10). The lesson includes useful hints and tips to encourage success in assessments.
The topics that are tested within the lesson include:
Potable water
Waste water treatment
Alternative methods of extracting metals
Students will be engaged through the numerous quiz rounds including one called “It’s time for acTION” which requires students to work out a process (ending in -tion) from the provided definition
A concise lesson presentation (19 slides) which looks at meaning of the key term, polymers, and briefly explores addition and condensation polymers. The lesson begins with a fun exercise to enable students to come up with the word polymers so that they can be introduced to the definition and then relate this to another term, monomers. A quiz competition is used to introduce addition and condensation polymers. Students are shown the displayed formulae and names of a few addition polymers and then challenged to use this to name and draw some others. They will then learn how DNA is an example of a condensation polymer. A set homework is included in the lesson which gets students to research thermosetting and thermosoftening polymers
A fully resourced lesson presentation (93 slides) and associated worksheets that uses a combination of exam questions, quick tasks and quiz competitions to help the students to assess their understanding of the topics found within unit C3 (Chemical reactions) of the OCR Gateway A GCSE Combined Science specification.
The topics that are tested within the lesson include:
Formulae of elements and molecules
Formulae of ionic compounds
Conservation of mass
Chemical equations
Half equations
The mole
Exothermic and endothermic reactions
The pH scale
Hydrogen ions and pH
Electrolysis of molten salts
Electrolysis of solutions
Students will be engaged through the numerous activities including quiz rounds like “E Numbers” whilst crucially being able to recognise those areas which need further attention
This lesson describes meaning of the mole and shows how this measurement is used in a range of calculations. The clear lesson PowerPoint presentation and accompanying question worksheet have been designed to cover points 1.50 & 1.51 of the Edexcel GCSE Chemistry specification and also covers those points in the Chemistry section of the Combined Science course. This lesson has been specifically written to explain the concept in a concise manner so that the key details are understood and embedded. Students are shown how to recognise when a mole calculation requires them to use Avogadro’s constant and when they should the formula including the relative formula mass.